How small could a molecular switch be made? It is difficult to think of one smaller than the single proton switch just demonstrated by this group in Germany.

A tutorial review addresses the distinction between the many simple artificial molecular devices that are currently available and truly effective artificial molecular machines that would mimic the ubiquitous molecular machines present in living systems.

In a lecture at Oxford Eric Drexler argued that atomically precise manufacturing will be the next great revolution in the material basis of civilization, and discussed how we can establish reliable knowledge about key aspects of such technologies.

Adding a new molecular recognition code to structural DNA nanotechnology—a pattern of projecting and recessed blunt-end DNA helices can be used to code the assembly of DNA origami tiles into larger DNA nanostructures.

Small DNA molecules fluoresce in the presence of specific transcription factors, sensing which genes are being expressed in that cell, potentially allowing cancer treatments to be personalized, and the quality of stem cells to be monitored.

Electron tunneling drives a conformational change in each wheel of a four-wheel drive, single molecule nanocar, driving it across a copper surface.

The oscillating synthesis and degradation of regulatory RNA molecules was used to produce a molecular clock to control the opening and closing of a DNA tweezers, and also to control the production of another RNA molecule to alter the fluorescence of a dye molecule.

Varying the length of the DNA used to connect the nanoparticles provides for a wide variety of nanoparticle sizes and crystal symmetries.

This contribution has been forwarded by Ivo Rivetta. Researchers at UC Berkeley have taken a bioinspired approach to control the nanostructure of deposited thin films. In living organisms, the orientation of collagen in tissue determines its properties: For instance, a number of blue-skinned animals, including the mandrill monkey, derive their coloring not from pigment, but [...]

Tiles made from DNA helices have been made to self-assemble into a more complex structure, which then was used to seed the formation of a complementary structure. This second structure in turn seeded the formation of multiple copies of the first structure.

The Singularity University Executive Program recently took on the challenges of advanced nanotech: Nanotechnology: How should we evaluate the environmental impact of human-made machines that are too small to see? What limits should be placed on self-replicating nanodevices? What defenses should we institute against malevolent uses of such technology? These questions were asked by Marc [...]

A complex piece of DNA that acts as a biological computer when it is inserted into cells determines whether or not the cell is a specific type of cancer cell, and if so, initiates the suicide of that cell.

An algorithm helps design peptides that will self-assemble on a given surface to produce a supramolecular structure of desired geometry.

Engineered bacteria that incorporate unnatural amino acids at multiple positions provide a new tool that may facilitate designing proteins to fold more predictably into molecular machinery components.

Automated diffraction tomography provides rapid determination of structure of zeolite to atomic precision.

Ultrasound was used to pull on polymer chains attached to opposite sides of a chemically almost inert molecular ring, splitting it into its two components.

Electrons from a scanning tunneling microscope cause a molecule of butyl methyl sulfide to rotate about a single sulfur atom attached to a copper surface.

News articles by Jon Cartwright on the Chemistry World news site and by Michael Berger at Nanowerk describe a significant molecular machine milestone achieved by the research groups of David A. Leigh (winner of the 2007 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for Theory) and Anne-Sophie Duwez. The research was reported in Nature Nanotechnology [abstract]. [...]

Those interested in issues of communication at the nanoscale will be interested to learn that the first volume of the new journal Nano Communication Networks, from Elsevier, edited by Ian Akyildiz, is available free of charge. The volume comprises four issues dated March through December of 2010. Just to pick one article out of dozens [...]

Submit your own work or nominate a colleague for the 2011 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes.