Christine Peterson points to this press release involving the new center.

"The goal is to merge nanotubes and a host of other Tinkertoy-like nanopieces with organic molecules – DNA, proteins or nanomolecular motors – to create sensors or nanomachines small enough to fit on the back of a virus…. While some of the researchers are synthesizing and characterizing various building blocks, others will integrate them and map out system properties, and still others will develop the tools to manipulate and construct new building blocks and systems. Several researchers will pursue the theoretical basics and limits of new devices."

Foresight Senior Associate Tom Kalil "helped meld the diverse group of researchers into a coherent center that captured the attention of the NSF."

molecool writes "CNN reports that a proposal is now making the rounds to create a partnership between government, academia and the semiconductor industry to foster advanced nanotechnology research in the United States. Could this become something like the Manhattan project for creating the first molecular assembler?"

Anonymous Coward writes "China has embraced nanotechnology. Alexandr Nemets reports on the 'nanotechnology revolution' that has been taking place in China during the past five years. http://www.scidev.net/Features/index.cfm?fuseactio n=readFeatures&itemid=319&language=1"

Benjamin Melki writes "In addition to nanotechnology companies' profiles, Nanovip.com is now listing nano people's profiles (companies' founders, Ceo, Scientists, media.)
Have a look at the profiles that we have registered currently: http://www.nanovip.com/directory/People/index.php
Nano VIP?s are invited to register: http://www.nanovip.com/nanoviptemplate.php?section =vipregister "

David Young writes "The University of Ulster … opened a new Nanotechnology Research Institute at its Jordanstown campus in Northern Ireland: University Opens £8m Nanotechnology Research Institute

Christine Peterson writes, commenting on the news that UT will offer new nanotechnology doctorate. "Brian Korgel, the education director for the Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology, announced the new PhD program. We like his definition: 'Nanotechnology is used to create complex devices at the molecular level'."

David Lackner writes with news of the MIT School of Engineering's Tiny Technologies Initiative. In addition to more generic nanoscale science projects, the research includes Nano-Mechanical Systems: "Examples of exciting projects include tiny microturbines, artificial muscles, and a nanorobot designed to manipulate individual molecules on materials' surfaces."

Delft writes "NEW YORK – The Kavli Foundation and Delft University of Technology today announced the creation of the Kavli Institute of NanoScience Delft. This Institute is among nine new scientific research institutes at leading universities to address major challenges in the fields of cosmology, nanoscience and neuroscience. Of these nine, the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft is the first Kavli Institute outside the United States."

qftconnor writes "I just noticed that IoP has launched a new journal called the Journal of Neural Engineering. According to the Editorial in the first issue, 'The scope of Journal of Neural Engineering encompasses experimental, computational and theoretical aspects of neural interfacing, neuroelectronics, neuromechanical systems, neuroinformatics, neuroimaging, neural prostheses, artificial and biological neural circuits, neural control, neural tissue regeneration, neural signal processing, neural modeling and neuro-computation.' All articles are available without subscription through December 2004. Perhaps the first conference on neuroengineering, held last year in Capri, and the formation of this new journal are signs that the field is becoming mainstream."

Starting publication February 2004, Nanotechnology Law & Business (NLB) "is the first authoritative source of information entirely devoted to the legal, business, and policy aspects of nanotechnology and more generally small scale technologies. NLB will provide valuable expert insights and analysis for all professionals involved in these fast-developing fields."

Two journals have issued a Call for Papers on Nanotech Challenges (print version in pdf). The deadline is June 30, 2004. Particularly welcome are papers on disciplinary challenges, epistemological challenges, ontological & metaphysical challenges, and ethical and sociological challenges.

HLovy writes with news of a project at the University of South Carolina's center for societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology to explore how the ability of science writers to write about nanotechnology can be improved: Nanoscience writers as lab rats

Benjamin Melki writes "We would like to inform the nanotechnology community about the recent launch of our internet site: http://www.nanovip.com. This site is now an international nanotechnology business directory…. We aim to help the nano business community to locate local or international partners, companies or competitors through our organized and searchable database. [We offer] detailed listing capabilities; allowing companies to use maximum page space to describe their business … We invite nano companies to check if they are listed on our site and to register (for free)."

Mike Treder writes "CRN is pleased and proud to announce that we have been designated as 'Best Advocate' and 'Best of the Best' for 2003 by Nanotechnology Now." http://nanotech-now.com/2003-Awards/Best-of-the-Be st-2003.htm

Benj writes "http://www.nanovip.com: a Market for already registered nanotechnology domain names.

from the nanotechnology-goes-to-Washington dept.
Gina Miller writes "House Gets Own Nanotech Legislation to Consider, a story carried on dc.internet.com on Oct. 18, reports legislation introduced into the US House of Representatives that would establish an independent advisory board comprised of leaders from industry and academia to provide oversight related to the government's National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)."

from the making-dents-in-hard-problems dept.
Nanotech Goes Mainstream, an article by Alexandra Stikeman in the October 2002 Technology Review, describes how "The new NanoMechanical Technology Laboratory brings a burgeoning field closer to the real world." The new facility at MIT is equipped with instruments like nanoindentors, atomic force microscopes, and computer workstations for running three-dimensional simulations of materials. These tools help researchers study materials across a range of disciplines and applications, including materials for hard disk drives, composites of biological and inorganic materials, and experiments to discover the mechanical properties of tissues and cells.

from the Learning-to-make-nanodevices dept.
Barbra Rodriguez writes "The University of Texas at Austin just announced a new nanomanufacturing program. In addition, a nanoscience education agreement will be signed by the university's president tomorrow with the rear admiral leading the Naval Undersea Warfare Center" Barbra Rodriguez further states that a press release on the nanoscience education agreement is available, but has not yet been placed on the web.

from the more-bucks-for-bricks-and-mortar dept.
From SmallTimes, New Building to House Nanotechnology Research at UCLA reports that "The University of California, Los Angeles, is getting a new state-of-the-art 180,000-square-foot Nanosystems building." The $70 million institute was funded through private corporate partners and the state of California and is targeted for completion in winter 2004. It will be "part of a larger Nanosystems Institute project with UCSB to build about 280,000 square feet of lab and office space between the two campuses."

from the bucks-for-bricks-and-mortar dept.
waynerad writes "Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories will jointly receive $75.8 million from the DOE for the design and construction of buildings to house the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT). The article says they will pursue the possibility for 'atoms-up engineering' in the long term, but the short-term goals are 'new ways to develop sensors, satellites, and security measures to support our nuclear deterrent'. Also have a look at the fact sheet."