Clipmarks | Mohir's 'nanotechnology' clips

Big step in tiny technology

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:18:45 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Dr Manfred Buck, of the University¿s School of Chemistry, explained, "One of the central issues in nanotechnology is the development of simple and reliable methods to precisely arrange molecules and other nanoscopic objects. One promising route intensively investigated by scientists around the world involves the ability of molecules to spontaneously assemble onto a surface. What we have done is successfully combined two strategies which are complementary but, so far, have been explored independently, and it is this combination which opens up unprecedented opportunities for accessing the ultrasmall length scale."

"The potential of this approach lies in its flexibility on a scale, about 1/10000 of the diameter of a human hair. Using molecules as building units, the features of our structures are less than 5 nanometres in size, which enables us to control structures and materials at dimensions where new properties emerge."

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

crucial step in developing minuscule structures with application potential in sophisticated sensors, catalysis, and nanoelectronics has been developed by Scottish researchers.

Dr Manfred Buck and his team at the University of St Andrews have accomplished one of the big quests in nanotechnology, opening up an exciting new development in tiny technology.

The St Andrews researchers have developed a way of forming an easily modified network of molecules over a large area - the chemical technique provides an advantageous alternative to traditional methods which become increasingly cumbersome at the ultrasmall length scale.

The key to the development lies in the creation of robust and versatile surface - self-assembling structures just one molecule thick which can be exploited for further control and manipulation of nanostructures.

Tags: nanotechnology

a nanoscale manipulator with atomic-scale precision

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:29:39 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.nanowerk.com

(Nanowerk News) Engineers have created a tiny motorized positioning device that has twice the dexterity of similar devices being developed for applications that include biological sensors and more compact, powerful computer hard drives.

The device, called a monolithic comb drive, might be used as a "nanoscale manipulator" that precisely moves or senses movement and forces. The devices also can be used in watery environments for probing biological molecules,

The monolithic comb drives could make it possible to improve a class of probe-based sensors that detect viruses and biological molecules. The sensors detect objects using two different components: A probe is moved while at the same time the platform holding the specimen is positioned. The new technology would replace both components with a single one - the monolithic comb drive.

The innovation could allow sensors to work faster and at higher resolution and would be small enough to fit on a microchip.

Tags: nanotechnology

Will We Recognize The Future?

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:18:37 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: A talk with Ray Kurzweil.

Clip Source: www.sciencefriday.com

(broadcast Friday, June 6th, 2008)

Technology is ever-changing -- and changing ever faster. But what happens when the rate of technological change becomes so fast that the fundamental nature of what it means to be human changes, too? In this segment, Ira talks with inventor, technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil about the idea of 'the Singularity' -- what happens when technology advances so much that it's impossible to predict what happens next. Will artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology be able to completely reshape what it means to be human?

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Tags: singularity, ray kurzweil, future

World’s Smallest Bowl of Ramen

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:51:53 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.acceleratingfuture.com

It won’t fill you up, but it is a feast for the eyes (if you look through a microscope). This so-called “world’s smallest bowl of ramen” — a 1-micron (1/1000-mm, or 1/100th the width of a human hair) wide bowl containing dozens of 20-nanometer (1/50,000-mm) thick noodles — was created by University of Tokyo professor Masayuki Nakao as part of an effort to develop new carbon nanotube-based microcircuit fabrication technology. Nakao used a metal particle beam to carve the bowl from silicon, and he mixed up a soup of ethanol and catalyst inside the bowl to form the carbon nanotube “noodles.” According to Nakao, it was a major challenge to keep it from overflowing. No word yet on how the tiny meal tastes.

Tags: nanotechnology, carbon nanotubes

Sperm-powered Nanobots

Fri, 30 May 2008 11:20:58 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: discovermagazine.com

The next wave in health care may include a brigade of medical nanobots, devices tiny enough to ride the flow of blood through the body's arteries to a problem area. The bots might arrive at a clot, for example, and then using an internal power system, obliterate the clot with a precisely targeted drug or therapy. Designing a power source to accomplish such a task has been a challenge, but from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University comes a possible answer. The same molecular power packs that fuel sperm in their journey through the uterus and to a fallopian tube might be copied and used to keep the nanomachines running once they reach their targets.

