The Nanogirl News~
- From: "Gina Miller" <nanogirl@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 03 Jul 2005 00:19:44 -0000
The Nanogirl News
July 2, 2005
The Nanogirl News
Foresight Nanotech Institute Launches Nanotechnology Roadmap. Foresight
Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotechnology think tank and public
interest organization, and Battelle, a leading global research and
development organization, have launched a Technology Roadmap for Productive
Nanosystems through an initial grant of $250,000 from The Waitt Family
Foundation. The group is assembling a world-class steering committee to
guide this groundbreaking project, and has garnered the support of several
important industry organizations as roadmap partners. Productive Nanosystems
are molecular-scale systems that make other useful materials and devices
that are nanostructured. The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems
will provide a common framework for understanding the pathways for
developing such systems, the challenges that must be overcome in their
development and the applications that they can address. (Foresight 6/21/05)
http://www.foresight.org/cms/press_center/128
Organizers of the second annual International and North Coast Nanotechnology
Business Idea Competitions today announced they are accepting submissions
for the 2005 event, which will award winners $150,000 in prize money at the
conclusion of NANO Week in October. The competition seeks to encourage the
development of business ideas that will commercialize nanotechnology
research being done around the world. The International and North Coast
Nanotechnology Business Idea Competitions is the culminating event of NANO
Week, October 17-21, which this year will focus attention on the next
generation of nanotechnology-based products and applications from the
aerospace, automotive and consumer products industries. (6/16/05)
http://www.tiime.case.edu/nano/index.html
Also see: http://www.nano-network.org./
Nano-levers point to futuristic gadgets. Billions of tiny mechanical levers
could be used to store songs on future MP3 players and pictures on digital
cameras. As bizarre as the idea might sound, researchers at a Dutch company
have already demonstrated that miniscule mechanical switches can be used to
store data using less power than existing technologies and with greater
reliability.
Nanomech memory, developed by Cavendish Kinetics in the Netherlands, stores
data using thousands of electro-mechanical switches that are toggled up or
down to represent either a one or zero as a binary bit. Each switch is a few
microns long and less than a micron wide - roughly a hundred times smaller
than the width of a human hair. (NewScientist 6/24/05)
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7577&feedId=online-news_rss20
Research offers clues about C60 behavior in natural environments. In some of
the first research to probe how buckyballs will interact with natural
ecosystems, Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental
Nanotechnology finds that the molecules spontaneously clump together upon
contact with water, forming nanoparticles that are both soluble and toxic to
bacteria. The research challenges conventional wisdom: since buckyballs are
notoriously insoluble by themselves, most scientists had assumed they would
remain insoluble in nature. The findings also raise questions about how the
buckyball aggregates - dubbed nano-C60 - will interact with other particles
and living things in natural ecosystems. The findings appear in the June 1
issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology. (PhysOrg 6/22/05)
http://www.physorg.com/news4684.html
New Material Could Improve Fabrication of Nanoscale Components. A team of
chemists at Penn State has developed a new type of ultrathin film, which has
unusual properties that could improve the fabrication of increasingly
smaller and more intricate electronic and sensing devices. The material, a
single layer made from spherical cages of carbon atoms, could enable more
precise patterning of such devices with a wider range of molecular
components than now is possible with conventional self-assembled monolayers.
The research is published in the current issue of the Journal of the
American Chemical Society. The molecules that make up the material have
larger spaces and weaker connections between them than do components of
conventional self-assembled monolayers. "The bonding and structural
characteristics of this monolayer give us the opportunity to replace its
molecules with different molecules very easily, which opens up lots of
possibilities for both directed patterning and self-assembled patterning,"
says Paul S. Weiss, professor of chemistry and physics. (Penn State 6/22/05)
http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Weiss6-2005.htm
Solar to Fuel: Catalyzing the Science. In the past 150 years, burgeoning
industrialization has increased carbon in the atmosphere by 40 percent and
driven a continuing rise in global temperatures. The trend won't stop soon.
Among the consequences: rising sea levels, increased air pollution, and more
hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Meanwhile, the age of cheap oil and gas
has come to an end. In the short term humans urgently need to use energy
more efficiently, and we need to stop putting carbon straight into the air.
More important for the long term, we need to find or create ways to use
energy that don't release any carbon at all.
(Berkeley Lab 5/13/05)
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2005/May/01-solar-to-fuel.html
New Chem-bio Sensors Offer Simultaneous Monitoring. Researchers at the
Georgia Institute of Technology and the Vienna University of Technology have
developed a modular system that combines chemical and biological sensing
tools capable of providing simultaneous, nano-level resolution information
on cell topography and biological activity. The tools integrate micro and
nanoscale electrodes into the tips of an atomic force microscope (AFM). A
veritable Swiss army knife of sensors, the patented technique is currently
being tested to combine other sensing methods to give scientists a more
holistic view of cellular activities. The research is published in Vol 44,
2005 of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie. (ScienceDaily 6/30/05)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050630063042.htm
Nano World: Wiring up single molecules. A new method to carve infinitesimal
gaps into nanowires soon could help scientists connect electronics to single
molecules. This in turn could lead to computers based on molecular
transistors with vastly greater computing power than conventional machines.
Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago who are developing the
technique already have created notches only 2.5 nanometers wide -- or 2.5
billionths of a meter, the breadth of a DNA molecule -- in gold nanowires,
into which a variety of compounds, such as genes, could be plugged. "I
believe we'll hit 1 nanometer within the year," senior researcher Chad
Mirkin told UPI's Nano World. (WorldPeaceHerald 6/30/05)
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050630-032056-1446r
(Past tense) Industry meets academia to discuss nanofoods. Nanotechnology
researchers and food industry representatives are meeting in the Netherlands
next week to discuss how to the technology may apply to processing
operations, reports Ahmed ElAmin. Along with the technical talk a major item
on the agenda will be how to prepare the public for its actual introduction
into what they eat. Food processors and researchers are studying ways of
making nanomachines on a microscopic scale that can help companies ensure
the safety and quality of their products. More controversially they are also
working on ways to make everyday foods carry medicines and supplements by
creating tiny edible capsules, or nanoparticles, that release their contents
on demand at targeted spots in the body. (Foodproductiondaily.com 6/17/05)
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?id=60733
A Sharper Focus for Soft x-rays. Zone Plate Lenses Capable of Better than
15-Nanometer Resolution. Progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology depends
not only on examining the surfaces of things but on seeing deep inside
biological organisms and material structures to identify what they're made
of - and what electronic, magnetic, optical, and chemical processes may be
in play. For measuring internal variations in shape, organization,
magnetism, polarization, or chemical make-up over distances of a few
nanometers (billionths of a meter), x-ray microscopy not only complements
electron microscopy but also offers important advantages. (BerkeleyLab
6/29/05) http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/ALS-soft-x-rays.html
Motorola calls on Congress for increased funding of nanotechnology. Jim
O'Connor,
vice president of Technological Commercialization at Motorola, Inc.,
testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives Science
Subcommittee on Research to share Motorola's thoughts on where the United
States stands competitively and innovatively when it comes to nanoscience
and nanotechnologies. (nanotechwire 7/2/05)
http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=2091
Nanotube bike enters Tour de France. This year's Tour de France will see
cyclists from the Phonak Team use a bike with a frame containing carbon
nanotubes. Swiss manufacturer BMC claims that the frame of its "Pro Machine"
weighs less than 1 kg and has excellent stiffness and strength. To create
the frame, BMC used a composite technology developed by US sports equipment
specialist Easton. The company's "enhanced resin system" embeds carbon fibre
in a resin matrix that's reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Easton says that
this improves strength and toughness in the spaces between the carbon
fibres. (nanotechweb 7/1/05)
http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/4/7/1/1
Nanotech As Disease Detector. Startup Nanosphere may have a technology that
can sniff out telltale markers early enough to advance treatment. The
challenge: translating potential to real-life results. There's tremendous
hype about the promise of nanotechnology in medicine. Now, the companies
pioneering the field have to prove the promise can become a reality. Among
the players making the rounds at the Biotechnology Industry Organization
convention in Philadelphia is William Moffitt, president and chief executive
officer of Nanosphere, a startup looking to use nanotechnology to
revolutionize the medical-testing industry. "Nanotech is going to create the
next major advance in diagnostics," Moffitt says. (Businessweek 6/21/05)
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2005/tc20050621_8895_tc048.htm
Microsoft woos world's scientists. Microsoft's British research arm is
looking into what kind of software scientists will require in the future.
The company has brought together 40 leading scientists to a meeting in
Venice to discuss their needs... The challenges facing scientists have been
outlined by the man behind the initiative, Stephen Emmott of Microsoft
Research. "By 2020, science will, I claim, be in the process of a profound
transformation as a consequence of the emergence of 'new kinds' of
science'," he wrote in a paper entitled Towards 2020 Science. "For example,
advances in areas such as computational systems biology could re-shape the
health and pharmaceutical sectors as a result of a fundamentally greater
understanding of biological processes, and therefore of disease. "Advances
in artificial chemistry and nanoscience could create entirely new
technology. (BBC 7/1/05) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4638583.stm
Lehigh University's new mission: space, the final frontier. In high-tech
team-up, school will get a hand in James Webb scope. Lehigh University
researchers will work with NASA on what some scientists hail as the most
important astronomy project of the decade - the successor to the Hubble
Space Telescope... Under an agreement announced Tuesday, Lehigh will give
researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration free
access to the school's nanotechnology and electron microscopy facilities. In
return, Lehigh professors get to work on developing technologies for future
Mars rovers and spacecraft, as well as the James Webb Space Telescope -
Hubble's successor and the most expensive space science mission under
development at NASA. ''It looks like nanotechnology will play a big role in
space exploration, and we get to be a part of that,'' said Martin Harmer,
director of Lehigh's Center for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology.
(OrlandoSentinel 6/30/05)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/space/all-a1_5nasajun30,0,5840960.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-space
China to create nanotechnology standards. China this week created a body
that will draw up standards for nanotechnology, an emerging field of
research that seeks to create materials and devices on the scale of atoms
and molecules. Bai Chunli, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
and China's National Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology will head the
National Nanotechnology Standardisation Committee. "The country which
completes the standardisation work first might greatly influence the future
international standards in nanotechnology," said Bai in an interview with
the Xinhua news agency. (SciDev 6/21/05)
http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem&rgwid=5&item=News&itemid=2179&language=1
Brookhaven Scientists Create a New Nanostructure. Scientists from the U.S.
Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have devised a method
to create a new, intriguing nanostructure: ultra-thin, ribbon-like
"nanobelts" bound to nanotubes. Their research achieves several "firsts" in
the field of nanoscience, the study of materials on the scale of a billionth
of a meter. Additionally, the new structure, described in the June 4, 2005,
online version of Nano Letters, is likely to have unique electrical and
mechanical properties, and may be useful in many developing
nanotechnologies. (Physorg 6/26/05) http://www.physorg.com/news4797.html
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
http://www.nanoindustries.com
Personal: http://www.nanogirl.com/index2.html
Foresight Senior Associate http://www.foresight.org
Nanotechnology Advisor Extropy Institute http://www.extropy.org
3D/Animation http://www.nanogirl.com/museumfuture/index.htm
Email: nanogirl@xxxxxxxxxxx
"Nanotechnology: Solutions for the future."
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