New research on public attitudes by U. Wisconsin journalism prof Dietram Scheufele: “Scheufele worked with Cornell University associate professor Bruce Lewenstein on the survey, the results of which will be published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research and Science Communication. “The survey showed that about 25 percent of respondents reported never having heard of the [...]

Early registration ends tomorrow, Sept 1, for the Foresight Conference and/or Vision Weekend. We have been asked whether those affected by Hurricane Katrina can get an extension: Yes, of course. We’ve received some registrations covering all five-and-a-half days of this segmented meeting covering Applications, Policy, Research, and Vision. These hearty conference-goers will receive an endurance [...]

A very quick intro to nanotech investing in Wired News by Joanna Glasner includes some very good advice that one hopes anyone contemplating such an investment will pay close attention to, such as: “Beware of marketing labels: If a company has ‘nano’ in its name, [Matthew Nordan of Lux Research] cautions, that doesn’t necessarily mean [...]

Check out the interview of Foresight president Scott Mize over at Nanotechnology Now on the “Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems.” Excerpt: “The ‘Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems‘ will chart anticipated developments in nanotechnology which will be required to take us from current abilities to advanced nanosystems. The Roadmap will examine what can be developed in [...]

We try not to let Foresight’s activities dominate this blog, but for those of you considering attending the 13th Foresight Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology, Oct. 22-27: the deadline is this coming Thursday, Sept. 1, to take advantage of the early registration fee discount. See the speakers, the program, the Research page, and the list of [...]

VC (and Foresight Participating Member) Norm Wu continues his series of articles on nanotech over at ExtremeNano, this time covering how it will be used in future medical diagnostics, imaging and therapeutics. A sample: “In yet another potentially high impact nanotherapeutic approach, Professor Reza Ghadiri and his group at Scripps Research Institute have developed nanobiotic [...]

Prof. Morinobu Endo of Shinshu University in Japan, widely regarded as a Nobel candidate for his work with carbon nanotubes, speaks out bluntly in an article in RedNova News: ” ‘Nanotechnology is certain to play a crucial role in creating technological innovations in the 21st century,’ says Endo, who is believed to be a Nobel [...]

From Roland Piquepaille: Gecko lizards, which can climb any vertical surface and hang from a ceiling with one toe, have fascinated scientists for a long time. Their foot-hairs have a structure which allow them to strongly adhere to [almost] any type and shape of surface. Now, according to this short news release from the National [...]

Over at GE they’re still bringing “bringing good things to life” or in this case, to light: “The discovery was first announced in the current issue of Applied Physics Letters. An official at the GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna sees promise in the efficiency of the nanotubes. ‘The discovery of a photovoltaic effect in [...]

SmallTimes Online Managing Editor David Forman takes on the question of the definition of nanotechnology in SmallTimes Direct, their free email newsletter: “Should sub-100 nanometer integrated circuits be considered nanotechnology? And, other than for the purposes of allocating National Nanotechnology Initiative dollars, does it matter? “The responses were entertaining, to say the least. Some went [...]

Physorg.com reports on an advance published in the Aug 19, 2005 Science: “Starting from chemically grown, self-assembled structures in which nanotubes are aligned like trees in a forest, the sheets are produced at up to seven meters per minute by the coordinated rotation of a trillion nanotubes per minute for every centimeter of sheet width…Strength [...]

Even if you’re not technical, click through this link to see the excellent graphics: For the first time, a molecular dynamics simulation has been run on the Drexler-Merkle differential gear design. The simulation was done by Mark Sims, President and founder of Nanorex, with the nano-ENGINEER1 simulator using an MM2 force field. Sims responded to [...]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science has released a report describing the basic research needed to produce “revolutionary progress in bringing solar energy to its full potential in the energy marketplace.” The report resulted from a workshop of 200 scientists held earlier this year. The report notes that progress in the proposed research [...]

Jerry Glenn, Director of the Millennium Project sponsored by the American Council for the United Nations University, brings our attention to the 2005 State of the Future report, now available for ordering. He points out that the “Royal Society of Arts in London has just published a distillation, of the distillation, of the distillation of [...]

“How can nanotechnology help the development of fuel cell technology?” If you should know this — but don’t — check out VC Norm Wu’s column on the ExtremeNano site by Ziff Davis. Also covered: nano and solar cells, nanocatalysts, and hydrogen. The nano & energy story isn’t just about production: “Perhaps the broadest way in [...]

UT Austin’s STS Program is sponsoring a Civic Forum on the Societal Implications of Nanotechnology: “This participatory civic event, the first large-scale nanotechnology event of its kind in the world, is designed to set standards for effective stakeholder engagement of nanotechnology’s societal opportunities and challenges.” The program includes 90 minutes of “Civic Participation in Nano [...]

The Center for Bioethics and Culture, which sponsors the Technosapiens conference series, has published an essay by CBC Fellow Jodi Lamoureux on hype in nanotech. After critiquing comments by Richard Smalley, she summarizes: “It is not technology that gives mankind freedom from evil, but mankind that puts technology to good use. The corollary is that [...]

Check out the work of the Computational Nanotechnology Group at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia: “molecular computing is a practical use of nanotechnology for generating glitch and error.” Nanotechnology can now be used to mess up pictures of Superman, Popeye, and James Brown. It can mess up music too. I wonder whether the folks [...]

A claim of a big nanotech advance has been received here at Nanodot, and we pass it along for your review and comment. From the Ansatus website (emphasis added): “The dGrids™ technolgy enables researchers to rapidly integrate self-assembled nanoscale structures into their experiments to leverage precise placement with high yields and all for less than [...]

For those of us tracking nanotechnology in Europe — and who isn’t! — there’s a new report from Nanoforum tracking nanotech centers and networks in EU and associated countries. The winners: “Of the national networks most (22) are coordinated from Germany, with 9 from the UK, and 4 from each of France, the Netherlands, and [...]