The annual meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. (AIChE) will include a number of special sessions on Nanoscale Science and Engineering. The conference will be held in Reno, Nevada from 4-9 November 2001.

from the me,-too dept.
An indication of the increasingly common "me, too" scramble to get into nanotechnology can be found in this editorial from CityBusiness, a commerce journal in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area ("State needs to get involved in nanotechnology", 25 May 2001) by Jack Uldrich, Deputy Director Of The Minnesota Office Of Strategic And Long Range Planning.
After providing a lengthy list of nanotechnology research programs around the country and around the world, Uldrich says, "Can Minnesota afford not to get more involved in this exciting area of science — an area that is going to revolutionize everything from health care and the semiconductor industry to the energy, telecommunications and automotive sectors?
"I don't believe so, and that is why I would like to call for the establishment of a private-public commission to develop a strategy for how Minnesota can grow and profit from the inevitable changes that nanotechnology promises."

from the budding-nanotechnologists dept.
Stuart Scott spotted this article from InfoWorld reprinted on the Small Times website: "There is an article in Small Times about the work of a summer intern that could be useful."

The article describes the work of Alex Wissner-Gross, a student intern at the MITRE Corporation in 1998 (he is now at MIT) in developing a system using "pattern structures to manipulate nanoscale objects. Alex's improvement generates millions of "nanofingers." These fingers might be used one day to handle multiple molecular-scale objects and possibly lead to mass-produced nanoscale computers."

The article actually devotes greater length to the excellent student intern program at MITRE, which has generated some excellent work in the field of nanotechnology under the guidance of James Ellenbogen, the Principal Scientist in the Nanosystems Group and also head of MITRE's summer employee program. An alumnus of the program, Christopher Love, won the 2000 Foresight Distinguished Student Award for his work in architectures for molecular electronic computers and nanomanipulation of structures on surfaces. He has contributed to nanotechnology research for seven years at three major U.S. research laboratories, starting in MITRE's Nanosystems Group at age 16.

from the even-smaller-is-bigger-in-Texas dept.
vik writes "According to this article in the Dallas Business Journal, Zyvex's James Von Ehr is donating $2.5M for a new nanotechnology research center in the University of Texas. The state is also contributing $0.5M to the project."

Additional details about Von Ehr's contribution for the nanotechnology center at the University of Texas can be found in this article from Dallas-Fort.Worth TechBiz (5 March 2001)

TanMauWu writes "Wired has a story about "smart dust" that researchers at UC Berkeley have developed, which are essentially tiny light and temperature sensors that can network together. The suggested use for these sensors is to put lots of them in every room in a building and tie them all to a main computer that can regulate energy usage in the building to save energy. Of course, we can all think of *other* possible uses for this, can't we? Not quite true utility fog, but we're getting there."

from the computing-with-microbes dept.
Patrick Underwood writes "A short New Scientist article describes the work of Michael Simpson, Gary Sayler and James Fleming of Oak Ridge, who have modified _Pseudomonas putida_ bacteria cells to produce AND and OR gates. Online at http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999778"

from the let's-talk-about-this-a-little-sooner dept.
Charles Vollum writes "Michio Kaku was interviewed on Art Bell's May 24th, 2001 "Coast to Coast AM" show. Dr. Kaku was asked about the Gray Goo problem, which had been described in an April 24th interview with Mark Pesce. Basically, his response was not to worry: assemblers are not possible in the near future because we don't know enough to build a self-repicating machine on a table top, let alone at the atomic level. He suggested that "mid-century, we should talk about this again."

Listen to a short clip in MP3, or click here to stream the entire show. (The comments on nanotechnology occur in the show's final minutes.)"

from the World-Watch dept.
According to an article in the Korea Herald ("MOST draws up 10-year plan for nano technology", by Yang Sung-jin, 25 May 2001), the South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has drawn up a ten-year master plan to nurture nanotechnology in that country. The plan, part of a bid to position South Korea as one of the top 10 nations in the field by 2010, includes three stages, "with the government pouring 1.37 trillion won in state and private investments into the project in a bid to pave the way for the introduction of NT infrastructure within five years." The ministry said it would hold a forum on the project plan before finalizing the details in July.

from the looking-ahead dept.
In a brief interview ("Expert Ralph Merkle on nanotechnology", by K. Hearn, 23 May 2001) conducted by United Press International, Zyvex research fellow and Foresight advisor Ralph Merkle , talked about molecular assemblers, applying open source development methods to nanoscience, and the future of nanoscience research.

from the mind-children dept.
A cover story in a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report ("The Age of Robots", by Thomas Hayden, 23 April 2001) takes a look at research and development work on humanoid robots, artificial intelligence, and what they might mean for the future.

