from the Picking-and-placing dept.
Ravi Pandya writes "From Nature, September 12 2002 'Self-healing tweezers' (free registration required):"

The development of optical tweezers for the manipulation of objects at micrometre and submicrometre scales has opened up many new possibilities across the physical and biological sciences. The use of self-reconstructing 'Bessel beams' now extends their potential to allow the simultaneous manipulation of many different objects by a single set of tweezers….

from the More-dollars dept.
Stan Hutchings writes "A Senate subcommittee held a hearing examining U.S. investments in Nanotechnology research. http://computerworld.com/managementtopics/manageme nt/itspending/story/0,10801,74341,00.html"

Foresight Advisor Jamie Dinkelacker points to a c|net article Nanotech funding bill in the wings further describing the proposed funding, "Sen. Ron Wyden has big plans for small technology."

from the what-does-it-all-mean? dept.
Long-time Foresight Senior Associate Richard Smith, now with Alternative Futures Associates, has announced a Forum on Nanotechnology Strategy that

… provides a practical understanding of how nanotechnology will impact how you compete, from recent developments to the frontiers of science. The forum gives you the insight of science visionaries and nano-entrepreneurs, business leaders and policy-makers to fully explore what this journey will mean in real terms for your organization. Only the Forum will help improve the return of your strategic investments in nanotech over the next decade.

Rather pricey, but if you happen to be a senior decision maker for an organization with substantial resources ….

from the rumors-and-speculations dept.
c/net reports Intel to unveil nanotechnology plans at a forum in San Jose next Thursday. A senior vice president of Intel is to reveal previously announced strategies for moving from the current 130-nm chip elements to less than 100-nm elements. The article speculates that unannounced research efforts to be revealed might include carbon nanotube use in chips. A Nanodot post of August 14 2002 reported Intel's first foray into nanotechnology with 'strained silicon' technology.

from the unexpected-outcomes dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "Many nanodot readers are familiar with silicon compilers, programs that design circuitry for computers. In this article from New Scientist, a circuit design program using genetic algorithms unexpectedly generated a radio circuit rather than designing an oscillator as it was told to do."

U6

from the Scientific-Visualization dept.
waynerad writes "Here's a fun website I found: The NASA Nanotechnology Gallery. It has: pretty pictures, powerpoint presentations, and MPEG movies of carbon nanotubes (mostly)."

from the place-your-bets dept.
Enthusiasm of investors for nanotechnology is evidenced by the warm reception given a recent offering of stock by a company that invests in nanotechnology companies that are not themselves publicly traded. Harris & Harris Group Receives Subscriptions For 2,634,614 Shares Of Stock In Rights Offering, available at Stockhouse.com, quotes Harris & Harris CEO Charles E. Harris, "… we can only interpret this successful Rights Offering as strong testimony to our shareholders' desire to put money to work through the Company in tiny-technology enabled investments. We certainly thank our fellow shareholders for their support."

from the big-budget-silver-screen-tiny-tech dept.
Gina Miller writes "Chud.com a portal for movies in development has posted on the front page, news that FOX is intending to film the not yet released book _Prey_ by Michael Crichton. The author has received 5 million dollars for the movie rights of his novel. Quote; 'The details are more covert than Site B operations, but the story apparently involves nanotechnology, and is a political thriller that blends themes from the writer's Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park.' The book will be released in November."

from the artificial-assemblies dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "Business Week highlights the work of chemist George Whitesides and his startup, Surface Logix which plans to build cell-based sensors to help quickly screen new drugs and to build polyvalent drugs that, unlike most conventional drugs, bind to multiple sites on specfic proteins involved in disease. Whitesides hopes to fuse biotech and chemistry to develop novel methods of self-assembly as well."

from the nano-hype-alert dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "An editorial in Forbes magazine points out that some businesses are giving themselves a facelift by joining the word 'nano' in their company titles even though the company has nothing to do with bulk nanomaterials or nanotechnology. A choice quote:"

However, with all the amazing discoveries nanotechnology promises, out of the woodwork comes the hype. Remember in the '80s PC boom, when a slew of companies changed their names to incorporate the phrase "tech" and, more recently, the addition of "dot-com" to brighten up boring corporate logos? Make way for the new "nano" companies:

from the small-points-of-light dept.
Gina Miller writes "The EE Times article Synthesis of nanoparticles coming into focus, by R. Colin Johnson, July 16, 2002, describes progress with two types of nanoparticles: work done at the University of Arkansas on colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, and work done at Michigan's Center for Biologic Nanotechnology on organic dendrimers."

from the seat-of-your-pants dept.
The Next Wave, by Michael Fitzgerald in the July 2002 Issue of Business 2.0, tells how startup Nano-Tex uses 10 nm-long nanowhiskers to make cloth too dense for liquids to penetrate, but still soft enough to wear:

Forget all the futuristic hype about subatomic robots. Nanotechnology is already here, and Burlington CEO George Henderson is using it to save the U.S. textile industry from extinction (and your pants from Beaujolais).

