For a visionary look at space applications of nanotech, see a new column over at Nanotechnology Now. An excerpt: Occasionally astronauts have to leave their spaceships, so researchers at Northeastern University and Rutgers University propose that we protect the astronauts by including layers of bio-nano robots in their spacesuits. The outer layer of bio-nano robots [...]

Here’s a cheery note to end our week on: There’s been lots of coverage of recent work by Northwestern’s Prof. Samuel Stupp’s work using today’s nanotechnology materials to tackle paralysis. An excerpt from NanoTechWire.com: In a dramatic demonstration of what nanotechnology might achieve in regenerative medicine, paralyzed lab mice with spinal cord injuries have regained [...]

The winners of this year’s Lego engineering contest were inspired by nanotechnology concepts to design a robot to clean plastic from the ocean: For the competition, the students had to prepare a presentation on this year’s theme — nanotechnology, or molecular-size machines. They looked for a nanotech application that could clean up small, degraded plastic [...]

If helping the environment is one of your top goals for nanotechnology — as it is for us here at Foresight — you may want to check out this Thursday’s nanotech webcast from the busy folks at the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center. They’re releasing a new report titled “Green Nanotechnology: It’s [...]

The folks over at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies have been busy, as summarized on their NanoFrontiers page. First we have a report (2 MB pdf) from their NanoFrontiers Workshop, written up by Karen Schmidt. A couple of excerpts: It seems that the sky is the limit on what might one day be [...]

BusinessWeek.com reports that nanotechnology is the next big thing in Russia: Russia will pour over $1 billion into equipment for nanotechnology research over the next three years as it uses massive oil and gas export earnings to diversify an economy now heavily dependent on raw materials, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday. “(Nanotechnology) [...]

Michael Berger of the useful Nanowerk website has produced a clarification essay on the size of the nanotechnology market, helping to put the hype in perspective. Some excerpts: First of all, these market size forecasts are dealing with what is called evolutionary nanotechnology. The goal of evolutionary nanotechnology is to improve existing processes, materials and [...]

Next time you’re heading out to climb Mount Everest, take advantage of today’s early nanotechnology and be sure to bring your nanomaterials-based ice axe: C.A.M.P. proposes an innovative, lightweight ice axe which combines a 7075 aluminium head and shaft with a point riveted to the pick, made out of innovative Sandvik Nanoflex® stainless steel. This [...]

Oregon State researchers led by Pui Shing Ho, professor and chair of the OSU Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, have “re-discovered” and are now exploring the uses of the halogen bond for nanotechnology. From the PNAS abstract: The halogen bond, a noncovalent interaction involving polarizable chlorine, bromine, or iodine molecular substituents, is now being exploited [...]

We mentioned earlier a request for comment on a proposed Nano Risk Framework for approaching nanotechnology materials safety organized by Environmental Defense and DuPont. Now a different group of organizations has come out against that framework. Their statement is titled “Civil Society-Labor Coalition Rejects Fundamentally Flawed DuPont-ED Proposed Framework“. An excerpt: We reject outright the [...]

A wide-ranging interview of NSF’s Mihail Roco includes an opinion on the rate of advance of nanotechnology toward its more advanced stages: If you look toward the future, the field is moving very fast from studying simple components – like nanotubes, nanoparticles, quantum dots – to studying active devices and nanosystems. We are also beginning [...]

For nanotechnology watchers who are experiencing nanotube fatigue, Scientific American recaps a newer nanotech material capturing the imagination: Called graphene, it is essentially a nanotube unrolled—a single layer of atoms arranged like a honeycomb. The difference may sound cosmetic, but when the goal is manipulating things that are a few atoms thick, going from tube [...]

Since the concept of nanosystems first arose, people have asked “how will these things be powered?” Now there’s another answer from Z.L. Wang at Georgia Tech, in a paper published April 6 in Science. Extremetech explains: The generators use a series of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowires that move inside a zigzag plate electrode. These [...]

Small Times reports on a meeting held in Oregon among a wide variety of nanotechnology-based business participants, at which many commercialization challenges were discussed. One was difficulties encountered with the U.S. Patent office: Start-ups expressed frustration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Long waits for patent award decisions make it difficult for them [...]

Gazette.net reports that nanotechnology is bringing dramatic advances: Imagine not having to go to the doctor when you are sick. No medicine, no popping pills. Instead, tiny cell-like machines in your body would already be at work manufacturing medicine and delivering it exactly where it is needed. University of Maryland researchers say these ‘‘nanofactories” may [...]

In the long term, we’ll need effective security techniques for advanced nanotechnology-based systems. This will take a while to figure out, so come help us do it at an upcoming open source conference, Penguicon: Open Source-style Security for the Whole Physical World Christine Peterson, Bruce Schneier One of the biggest problems society faces this century [...]

Here on Nanodot we mentioned earlier a nanotechnology survey article titled Synthetic Molecular Motors and Mechanical Machines by Euan Kay, David Leigh, and Francesco Zerbetto. I have a paper copy now and have to admit that it is indeed worth $25, but that the 24-hour online access offered by the publisher at that price would [...]

It’s hard for us macroscale beings to get a gut feel for the extreme size differences between, say, ourselves and nanoscale objects. The old “Powers of Ten” illustrations helped, but now there’s a new online version from Nikon called Universcale, which shows from 1026 to 10-15 meters. One billionth is such an unimaginable, unrealistic smallness. [...]