The Institute of Nanotechnology is sponsoring a nanotech debate at the Surface Science Summer School in the UK. Organized by Philip Moriarty of Univ. of Nottingham, topics to be debated include: Are nanofactories capable of manufacturing virtually anything with little or no environmental impact really just a few decades away, as some groups are claiming? [...]

From Capitol Reports: Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell has signed Special Act 05 – 13 — an “Act Concerning Nanotechnology, Molecular Manufacturing And Advanced And Developing Technologies At Institutions Of Higher Education” — to help create higher education degree programs in nanotechnology. The new law requires the Commissioner of Higher Education, in consultation with the [...]

(This version of our conference desciption emphasizes the Research days. –CP) Researchers doing groundbreaking work in nanotechnology, or who have innovative scientific results relevant to emerging nanotech, are encouraged to submit abstracts by July 31, 2005, for presentation at the 13th Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology. Unlike special-topic meetings, the Foresight Conference series covers the [...]

Robert F. Service writes an accessible summary in Science on How Far Can We Push Self-Assembly? On the current achievements of chemists using covalent bonding: “Using that trick, they have learned to combine as many as 1000 atoms into essentially any molecular configuration they please.” On the status of work using noncovalent bonding: “Chemists have [...]

Foresight Research Associate Bryan Bruns reports: “Will heavy investments in nanotechnology lead to a North-South nanodivide? In the Policy Forum of the July 1 issue of Science, an article, Small Things and Big Changes in the Developing World, argues that the answer appears to be no. Mohammed H.A. Hassan of the Academy of Sciences for [...]

UCLA chemists have created the first nano valve that can be opened and closed at will to trap and release molecules. The discovery, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, was published July 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The fact that we can take a bistable molecule that behaves as [...]

The first annual Nano 50 Awards for the top nanotech technologies, products, and innovators have been announced by NASA’s Nanotech Briefs publication. Note the inclusion of Harvard’s Charles Lieber, co-chair of this fall’s Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology, for which the abstract submission deadline is July 31. Starting in August, the Nanotech Briefs publication will [...]

You may like the “for Dummies” series, or dislike it, but surely it was inevitable that there would be a Nanotechnology for Dummies book, due out in five days. I can’t tell from the description whether this will be a useful introduction or not, but am always a bit nervous when the first phrase is [...]

Recently there have been a spate of media articles triggered by a July 13 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office to the effect that, as an LA Times piece put it: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect the public from tens of thousands of toxic compounds because it has not gathered [...]

In an Alternet article called The Evolution of Frankenfoods?, there’s a comment on voluntary controls on nanotech: “Jennifer Sass of the Natural Resources Defense Council worries that industry will get its way on voluntary, rather than enforceable, regulations. ‘Having these kinds of joint partnerships and collaborative efforts is a good thing,’ she says, ‘But without [...]

Signal, the publication of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, has a Special Report on nanotechnology in their July issue, including: (1) Small Matters: Nanotechnology could lead to the next arms race; experts debate how to prepare, (2) a piece on the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium, and (3) a story on photo-activated porphyrin nanotubes. [...]

My first column is up over at Always On, and you can rate it on a scale from “Way Off” to “On the $”. Excerpts: “So there’s a big international race on to see which country will lead the Nanotechnology Revolution. How will the U.S. do?…you can have lots of venture capital looking to invest [...]

There’s still time to nominate your favorite potential Prize candidates — even yourself — for the nanotechnology prizes to be given out at this fall’s Feynman Prize Banquet at the 13th Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology: 2005 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory) 2005 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Experiment) New: 2005 Foresight [...]

The nanotechnology committee of ASTM International is holding its first vote, and you can participate. To my knowledge, this is the only open, consensus-based nanotech standards effort. Anyone can join and vote. Membership is US$75, and it’s free for students. Read more for details on how to join and vote.

A useful article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle by Paul Carlstrom — “As solar gets smaller, its future gets brighter: Nanotechnology could turn rooftops into a sea of power-generating stations” — describes the current state of near-term nanotech’s contribution to solar energy technologies. “With nanotechnology, tiny solar cells can be printed onto flexible, very thin [...]

The International Risk Governance Council, an independent foundation started in 2003 at the instigation of Switzerland and based in Geneva, has given nanotechnology top level priority. Their nanotechnology fact sheet explains their plans, which include the usual examination of nanoparticle risks but also fourth-generation issues as well (e.g., nanomanufacturing including self-assembly and robotic systems, and [...]

Longtime Foresight readers will remember Masakazu Aono from his pioneering Atomcraft Project started in 1989. Now he’s working on “Atomic Electronics” based on an “Atomic Switch”; see the report in today’s Japan Nanonet Bulletin. This is interesting, but we were more excited by the earlier bottom-up fabrication work. Dr. Aono has some advice: “Researchers should [...]

Robert Bradbury writes: “Re: House Hearing on: “Nanotechnology: Where Does the U.S. Stand?” June 29, 2005. Sean Murdock’s testimony (pdf available) has some very illuminating graphs and some interesting observations such as: Next, the government must fully and effectively utilize the SBIR and ATP programs to enhance commercialization activity. Many member companies speak of the [...]

From an announcement by Zhejiang University in China: “On June 6th morning, 2005, a sign ceremony of establishment of Zhejiang-California International Institute of Nanotechnology was held at the State University Science Park of Zhejiang University. Being invested with 250 million RMB, the Institute is co-constructed by Zhejiang Provincial government, Zhejiang University and the US California [...]

Robert Bradbury brings our attention to Federal Research and Development Funding: FY2006. He writes: “Though the abstract mentions cutting the NNI by 2.5% to $1.1B the report itself mentions nanotechnology 4 times and several of those are in the context of specific areas that are to receive increased funding (so it isn’t clear to me [...]