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.

A new polymer that disintegrates in response to harmless radiation that can penetrate several inches into human tissue may lead to nanoparticles that release their drug cargo only at a desired time and place.

To counter the threat of evolved or engineered resistance of pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics, Darpa proposes to use nanotechnology to develop “Rapidly Adaptable Nanotherapeutics”.

Will the integration of a single-crystal material with “giant” piezoelectric properties onto silicon make possible scanning probe microscopes on a chip?

This contribution has been forwarded by Ivo Rivetta. The primary forces on the nanometer scale are scaled versions of what we experience on a day to day basis. Instead of gravity, surface forces such as water tension and electric charge dominate. As an example, compare wet basketballs and wet sand. The weight of the basketballs [...]

Yarn woven from carbon nanotubes provides a thousand times more rotation than is obtained from other artificial muscles, and could be made into motors to provide propulsion for micrometer-sized medical nanorobots.

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

Nanotechnology has been applied to produce various types of nanoparticles that can deliver toxic agents specifically to the cancer cells. Many of these approaches have shown promise in animal studies. One approach using magnetic nanoparticles has now gone into trials in patients. From “Nano-therapy that cooks deadly brain tumors advances in Germany,” by Ryan McBride: [...]

Christopher William Ince Jr. writes about a new insight into how nanotubes grow, which may lead to even more useful technological applications for these nanostructures: Physicists Zhifeng Ren and Hengzhi Wang of Boston College have discovered two initial stages of carbon nanotube growth previously obscured during the growth process. What the researches found is that [...]

Growing heart cells in a scaffold containing gold nanowires produces a tissue patch that is thicker and in which the cells beat synchronously as they do in healthy heart tissue.

Growing semiconductor nanowires along crystallographic planes of sapphire provides well-structured nanowires with excellent optical and electronic properties.

A green nanotechnology roadmap released by the American Chemical Society describes the opportunities and barriers to developing commercial applications of nanomaterials that present little threat of harm to health and the environment, and concludes with an action agenda to more forward.

DNA nanotechnology provides cell-surface sensors for real-time monitoring of single cells, including potential use in personalized medicine to test which drugs would be suitable for which individuals.

The world’s first synthetic organ transplant was a replica windpipe made from a nanocomposite scaffold seeded with the patient’s own adult stem cells.

We’re going to take a shot at doing a live webcast of Foresight@Google: 25th Anniversary Conference and Celebration. See this page for schedule and link: http://foresight.org/reunion/schedule.html It’s free so please have patience if we run into any technical difficulties. You can try sending questions to speakers by using this Twitter tag (though in-person participants get first [...]

Just a quick note to let you know that the registration deadline for our 25th Anniversary Conference and Reunion weekend is midnight, this Wednesday June 22nd FORESIGHT@GOOGLE 25th Anniversary Conference Celebration & Reunion Weekend Google HQ in Mountain View, CA June 24-26, 2011 http://www.foresight.org/reunion $50 off with code: NANODOT You’ll be stimulated, enlightened and inspired [...]

Treatment of mice previously infected with a lethal dose of flu virus with a nanotechnology-based drug lowered viral load a thousand fold.

I. Foresight@Google: Registration Deadline – Wed June 22nd II.  Open Foresight Reception in Palo Alto – Friday June 24th III. Senior Associates Reunion Banquet – Saturday June 25th IV. Thiel Foundation’s 20Under20 to attend Foresight@Google ================================== I. Foresight@Google Registration Deadline – Wednesday June 22nd Foresight@Google – June 24-26, 2011 25th Anniversary Conference Celebration & Reunion Weekend [...]

The interactions of xenon atoms with a nanoelectromechanical system have now been measured to characterize the statistical noise caused by atomic fluctuations.

We are proud to announce our final conference program for Foresight@Google‘s 25th Anniversary Conference Celebration, held June 25-26 in Mountain View, CA.  For $50 off registration use code: NANODOT This weekend – full of plenary talks, panels, and breakout sessions – is a unique opportunity to be stimulated, enlightened and inspired by direct interaction with [...]