As we close out Nanodot for 2007, we note some predictions for the future of nanotechnology through 2025 from Peter von Stackelberg: “Between the end of the first decade of the 21st century and 2025, a number of gamechangers will need to occur if nanotech is to advance significantly,” von Stackelberg says. These gamechangers include: [...]

A recent article in the Small Business (sic) section of The New York Times reports that nanomaterials-based firms are starting to head toward public offerings: Nanotechnology companies, nurtured on billions of dollars in government grants and venture investments through most of this decade, are getting ready to go public…At the beginning of this decade, nanotechnology [...]

Only four days left to make your 2007 donation to Foresight, and help us complete our Challenge Grant. See the Challenge web page to see how close we are to meeting our goal. From the page: Please consider making a one-time donation, or renewing/upgrading your membership, to qualify for matching of your donation. You’ll be [...]

From Physorg.com, a description of some theoretical nanotechnology work that could lead to more efficient molecular machines: …R. Dean Astumian, a Physics Professor at the University of Maine, has recently proposed a concept in which molecular machines can operate arbitrarily close to chemical equilibrium at every instant of the cycle, and still perform work at [...]

Nanotechnology institutes are usually approved by a government research agency, university, or CEO, and funded by that agency, university, or corporation. Not so in Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia plans to set up a nanotechnology institute. The proposal has been approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, according to Dr Abdullah [...]

Enough with the nanoparticles already — we want molecular nanosystems. Los Angeles will be the place to be this January when two powerhouse academic institutions come together to push forward toward this goal. Here’s the scoop, in full, as received by email: California NanoSystems Institute and Kyushu University Global COE Present Joint Symposium on Molecular [...]

After 20 years of delivering Foresight’s message, we see it popping up everywhere, most recently in law school: For the first time in history, we know something is coming that carries great potential and possible grave danger. The technology will revolutionize much of how we live in the world. The question becomes, how, as a [...]

We hope you find Nanodot useful all year long. Now we need some assistance from our loyal readers: we have a Challenge Grant going, with every dollar you donate being matched one-for-one up to US$40K. But as of today we’re only about a quarter of the way to our goal. You can track our progress [...]

Nanotechnology is booming in Israel, as we learn from Azonano: Israeli Nanotechnology developed greatly since 2005. In addition to receiving an immense sum of funding (the donation matching model has effectively raised $230 million), and being the number one leader of innovations, Israel was recognized by ISI (the Institute for Science Information) as one of [...]

Foresight president Dr. Pearl Chin was interviewed on nanotechnology by Stephen Gordon and PJ Manney on Dec. 16, and the show can now be downloaded for your listening edification. A brief summary appears on Phil Bowermaster’s blog The Speculist: Dr. Chin is excited about [the] medical advance that nanoparticles are making possible – particularly with [...]

Those of you who subscribe to Foresight’s free Weekly News Digest (sign up using the Join Email List box at upper right of our home page) have seen that practically every week there’s new positive results to report on nanotechnology for drug delivery, especially for cancer. A summary of where to read about these advances [...]

As we head into the weekend, a lighter note: Did you miss the 4th European Futurists Conference in Lucerne in October? So did I. But now we can spend the holidays enjoying Quicktime videos and hear some forecasts that may surprise those who think Europeans are less future-oriented than those in Asia and the U.S. [...]

Nanowerk brings our attention to a story at Forbes.com looking at anticipated developments in sensing and monitoring: At their annual meeting this fall in Montreal, there was little of the traditional talk among the international privacy people about the nuts and bolts of data protection. Instead, there were urgent and distressed discussions about “uberveillance,” “ambient [...]

The reinsurance firm Swiss Re is rather farther along on nanotechnology, but Lloyd’s of London is starting to step up to the question of how to insure nanotech. They had a recent conference to launch their new report Nanotechnology: Recent Developments, Risks and Opportunities (PDF). As one would expect, it mainly focuses on nanoparticles, but [...]

CRN has been working on eight scenarios for advanced nanotechtechnology, and they are now available. You can get a quick feel for them by their titles: Scenario 1: Secret Military Development Scenario 2: Positive Expectations Scenario 3: Negative Drivers Scenario 4: Presidential Commission Scenario 5: … And Not a Drop to Drink Scenario 6: A [...]

A post by Roland Piquepaille on ZDnet further exploring a topic recently covered here: nanoscale robotic devices for medical applications. The site allows you to indicate whether you want this subject covered in the future or not. Excerpt: The idea of using nanorobots to deliver drugs and fight diseases such as cancers is not new…But [...]

Here’s a different model of research publishing: nanotechnology researchers can now publish their nanotech work and get paid via journal-related advertising and sponsorship, over at AZojono, the “online journal of nanotechnology”: • Authors receive a revenue share of 50% of the related revenue their contributions attract. • Peer reviewers receive a revenue share of 20%. [...]

Foresight members will recognize the names of researchers Robert Freitas and Tad Hogg. These two in the U.S. have now teamed with others from Australia to model nanotechnology robotics for medical applications, as described at PhysOrg.com. Excerpts: Virtual 3D nanorobots could lead to real cancer-fighting technology From eliminating the side effects of chemotherapy to treating [...]

For those of us who can’t get enough nanotechnology info, now there’s a one-hour radio show/podcast every week to download and enjoy while you drive or work out, hosted by industry analyst Marlene Bourne: “Next-generation science and technology, and the cool products that are being developed as a result, are captivating subjects,” said Ms. Bourne. [...]

Jamais Cascio offers four nanotechnology policy scenarios over at CRN, looking at options resulting from two axes: centralized vs. decentralized, and precautionary vs. proactionary. His two decentralized scenarios describe some territory similar to that which Foresight is investigating as part of our Decentralized Physical Security project: The third scenario, combining Distributed rule-making and Proactionary technology [...]