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Josh Hall, on his way to catch a plane, sends us this news from Technology Review’s Katherine Bourzac: Brian Wang over at Next Big Future has an article about improving the properties of aluminum as a structural material by filling with buckytubes, the way plastics are made stronger by filling by fiberglass. This isn’t particularly new: what’s new is that Bayer appears to be able to make nanotubes in enough quantity to [...] The Nanomanufacturing Summit, held in Boston recently, was largely what you would have expected — near-term bulk-tech approaches to nanostructured materials, some interesting research aimed at new electronics, and so forth. Notable, however, was a plenary talk by M. C. Roco, who appears to have changed his tune to the extent of predicting nanorobotics and [...] Last September we wrote that one insurer would “no longer insure against bodily injury, property damage, or personal and advertising injury related to the actual, alleged, or threatened presence of or exposure to nanotubes or nanotechnology in any form.” Now Christine Peterson passes along this item from Rhitu Chatterjee writing in the American Chemical Society [...] It is not clear that there is any real danger from the nanotech products currently in use, but neither is there convincing proof that all are safe. A nanotech technique that can coat any number of common fabrics with a layer of silicone nanofilaments appears ready to produce durable, completely waterproof clothing. A nanotech material that consists of about 50% carbon nanotubes may soon find wide commercial applications in aerospace and other industries. Christine Peterson passes along this item from a recent (September 25, 2008) NanoBusiness Alliance Newsletter: Insurer Excludes Nanotechnology from Policies The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is offering a free webinar on “Today’s Pioneering Nanotechnology Companies: The Race for a Trillion Dollar Market“, presented by Foresight Senior Associate Tihamer “Tee” Toth-Fejel. Today’s Pioneering Nanotechnology Companies: Korea.net informs us of challenging nanotechnology goals for that country: Here at Nanodot and Foresight we tend to focus on more advanced nanotechnology such as devices and systems, but living in the pollen-filled San Francisco Bay Area — where a high percentage of residents have trouble with allergies — we would also appreciate some near-term help with that problem. From Nanowerk on an advance [...] Our favorite nanotechnology VC is Steve Jurvetson, who is interviewed over at LiveMint.com from India, which is affiliated with The Wall Street Journal. An excerpt: A recent article in the Small Business (sic) section of The New York Times reports that nanomaterials-based firms are starting to head toward public offerings: Nanotechnology is booming in Israel, as we learn from Azonano: Foresight president Dr. Pearl Chin was interviewed on nanotechnology by Stephen Gordon and PJ Manney on Dec. 16, and the show can now be downloaded for your listening edification. The reinsurance firm Swiss Re is rather farther along on nanotechnology, but Lloyd’s of London is starting to step up to the question of how to insure nanotech. They had a recent conference to launch their new report Nanotechnology: Recent Developments, Risks and Opportunities (PDF). As one would expect, it mainly focuses on [...] Here’s a different model of research publishing: nanotechnology researchers can now publish their nanotech work and get paid via journal-related advertising and sponsorship, over at AZojono, the “online journal of nanotechnology”: For those of us who can’t get enough nanotechnology info, now there’s a one-hour radio show/podcast every week to download and enjoy while you drive or work out, hosted by industry analyst Marlene Bourne: Alexander Zaitchik writes at Wired.com a piece titled Russia Pours Billions in Oil Profits Into Nanotech Race. I’m quoted: For decades, information technology has been the biggest change agent in technology. Now we see a prediction on CNet News.com that atoms will again step up to a significant role, compared to bits: |
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