The discovery that nitrogen-doped, metal-free carbon nanotubes make better electrodes than do platinum nanoparticles may open the way for inexpensive nanotech fuel cells.

This the fifth essay in a series exploring if, when, and how the Singularity will happen, why (or why not) we should care, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Part V: AIs: smarter or just faster? One of the primary phenomena invoked in the notion that the Singularity will come with an [...]

Those interested in the economic-trends style of futurism will enjoy How the Crash Will Reshape America in the Atlantic. For background you might look at this 2006 essay by Paul Graham — they both embody some of the same theory of innovation as a driver to urban (or perhaps regional) vitality. Hat tip to Philippe [...]

A sawing and annealing process that creates regular nanoscale features on the surface of a sapphire crystal promises a way of making nanotech memories of up to 10 Terabits per square inch without the need of photolithography.

Over at IEEE Tech Talk, Dexter Johnson points out a flurry of interest in “nanobots” over the past week, casting quite a wide net that ranges from Nadrian Seeman’s experimental lab work to Ray Kurzweil’s hopeful dreams for the far future. He also tosses a bit of credit in my direction — thanks! — and [...]

Plant viruses are a new addition to the long list of types of nanoparticles being investigated as next generation nanotech cancer therapies.

Two independently controlled nanomechanical devices can be positioned on a two-dimensional DNA grid so that they can cooperate to capture between them one of four DNA building blocks, determined by which of two possible states each device is set to.

This the fourth essay in a series exploring if, when, and how the Singularity will happen, why (or why not) we should care, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Part IV: When So when is all this going to happen? To quote Mark Twain, I’m gratified to be able to answer that [...]

Advances in using amorphous metal alloys may make possible an inexpensive nanotech version of the molding technique used to make DVDs.

This the third essay in a series exploring if, when, and how the Singularity will happen, why (or why not) we should care, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Part III: Singularity from the bottom up In the previous essay in this series, I argued top-down, from historical and economic precedents, that [...]

A response to my “Parricide” essay has been seen on IEEE’s Tech Talk blog. Dexter Johnson gives a fair summary of the positions taken to date, and says As the argument seems to go, Drexler popularized the term nanotechnology in his book Engines of Creation, and so when the general public heard that thousands of [...]

Plasmonic nanoswitches based upon molecular machines may eventually lead to nanotech plasmonic circuits.

This the second essay in a series exploring if, when, and how the Singularity will happen, why (or why not) we should care, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Part II: What is this thing called Singularity? Since I was trained, originally, as a mathemetician, I never really liked the term Singularity. [...]

The Foresight Institute has appointed Dr. J. Storrs Hall to the position of President.

Once upon a time, or so the story goes, there was a young man who was hauled up before the court on charges that he had killed his father and mother. He readily confessed to the crime, but nevertheless pled for clemency: after all, he pointed out, he was an orphan. Recently on his blog [...]

The application is hydrophobic sand, which retains moisture near the roots of desert plants by virtue of a proprietary nanostructured coating on the grains of sand.

This the first essay in a series exploring if, when, and how the Singularity will happen, why (or why not) we should care, and what, if anything, we should do about it. Part I: The Singularity and its Discontents The concept of the Technological Singularity is so clearly part of the zeitgeist that it surely [...]

Nanotech may soon provide a solution for one of the more vexing problems in tissue engineering—how to control the differentiation of pluripotent or multipotent precursor cells into the specific cells needed to fix a specific problem.

New computational results reveal how the proper hierarchical assembly of smaller protein domains optimizes mechanical properties.

A new nanocar that runs cool — at room temperature — has been demonstrated by the research group of Stephan Link, colleague of James Tour at Rice. Tour won Foresight’s Feynman Prize last year for his earlier nanocar work. This press release describes several novel features of the latest work. In particular, the new cars [...]