A four-step unidirectional molecular motor driven by light and temperature changes catalyzes different chemical reactions at different steps of its rotary cycle.

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.

RNA CAD tools developed for RNA-regulated control of gene expression in synthetic biology successfully engineered metabolic pathways in bacteria. Will engineering RNA-based genetic control systems lead to design tools for other RNA-based molecular machine systems?

Protein-like structures called peptoids can be formed into stable, free-floating nanosheets.

When can we expect advanced nanomachinery to be commercialized? Will any technologies not be affected in some way by advanced nanotechnology?

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.

In a lecture at Oxford Eric Drexler argued that atomically precise manufacturing will be the next great revolution in the material basis of civilization, and discussed how we can establish reliable knowledge about key aspects of such technologies.

Adding a new molecular recognition code to structural DNA nanotechnology—a pattern of projecting and recessed blunt-end DNA helices can be used to code the assembly of DNA origami tiles into larger DNA nanostructures.

The oscillating synthesis and degradation of regulatory RNA molecules was used to produce a molecular clock to control the opening and closing of a DNA tweezers, and also to control the production of another RNA molecule to alter the fluorescence of a dye molecule.

Varying the length of the DNA used to connect the nanoparticles provides for a wide variety of nanoparticle sizes and crystal symmetries.

Tiles made from DNA helices have been made to self-assemble into a more complex structure, which then was used to seed the formation of a complementary structure. This second structure in turn seeded the formation of multiple copies of the first structure.

Engineered bacteria that incorporate unnatural amino acids at multiple positions provide a new tool that may facilitate designing proteins to fold more predictably into molecular machinery components.

Ultrasound was used to pull on polymer chains attached to opposite sides of a chemically almost inert molecular ring, splitting it into its two components.

News articles by Jon Cartwright on the Chemistry World news site and by Michael Berger at Nanowerk describe a significant molecular machine milestone achieved by the research groups of David A. Leigh (winner of the 2007 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for Theory) and Anne-Sophie Duwez. The research was reported in Nature Nanotechnology [abstract]. [...]

Submit your own work or nominate a colleague for the 2011 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes.

Will an inexpensive automated evolution machine accelerate the development of molecular machine systems by simultaneously evolving multiple parts to improve function?

New computational method screens for small molecules that bind to RNA molecules that move through a variety of conformations.

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

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 [...]

Does the recent discovery that quantum tunneling controls a chemical reaction of a carbene complicate theoretical studies of nanotechnology, especially of diamond mechanosynthesis?