Apply by December 31 for one of 20 $100,000 grants offered by the Thiel Foundation to those under 20 to develop their entrepreneurial dreams.

Scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts can help bolster the understanding of and enthusiasm for nanotechnology in local communities with a little help from National Chemistry Week (October 21st-27th) and other user-friendly, volunteer programs.

A new online game allows players to design RNA molecules. The most promising designs are synthesized, and the players given real-world feedback on how well their designs worked.

Foldit game players have again out-performed scientists in protein design, this time improving the design of a protein designed from scratch to catalyze Diels-Alder cycloadditions.

The Thiel Foundation is offering $100,000 grants to innovators age 19 or younger who want to skip college and focus on their work, their research, and their self-education—Deadline Dec 31.

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 [...]

Over at Wired.com: A New York Hall of Science staffer has made a rap video to introduce kids (and probably quite a few adults) to the basics of nanotech.  The refrain will help them remember the definition of a nanometer, and the Foresight message comes through: “But with great power comes great responsibility!”  The subtitles [...]

Excellent lineup of speakers again this year for the Open Science Summit, Oct. 22-23, and you can get in for only $100 if you register by this Friday:  http://opensciencesummit.com Hope to see you there!  —Christine Peterson, President, Foresight Institute

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Foresight is having our 25th anniversary conference and celebration at Google, and we want you there! Use code NANODOT for $50 off on: FORESIGHT@GOOGLE 25th Anniversary Conference Celebration & Reunion Weekend Google HQ in Mountain View, CA June 25-26, 2011 http://www.foresight.org/reunion Topics are emerging tech with special emphasis on transformative nanotech. A rockstar lineup of [...]

Midnight tonight Pacific time is the deadline for the early registration rate on Foresight@Google, our 25th Anniversary Conference and Celebration. Check it out here: http://foresight.org/reunion Past participants have said: “This is mind candy for my soul. Having attended for two years now, this event stands alone in my mind as an opportunity to explore new horizons, [...]

A poll of NewScientist readers selected medical nanorobots as the technology that will have the biggest impact on human life in the next 30 years.

A list of the “Top 50 Blogs by Scientific Researchers” includes Nanodot among blogs focusing on open source and open access, academia, projects funded by organizations, and news produced by writers who research science.

US National Nanotechnology Initiative wants your comments on its strategic plan.

Video footage of conference focused on “Updating the social contract for Science”

We have reports from a couple of Foresight members who have toured the Allosphere, part of the California NanoSystems Institute at UC Santa Barbara, and it sounds truly impressive. From their website: The AlloSphere, a 30-foot diameter sphere built inside a 3-story near-to-anechoic (echo free) cube, allows for synthesis, manipulation, exploration and analysis of large-scale [...]

Projects exist for aggregating personal computers into one large project for various worthy purposes, from space to biology research, some nanotech-related such a protein folding.  Now IBM has a similar project with the goal of developing nanotechnologies for clean water.  From Grist.org: In China, Tsinghua University researchers, with the help of Australian and Swiss scientists, [...]