Dismissing Drexler Is Bad for Business, a Betterhumans column by Simon Smith: "Ignoring the potential of molecular manufacturing won't make it go away, so why is the US nanotech industry painting its advocates as kooks?"

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) have found a way to grow silicon nanowires exactly where you need them. According to this news release, this will have an important impact on semiconductor research and might lead to faster computer chips. How does this new approach work? It's surprisingly easy. Raj Solanki and his team used a technique developed decades ago by Bell Labs called vapor-liquid-solid deposition. "The addition of the electrical fields is what's new," said Solanki. He hopes this discovery will lead to gigascale integration (a billion transistors on a chip). This overview gives you more details. It also includes a photo of such silicon nanowires."

Nanotechnology: Replicating the Snowflake in the Fab, an article by Jeff Chappell in the Electronic News, reports the remarks of Thomas Theis, director of physical sciences for IBM research, in a keynote address at the SPIE Microlithography Conference, that containing the cost of fabrication may be the key to implementing nanotechnology in the information technology business.

Vik Olliver writes "Chemical & Engineering News has a report complete with video footage showing carbon nanofibres being created by 10nm particles of nickel catalyst. The nickel is actually temporarily deformed during the process, and the imaging tool brings the precise control of carbon nanofibre -also presumably nanotubes – much closer."

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised the world?s most precise ruler, able to draw parallel lines separated by only a few hundred nanometers with a precision of under a nanometer. This has the potential to have a great influence on fields such as computer chips manufacturing as well as space physics. And, as says the MIT, this is a promising line of work. "The Nanoruler is 10 to 1,000 times faster and more precise than other methods for patterning parallel lines and spaces (known collectively as gratings) across large surfaces more than 12 inches in diameter. Such large surfaces are key to a number of applications involving gratings, such as larger wafers for the production of computer chips and higher-resolution space telescopes." This summary contains more details and references."

HLovy writes with news of a project at the University of South Carolina's center for societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology to explore how the ability of science writers to write about nanotechnology can be improved: Nanoscience writers as lab rats

NanoForum Event "Big Business: Bridging Commercial Applications in BIO-NANOTECHNOLOGY," February 26, 2004 4-9 p.m., UCSD CONNECT offices, 8950 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite A214. Press Contact: Sandra Kay Helsel, Ph.D., ExperiencePR, LLC, 520-325-4636. Local Chapter Organizer: Petar Stojadinovic, 858-776-9352. Media Sponsor: http://www.biotechtoday.net

Bmelki writes "Nanovip.com has established comparative statistics from the number of nanotechnology companies that we have in our database. The companies were sorted by country and American state, then put into graphics. At this stage, America is the leading country by far; California being the leading state with the most nanotechnology involved companies."

JohnFaith writes "This article on nanotechweb.org describes a new virus detector using an AFM."

Paul C. Easton writes "Former Foresight Update editor Lew Phelps brings to our attention that The World & I magazine is soliciting articles about nanotechnology. Specific topics may include nanotechnology applications in materials design, electronics, robotics, health care, environment, energy conversion, transportation, and national security. Articles on the ethical and social implications of nanotechnology will also be considered."

dsiegel_spkn writes "Get a two year degree in nanotech [at Chippewa Valley Technical College]. Well, not quite yet."

Mike Treder writes "CRN Director of Research Chris Phoenix is currently attending a week-long IEEE Conference on Nanoscale Devices & System Integration in Miami, Florida. Chris will present a paper titled "Studying Molecular Manufacturing" at the conference later this week, and he'll be updating us with his impressions every day or two. Here is his first report:"

WillWare writes "From Ananova, a story about Jennifer West's work at Rice University on "nanoshells", remniscent of earlier work at Sloan-Kettering:"

Tiny golden "bullets" could eventually be used to target and destroy cancerous tumours while leaving healthy tissue unharmed… researchers used nanoshells – tiny particles of silica coated with gold – to apply heat to tumours and destroy them using near-infrared light, a type of low-energy radiation.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have constructed a single strand of DNA that spontaneously folds into a highly rigid, nanoscale octahedron. These clonable structures represent a breakthrough because they can be manipulated with the standard tools of molecular biology and can easily be cloned, replicated, amplified, evolved, and adapted for various applications. This opens the way to future nanotools and to the minuscule computers of tomorrow, even if we are quite far from any real products. This overview contains more details. You'll also see a great picture of a clonable DNA octahedron, roughly the size of a small virus."

Roland Piquepaille writes "The nanotechnology research field is pretty fertile these days. Researchers at Harvard recently showed a nanowire which could be the next big diagnostic tool for doctors. Meanwhile, University of Southern California scientists have developed a 'nanosensor' that only works when noise is added. And another Harvard team has developed nanoscale fibers that are thinner than the wavelengths of light they carry which may have applications in ever-shrinking medical products and tiny photonics equipment such as nanoscale laser systems, tools for communications and sensors. This news roundup contains more details and references about these projects. You'll also find a stunning picture of a silica nanowire wrapping a beam of light around a strand of human hair."

rcarlberg writes "The Drexler/Smalley debate skirts the issue, and Drexler's Nanosystems gives it but one dismissive mention (13.3.7), but I can't help wondering about the effect of waste heat on nanomanufacturing."

A letter, End Subsidies for Nanotechnology, published by the Washington Post in response to the story "For Science, Nanotech Poses Big Unknowns" (see Nanodot post) claims that government funding of nanotechnology will undermine self-regulation of industry via the liability market.

Anonymous Coward writes "ECON Corporate Services (ECON) www.Investorideas.com, is pleased to announce the launch of the new domain http://www.nanotechnologyinvestment.com. … The site currently features a growing list of publicly traded companies in the nanotech sector, as well as industry and stock news, articles, links, research and resources for interested investors."

From Foresight president Chris Peterson — Dear readers: I am writing a journal article about the history of the National Nanotechnology Initiative and am having trouble finding a reference. It was a quote (direct or indirect) by Stan Williams of HP on the question of whether naming the new program with the word 'nanotechnology' was seen at the time as causing a problem, due to the word already being associated so closely with molecular nanotechnology (or nanobots, etc — don't remember the wording). I saw this on the web and now cannot find it again. His name might be listed as Stanley rather than Stan. Can you find this URL? I'll come up with some kind of prize for whoever finds one I can use. Email to peterson@foresight.org. Thanks! UPDATE: it may have been taken down, in which case maybe the Internet Archive would have it?

HLovy writes "Having covered the Foresight Institute conference in October and now the business-focused NanoCommerce 2003, I can see now the extent of the contrast between these competing visions. I have not taken any kind of scientific poll, but judging from the conversations I've had with many of the people here, I can safely confirm for the MNT believers something they likely already knew: They are indeed being marginalized by those who speak for the nanotech business community, and proudly so. I used the term "believers" on purpose because one source told me that arguing with a Drexlerian is akin to debating a Creationist: There's simply no winning, since they take their beliefs on faith. I countered that most Creationists do not desire or seek proof — the very definition of faith — whereas MNT proponents are actively pursuing proof.

I don't want to talk about who said what to me and when, yet, since my interviews are not yet complete and I don't want to help launch another round of name-calling, but one of my sources brought up what I feel is a valid criticism of Foresight, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology and others: The more they launch public attacks against those who disagree with them, the less inclined the nanotech business leadership will be to even invite them to the table, for fear their words will be used against them.

For the complete commentary, please see Howard Lovy's NanoBot."