A brief article reviews several types of molecular machines that chemists have built to mimic biology and provide movement for future types of nanotechnology.

A tutorial review available after free registration presents a theory-based exploration of the difficulty in moving from simple molecular switches to arrays of artificial molecular machines capable to doing substantial, useful external work.

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.

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 [...]

A new book collects the papers and discussions from the 2007 Solvay Conference “From Noncovalent Assemblies to Molecular Machines”.

RNA nanostructures chemically modified to be resistant to degradation retain 3D structure and biological activity.

Robert A. Freitas Jr. has made available his chapter on nanorobotics from the book The Future of Aging.

A review article presents the amazing features of graphene and discusses how it might complement or replace silicon for the fabrication of electronic devices.

British scientists are investigating telescoping carbon nanotubes as a nanotech replacement for current computer memory technologies.

A new nanotechnology journal titled Nano Research published by Tsinghua/Springer is now available at http://www.thenanoresearch.com/. The journal is published monthly, and will be open-access in 2008 and 2009. The Editors-in-Chief are Hongjie Dai, Stanford University, USA, and Qikun Xue, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. A glance at the Editorial Board reveals many researchers frequently cited in [...]

Like me, perhaps you normally prefer more traditional art: oil paintings, perhaps. But new art can have an important societal purpose beyond its aesthetic value, and artist Nina Waisman has taken on a key nanotech issue to raise in her work: the relation between nanotechnology, sensing, and privacy. From SignOnSanDiego: If airport security were run [...]

Those of us who spend our days looking at innovation would do well to look at the other side now and then. The New Yorker gives us a chance with a book review by Steven Shapin of the book “The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900” (Oxford) by David Edgerton. He [...]

A recent issue of the useful journal Nanotechnology Law & Business includes a review (pdf) by Daniel Moore of J. Storrs Hall’s book Nanofuture: What’s Next for Nanotechnology. The conclusion: Nanofuture: What’s Next for Nanotechnology will be of interest to those looking for an introduction to the concepts of nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing. It is [...]

The Institute for the Future, in a UK-funded study published on the Stanford website, presents eleven outlooks for nanotechnology over the next 50 years: • Better drug delivery through nanotechnology • Carbon nanotubes and lighter vehicles • The coming nanoshell revolution in oncology • The dream of biochemical nanocomputing • Manufacturing with programmable materials “Advent [...]

First a confession: I have not, in fact, read the entire article “Living with Uncertainty: Toward the Ongoing Normative Assessment of Nanotechnology” by Jean-Pierre Dupuy and Alexei Grinbaum of the Ecole Polytechnique in France, published in Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology. It is about 10,000 words long and has a great deal of philosophy [...]

It had to happen: a book in which German philosophers direct their attention to nanotech. (Ethicists and social scientists too.) Excerpts from the English abstracts (pdf), with my commentary inserted: An account is provided of how the purpose of gaining knowledge is reoriented towards purposes of application. This helps clear up the relation of discovery [...]

Foresight director Glenn Reynolds has a new book coming out March 7 which you can order on Amazon now: An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths. Chapter 9, “Empowering the Really Little Guys”, is on nanotechnology. Some excerpts [emphasis added]: “All sorts [...]

In the journal Nanotechnology Law & Business, there’s a book review by J. Steven Rutt of Foley & Lardner titled “Bayh-Dole and Nanotechnology: A Review of University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of American Higher Education”. The abstract: “Nanotechnology joined the Dummies book series in 2005.  While Dummies is a light read, Jennifer Washburn’s grave book, [...]

Jerry Glenn, Director of the Millennium Project sponsored by the American Council for the United Nations University, brings our attention to the 2005 State of the Future report, now available for ordering. He points out that the “Royal Society of Arts in London has just published a distillation, of the distillation, of the distillation of [...]

It's not available until May 6, but on Amazon you can preorder a copy of Nanofuture: What's Next for Nanotechnology by J. Storrs Hall, Ph.D. From the foreword by Eric Drexler: "Reaching a solid understanding of new technology–the understanding necessary to judge its effects–is an intellectual adventure. I could not wish you any better guide than Josh Hall. Before the term 'nanotechnology' had reached a tenth of its current popularity, he had already formed the first worldwide Internet discussion group and led the discussion for a decade. He has done research and development in nanotechnology since the early days, with multiple inventions and discoveries to his credit…You'll get the whole story here." The price is right too: only $18.48.