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The word “planet” means wanderer. The ancients, with their lives lived largely outdoors and without artificial lighting, were much more intimately acquainted with the heavens than are we moderns, unless we specialize in astronomy. They noticed that although there was a fixed pattern of stars for the most part, some of them wandered [...] I suspect many readers have seen Neil Gershenfeld’s TED talk on fab labs, or read his book. In particular, notice the part where he comments that fabs are following the track of computers, currently in the minicomputer stage. You can see the same progression in my keynote for a SME meeting a couple [...] Last week at AGI-09, I chaired a one-day workshop on the future of AGI. (“AGI” means Artificial General Intelligence, which is essentially what the term “AI” meant before 1980: the attempt to build a system that would be the equivalent of a human in its thinking abilities, displaying a robust ability to think, converse, exhibit [...] A method of depositing dense arrays of highly aligned carbon nanotubes on either rigid or flexible substrates promises transparent nanotech transistors for a variety of electronic applications. How well prepared is the FDA to regulate nanotech products? Perhaps not very well, at least in the area of dietary supplements. It is not clear that there is any real danger from the nanotech products currently in use, but neither is there convincing proof that all are safe. A nanotech technique that can coat any number of common fabrics with a layer of silicone nanofilaments appears ready to produce durable, completely waterproof clothing. Carbon nanotubes make nanotech loudspeakers that produce sound without mechanical movement. Nanotechnology researchers in Australia are developing a format for optical disk recording that they expect will be able to store as much as a petabyte on one disk. We mentioned earlier the Harvard Business Review list of Breakthrough Ideas for 2007. Nanotechnology shows up again in another idea on the list — this one rather more controversial. Nanodot and Foresight do not normally do product endorsements, but here’s a first from Foresight director Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, regarding his Thanksgiving experiment with near-term nano: Richard Jones asks: “Why does the molecular manufacturing community seem to have many fewer members in the UK than it does in the USA? I don’t think it’s fair to say that the dramatic vision of molecular manufacturing is pursued in a contextual vacuum – I think there is quite a well-developed world view that [...] nanobot writes "knh productions based in Toronto has made a documentary on nanotechnology. Produced by Ken Hama, Naomi Matsuura and Selva Nair, this documentary claims to explore "the hypes, hopes and facts of this fascinating field as seen through the eyes of award-winning scientists, industry leaders and writers." Find out more" Ed. Note. It would appear that they may have confined themselves to researchers in Canada. None of the cited participants are names that I recognize as major players in "real" molecular nanotechnology. They may have interviewed some very fine scientists but there are a lot of fine scientists who haven't bothered to read (and understand) Nanosystems leaving the open question as to whether such a documentary could be considered balanced. InfoComm writes "The convergence of nanotechnology with the world of communications – nanomobility – creates a whole new industry segment for the commercialization of solutions. When combining nano-scale applications to the Personal Area Network ecosystem, for example, what type of products and services do you foresee in the market 5, 10, 15 years from now?" Roland Piquepaille writes "Let's face it. Our computing devices are going faster year after year. But our laptop batteries don't show the same performance improvement. They still work only for a few hours, just a little bit more than ten years ago. Several companies want to change this, according to this UPI report, "Nanotechnology improving energy options." For example, mPhase Technologies plans to introduce smart batteries based on millions of silicon nanotube electrodes. These nanobatteries, to be introduced before the end of 2005, will last longer than traditional ones and will be respectful of our environment. Meanwhile, Konarka Technologies wants to reduce the weight of batteries with its flexible solar-fueled nanobatteries. You'll find more details and pictures in this overview." Roland Piquepaille writes "Cosmetics companies are always launching new products. And they are increasingly turning to nanotechnology to improve these new cosmetics. For example, L'Oréal introduced nanocapsules in its products since 1995. These nanocapsules release their active components when the skin's enzymes dissolve their envelopes. Now the company wants to closely look to your individual skin. It has developed a sensor on a chip, the SkinChip, in collaboration with STMicroelectronics. In "Skin Science," ScienCentral News says that the SkinChip takes very detailed images of your skin, up to the nanoscale level. The company hopes that it will help to tailor its products to individual customers. This overview contains more details and pictures." Gina Miller writes "Tired of re-reading those same old boring statistics on your cereal box, well I bet you would have loved to have this one on your breakfast table this morning! The German division of the Kellogg company has afforded room for nanotechnology on the entire backside of their 'Toppas' cereal. Now you see it … (PDF file)." JeremyTurner writes "Here is an abstract I proposed in 2003 about MNT's potential impact on the contemporary artworld. I was hoping to get some feedback from Nanodot users about the subject and advice as to the types of venues and resources that are currently available for me to publish this abstract and develop the research in further detail. Phil Bowermaster reflects on the implications of radical life extension for the human lifestyle: "Life in Abundance". from the invitation-for-discussion dept. [Editor's note: the mandate for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (currently) includes a component to examine the "societal implications" of nanotechnology. To date, the most significant result of this part of the initiative has been a NSF report issued early in 2001.] |
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