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 Beginning November 15, the Continental Western Insurance Group will 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 [...]

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: The Race for a Trillion Dollar Market A popular feature of SME’s annual NanoManufacturing Conference, now brought to you as a [...]

Korea.net informs us of challenging nanotechnology goals for that country: An ambitious government plan seeks to make Korea one of the top three countries for nanotechnology by 2020… “By securing more than 50 of the finest international nanotechnologies by 2020, Korea will create a new industry to emerge as a top three nanotechnology power and [...]

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 in [...]

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: How are the elements of the nanotech start-up ecosystem different from other sectors? First, it is hard to find human talent because a lot of the really interesting breakthroughs happen [...]

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 companies, nurtured on billions of dollars in government grants and venture investments through most of this decade, are getting ready to go public…At the beginning of this decade, nanotechnology [...]

Nanotechnology is booming in Israel, as we learn from Azonano: Israeli Nanotechnology developed greatly since 2005. In addition to receiving an immense sum of funding (the donation matching model has effectively raised $230 million), and being the number one leader of innovations, Israel was recognized by ISI (the Institute for Science Information) as one of [...]

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. A brief summary appears on Phil Bowermaster’s blog The Speculist: Dr. Chin is excited about [the] medical advance that nanoparticles are making possible – particularly with [...]

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 nanoparticles, but [...]

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”: • Authors receive a revenue share of 50% of the related revenue their contributions attract. • Peer reviewers receive a revenue share of 20%. [...]

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: “Next-generation science and technology, and the cool products that are being developed as a result, are captivating subjects,” said Ms. Bourne. [...]

Alexander Zaitchik writes at Wired.com a piece titled Russia Pours Billions in Oil Profits Into Nanotech Race. I’m quoted: “There’s a lot of technical talent in Russia, but not all of the funds allocated to nanotech will be deployed effectively,” said Christine Peterson, a vice president at the Foresight Nanotech Institute, in an e-mail interview. [...]

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: Society-impacting technological change will increasingly come from physical sciences, such as chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering, rather than information technologies, said Matthew [...]

Registration for Foresight’s Nov. 3-4 Vision Weekend focused on nanotechnology and other advanced technologies — traditionally restricted to Foresight Senior Associates — is being opened to the general public this year as an experiment. Space is limited and participants are advised to register very soon. To warm up for our Sat/Sun afternoon unconference, in the [...]

This year as an experiment we are opening up a subset of seats at the Nov. 3-4 Foresight Vision Weekend to members of special groups such as Nanodot readers. The event is usually open only to Foresight Senior Associate members: http://www.foresight.org/SrAssoc/2007 I encourage you to check out this event. Since it is an Unconference, you [...]

[UPDATE: see the comments for some skepticism about this product.] Normally we only expect insulation to save energy, not generate it. Now a nanotechnology-based coating will move the state-of-the-art to the second category, as brought to our attention by Meridian: U.S. company Industrial Nanotech, Inc. is developing a thermal insulation material that can use the [...]

Registration is now open to new and renewing Senior Associate members; cost for Senior Associate members to attend the meeting is $65. Space is limited. Join us! —Christine 1st Foresight Unconference to Be Held November 3-4 in Silicon Valley Event will explore nanotechnology, advanced software, life extension, future technologies Palo Alto, CA — Foresight Nanotech [...]

When we give a nanotechnology prize here at Foresight, we like to track what happens to the winner as his/her career unfolds. We’ve been doing this with Dr. Anita Goel — now President, Scientific Director and CEO of Nanobiosym Labs/ Nanobiosym Diagnostics, Inc. — who won our Distinguish Student Award back in 1999. Most recently [...]

One person whose views on nanotechnology are always worth hearing is VC Steve Jurvetson of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He’ll be speaking at the upcoming Singularity Summit, Sept. 8-9 in San Francisco, but if you can’t get there, you can listen to this ZDNet podcast with Dan Farber in which Steve discusses both nanotech and AI: [...]