Engineering News tells of a study by Frost & Sullivan on how nanotechnology can make a difference in addressing the issue of climate change: The report looked at five areas where nanotechnology could be helpful, which included the areas of fuel additives, solar cells, the hydrogen economy, batteries and supercapacitors, and insulation. In terms of [...]

Small Times brings word of advances in making longer carbon nanotubes. The company involved, Nanocomp Technologies, reminds us why these materials are so intriguing: Individual nanotubes have extraordinary properties as they are: Strong – 100 times stronger than steel. Lightweight – 30 percent lighter than aluminum. Conductive – conduct electricity as efficiently as copper, and [...]

Nanotechwire.com reports on clever work at UCSD on detecting cancer using today’s early nanotechnology-based particles: There is a growing recognition among cancer researchers that the most accurate methods for detecting early-stage cancer will require the development of sensitive assays that can identify simultaneously multiple biomarkers associated with malignant cells. Now, using sets of nanoparticles designed [...]

Here at Foresight we have members with paraplegia and at least one with quadraplegia — it would be great if nanotechnology could help. Advanced nanotech should have cell repair abilities, but what can be done sooner? Medical News Today reports on promising current research: The ability to regenerate nerve cells in the body could reduce [...]

Keith Powers brings to our attention a claim that the German government has started collecting the chemical profiles of individuals, to be used for political purposes. From The Register in the UK: German police are compiling a Stasi-style “scent bank” database of potentially violent crusty protesters against global capitalism, according to reports. An article in [...]

Since it was the potential environmental benefits of nanotechnology that first drew me (and many others) to an interest in the field, it’s good to see some official notice of that aspect. From Cordis via Nanowerk News: Much has been said about the potential of nanotechnologies to revolutionise the way we live, with the biggest [...]

Ian Hoffman reports in InsideBayArea.com: Cal scientist heralds era of nanotechnology Chemistry professor wins prestigious award, $500,000 grant Experts said last week that the early days of nanotechnology, when scientists created new materials at the scale of billionths of a meter, is starting to evolve into a new era of tiny yet complex machines. These [...]

Now we can all explore a French version of the Powers of Ten, produced as part of a nanotechnology exhibit by the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie museum in Paris, brought to our attention by Foresight Senior Associate Gina Miller. Topics covered include Basics, Techniques, Uses, Ethics, “The Debate”, and Nanojourney (the powers-of-ten style [...]

I tell audiences that the day is coming when nanotechnology will be able to tell what they ate or smoked. That day is coming closer, according to Nanowerk News: To this day, fingerprints are just the thing when a perpetrator needs to be arrested or a person needs to be identified. British scientists working with [...]

We’ve written here before about the Environmental Defense/DuPont effort to create a framework to deal with nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks. Now NRDC has issued its own report and framework. An excerpt from the report: The current approach to chemical regulation cannot be relied upon to prevent harm from nanomaterials; it is slow, [...]

The ever-busy folks at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies send word of yet another of their subprojects: a nanotechnology map or “NanoMetro mashup”. Alex Parlini writes: As of this afternoon, I’ve posted a google maps mashup that shows all publicly declared companies, organizations etc working with nanotechnology. To my knowledge, nobody has done [...]

Nanowerk reports on a new nanotechnology ethics database at IIT: NanoEthicsBank. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is their experiment with participatory tagging: In conjunction with the fixed subject terms used in the NanoEthicsBank, we are also developing an experimental “folksonomy” tagging system for the database. A folksonomy is a user-generated taxonomy that uses open-ended labels [...]

If you’re interested in dipping your toe into academic nanotechnology but don’t have time to go back to school, consider the ASME Nano Training Bootcamp this September. It’s mostly top-down, but includes some bottom-up nanotech such as self-assembly and useful tools such as scanning probes. In addition to the lectures at Santa Clara, you’ll get [...]

Aharia Nair brings to our attention the new term Nubot, for Nucleic Acid Robots. Wikipedia explains: Nubot is an abbreviation for “Nucleic Acid Robots.” Nubots are synthetic robotics devices at the nanoscale. Representative nubots include the several DNA walkers reported by Ned Seeman’s group at NYU, Niles Pierce’s group at Caltech, John Reif’s group at [...]

Lung cancer is a terrible disease, and anyone can get it. It’s hard to detect. Now a grad student is making progress at building a detector, reports Azonano.com: “With this technology, a future scenario might be that you go to the doctor every year for an annual checkup; he draws about 10 cc’s of your [...]

The Nanotechbuzz blog gets some traffic, or did, so here’s an opportunity for all you nanotech trackers out there: Creative Weblogging is currently look for a professional blogger to take over the Nanotechbuzz blog. Obviously, applicants should have experience and knowledge about nanotechnology. However, they should also have strong writing skills with a minimum of [...]

Foresight, Battelle, and Working Group members have been working away on our Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems since late 2005. Now the Society of Manufacturing Engineers is pitching in on co-sponsoring the launch conference. Below is the press release; we hope to see you at the conference! —Christine Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems to be [...]

A new art movement called NanoArt has been launched, the founder of which, Cris Orfescu, “considers NanoArt to be a more appealing and effective way to communicate with the general public and to inform people about the new technologies of the 21st Century.” Hey, whatever works. The winner of their 2006 art contest, Darcy Lewis, [...]

To end our week on a cheerful note, Freeman Dyson points to a positive trend affecting nanotechnology in an interview in TCS Daily: I tell young people that the new technologies of computing, telecommunication, optical detection and microchemistry actually empower the amateur to do things that only professionals could do before. Amateurs and small companies [...]

Regular readers of Nanodot know that we often disagree with ETC Group — but not always. They have issued a press release condemning a plan by a private firm to seed the ocean with iron particles in an effort to fight global warming. An excerpt: As worrying, Planktos boasts on their website that the iron [...]