An informative sidebar lists nanotechnology products now available or in development. Founded about four years ago, Nano-Tex was the subject of a Dec. 27 2000 Nanodot post.

from the taking-a-long-view dept.
They've Seen the Future and Intend to Live It by Bruce Schechter in the NY Times (registration required) provides an informed and positive portrayal of the long range outlook that Dr. Ralph C. Merkle and other Foresight members bring to their views of life and the development of nanotechnology. Describing some of what was said at the most recent Foresight and IMM Senior Associates Gathering, the article travels from the National Nanotechnology Initiative and near term prospects to the "far more expansive vision of the future" held by Foresight members, and the link to cryonics, much in the news following Ted Williams's suspension (Nanodot July 10, 2002).

from the how-long-will-it-take? dept.
2012Rocky, writes "Chris Phoenix has an essay at nanotech-now.com on assembler timeline possibilities Ten-Year Assembler Timeline and Weather Forecast

Like most things in nanotech, assemblers are a big topic. Is an assembler even possible? What do we need to do to develop them? Who is working on them? When will we have them? And what will we be able to do with them? That's too many questions for one essay; I'll focus on the technology required to build one, and by extension, the schedule we might see. The point of this essay, as the title implies, is that it's impossible to give a sensible timeline for the development of an assembler."

from the a-really-interesting-government-report dept.
Mr_Farlops writes "A document (Found at the World Technology Evaluation Center site in PDF format.), issued by the US National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce, examines the eventual merger of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science to improve human mental and physical performance. The report's authors recommend that the United States set a national priority to research and develop technologies that will enhance human abilities and efficiencies."

from the first-there-was-Tang-then-there-was-nanomedicine dept.
Gina Miller writes "Sally Pobojewski of the University of Michigan Health System reports U-M scientists to develop nanosensors for astronauts 7/9/02. Quote: 'Along with space suits, freeze-dried food and barf bags, tomorrow's astronauts may travel with nanomolecular devices inside their white blood cells to detect early signs of damage from dangerous radiation or infection. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is investing $2 million to develop this 'Star Trek' technology at the University of Michigan Medical School's Center for Biologic Nanotechnology. The three-year research grant is the largest the Medical School has ever received from NASA, according to James R. Baker, Jr., M.D., who will direct the project' The goal is to monitor infections and the radiation that provokes illness in the astronauts during space travel with devices that could be administered through the skin. UM researchers are also developing nanosensors to detect pre-malignant and cancerous cellular changes in the body funded as ongoing nanotech research by the National Cancer Institute."

On the same topic, Saturngraphix writes "The contemplation of cell monitering for astronauts has been discussed. A rather token 2 million has been set aside for nanosensors (actually, its quite a large sum for the grant but small in the overall picture). The purpose is mainly to track radiation exposure in the astronaut. Here is the link
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/07/02071 1080818.htm
Cheers"

from the yes-we-do-know-something dept.
In Maybe we're all just too dumb to be kept on ice, Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan stops to consider, with a mixture of sympathy and skepticism, what sort of people choose cryonic suspension for their "final arrangements," and why. With apparent awe at his accomplishments in several fields, she quotes an unidentified professor "M & M" whose identity will be easily guessed by most readers of Nanodot. M & M is quoted as saying cryonics is for people "with real goals," and "I've always wondered why people are so happy about dying. We need longevity because we don't live long enough to understand things very well."

Gina Miller writes "Guardian Unlimited Observer has a commentary, We should look forward to the future (30 June 2002) by Charles Leadbeater. The author discusses the fears of future technologies, how it is provoked by certain publications, and how with previous advances there was also fear of those things that now seem mundane. In summary he says: "Science may bring new genetic risks but also new energy sources, cures for disease, ways of growing food, opportunities for communication, cultural expression and democratic debate. The future will be messy and complex, disappointing and surprising, but we should not fear it so much that we seek, Canute-like, to keep it forever at bay." "

Gina Miller writes "In Patently Absurd on Forbes ASAP, lawyer Gary L. Reback argues for change in the way the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office operates. He says, "The patent as stimulant to invention has long since given way to the patent as blunt instrument for establishing an innovation stranglehold." These abuses of the patent system put "vast sectors of the economy off-limits to competition, without any corresponding benefit to the public." Reback attributes the excesses of the past 20 years in large part to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeing its job as generating revenue for the government through patent fees rather than optimally balancing incentive and competition for the benefit of the economy."

Gina Miller writes "An article from EE Times June 25, 2002, says that Rolltronics Corp. announced on Monday they will be developing NanoMem devices. This thin film memory technology is estimated to be five times cheaper than flash memory and store 10 to 100 times more data. NanoMems is based on self assembly and is aimed to be on the market in 2004 in the form of display components like OLEDs and electronic paper."