As the article concludes, "it seems clear that big changes are coming, and while humans — the flesh and blood type — usually manage to adapt to technological change, the period of adjustment can sometimes get pretty uncomfortable. As with any new technology, there will certainly be some unintended, and quite possibly unpleasant, consequences as robots begin to play a regular role in our day-to-day lives, USC's Mataric [Maja Mataric, a computer scientist and roboticist at the University of Southern California] notes. But she's confident that the potential benefits outweigh the risks. "I hope society is strong and wise enough to stop abuses without stopping science," she says, "but I think all of that is still a long way off." Before anyone has to start really worrying about our place in the future, the techies have a heck of a lot more work to do."

from the World-Watch dept.
Jeremy Tachau sent notice of an interesting overview of nanoscale science, research and technology development in Switzerland that can be found at the TOP NANO 21 Technology-Oriented Program web site, posted by the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. Two graphic charts, with links, (on the web here, and here) show how the program is classifying nanoscale science and research.

bbrelin spotted this item on the Technology Review web site on the work of a team from the University of Cambridge (U.K.) who have developed a method for producing large numbers of uniform nanotubes with predictable properties. According to the article, the "technique for growing nanocrystals yields perfectly aligned, dense groves of single-wall nanotubesóand controls exactly where the crystals are deposited

from the sorting-things-out dept.
alison writes "A recent posting on the Advanced Light Source website describes how UCSF researchers have figured out the structure and mechanism of selective cell membrane channels in E. coli. The channel in question, called GlpF, admits glycerol and water into cells, but not ions. This research has important implications not only for our understanding of how cells regulate their chemical environment, but also for stimulating new ideas about manipulation and selection of molecules for molecular assembly projects."

from the here-comes-the-nanobubble dept.
Tech Finance News (19Mar01) ran a cover story entitled Nanotechnology Turns Heads: "Anticipated breakthroughs in nanotechnology and their impact on IT are prompting investors to take notice of the fledgling molecular technology companies… Some, who are already convinced of the promise of the nascent technology, plan to step-up or make initial investments in the space. Nanotechnology, in general, treats atoms as computers treat bits of information…" Funders mentioned include Mission Ventures, Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Charmex Ventures, and Durlacher. Read More for quotes.

from the adapting-to-Mother-Earth's-tantrums dept.
Senior Associate Douglas Mulhall has authored Preparing for Armageddon: How We Can Survive Mega-Disasters in the May-June issue of The Futurist: "A host of resilient technologies based on genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology — GRAIN for short — will help us adapt to environmental extremes" including possibilities such as rapid-escape vehicles, extreme engineering, robotic work crews, environmentally benign products, and disaster-proof people. Not available online, you'll need to buy a paper copy (neither futuristic nor environmentally benign — why can't The Futurist get online?).

from the nanotech-for-futurists dept.
A special event at the World Future Society's annual conference, FutureScope 2001, will be Nanotech and MEMS Futures: "This session is based on Eric Drexler's vision of molecular nanotech vs. nanoscale science and technology, including comparisons of Macro, Micro, Meso, and Nano scale and overviews of their potential capabilities." Led by David Keenan (BF Goodrich Advance Micro Machines) and two Senior Associates, Hank Lederer and Steven Vetter (president, Angstrom Tools).

from the end-of-an-era dept.
An article in the June 2001 issue of Technology Review Magazine reports ("Trailing Edge: Coffee Cam") that a venerable icon from the early days of the Web — the coffee cam in the Trojan Room at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory — will be retired later this year. According to the article, "The University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory will move to new quarters later this year, and the coffeepot and its camera–after 10 years of cult fame–will retire."

The coffee cam, which was the first video feed connected to the Internet, was originally connected to the local network at the lab in 1991, and made its debut on the World Wide Web a few years later.

from the molectronics dept.
A series of articles in the May 2001 issue of Fortune Magazine ("The New World Order") attempts to highlight the likely next generation of technologies where investors and entrepreneurs can make their own fortunes. In one article ("In Search of the Silver Bullet"), the magazine "paid visits to five in-the-trenches innovators, each on the verge of what could be a breakthrough discovery."

One of the five is UCLA researcher James Heath, whose work in molecular electronics is profiled ("Building Chips, One Molecule at a Time"). According to the article, "Heath thinks he might be able to build a rudimentary computer within a couple of years. "It won't be a computer you'll be proud of," he says, "but it will work." Then, he believes, if he can scale the whole thing up to a capacity of one megabyte . . . molecular computing becomes, as Heath puts it, "an engineering project"–in other words, a technology that companies can begin to muck around with themselves."

from the please-comment dept.
It's been fifteen years since Engines of Creation (or see free online version) came out — time for a new book looking at coming technologies. Read More for an initial chapter topic list, target readership, and a list of specific items requested from those wishing to help with the book. Comment by posting here on nanodot in the usual way, or you can use Foresight's annotation tool Crit.org to insert comments at specific locations in the text.

from the gene-blues dept.
In an extensive article in The New Republic ("Preventing a Brave New World", May 2001), Leon R. Kass considers some of the moral, ethical, philosophical and legal issues surrounding the possibility of human cloning, and argues that it should be banned. "Human nature itself lies on the operating table," Kass asserts, ìready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic 'enhancement,' for wholesale re-design . . . evangelists are zealously prophesying a post-human future."

Kass, a professor at the University of Chicago and co-author of a book on the ethics of cloning, appears to assume that a "post-human future" implies a future without humans (or at least, human values — as he defines them) when he writes, "No friend of humanity cheers for a post-human future." A ban on human cloning, Kass concludes, is necessary because "Now may be as good a chance as we will ever have to get our hands on the wheel of the runaway train now headed for a post-human world and to steer it toward a more dignified human future."

While focused on human cloning and biological procreation, the article provides a possible insight into how some segments of society may react to the development of non-biological enhancements to human beings, as well as entities with artificial intelligence.