Ordinarily the ATP provides sperm with enough energy to bend and flex their tails as they swim to the unfertilized egg. Travis’s plan is to copy the design of the sperm’s engine by slightly modifying a 10-enzyme glycolysis chain embedded in the sperm’s tail, and then to install it in nanobots.

Tags: nanotechnology, nanobots, health

New Nanotechnology Products Hitting The Market At The Rate Of 3-4 Per Week

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:03:16 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: While polls show most Americans know little or nothing about nanotechnology, in 2006 nanotechnology was incorporated into more than $50 billion in manufactured goods. By 2014, Lux Research estimates $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods will incorporate nanotechnology--or about 15 percent of total global output. Despite a 2006 worldwide investment of $12.4 billion in nanotech R&D, comparatively little was spent on examining nanotechnology's potential environmental, health and safety risks.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

New nanotechnology consumer products are coming on the market at the rate of 3-4 per week, a finding based on the latest update to the nanotechnology consumer product inventory maintained by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

The number of consumer products using nanotechnology has grown from 212 to 609 since PEN launched the world's first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006. Health and fitness items, which includes cosmetics and sunscreens, represent 60 percent of inventory products.

There are 35 automotive products in the PEN inventory, including the Hummer H2. General Motors Corporation bills the H2 as having a cargo bed that "uses about seven pounds of molded in color nanocomposite parts for its trim, center bridge, sail panel and box rail protector."

Tags: nanotechnology, consumer

Brain-Computer Interfaces for Manipulating Dreams

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:46:55 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: worthwhile reading the whole article

Clip Source: www.acceleratingfuture.com

A first-generation commercial brain-computer interface (BCI) is being released by Emotiv Systems later this year. What does the future hold for BCI?

By 2050, and likely sooner, you will be able to buy a BCI device that records all your dreams in their entirety. This will be done in one of two ways. One method would be to use distributed nanobots less than a micrometer in diameter to spread throughout the brain and monitor the activation patterns of neurons. By this point, cognitive science will have advanced enough to know which neural activation patterns correspond to which sensory experiences. This has already been done with cats (using electrodes, not nanobots), where researchers led by scientist Garrett Stanley were able to extrapolate what a cat was seeing merely by monitoring the neurons of its visual cortex. Here are some images they obtained:

Tags: dreams, nanotechnology, futurism

Scientists Scan Striking Nanoscale Images

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:36:13 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.wired.com

For the first time, late last year, a team of British scientists filmed the nanoscale interaction of an attacking virus with an enzyme and a DNA strand in real time.

This image captured in German labs by Thorsten Dziomba, shows GeSi quantum dots -- a mere 15 nanometers high and 70 nanometers in diameter.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

This E. coli bacterium displays well-preserved flagella that are just 30 nanometers long.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

The leaves of several plants, including the lotus plant, show self-cleaning properties.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

This image of cyanobacteria (more commonly known as blue-green algae) was taken as part of a series of experiments designed to help scientists understand how the structure of the algae's cell walls helps it move.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

The bright halo is created by charges emitted from the nanotube cap, while the discharged nanotube appears dark.

Tags: nanotechnology, photography

Remote-control DNA 'pistons' could power tiny robots

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:28:30 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: technology.newscientist.com

Nanoscopic DNA pyramids that change shape when sent different chemical signals, have been demonstrated by researchers in the UK and Germany. Such structures could act as the motors of nanoscale robots, they say.

Other researchers have previously built DNA devices capable of walking along proteins or functioning like nanoscopic robot arms, but precise control of these 3D structures has proven difficult.

Now Andrew Turberfield of Oxford University in the UK, and colleagues at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, have shown how carefully crafted DNA structures can be made to self assemble and change shape when sent specific DNA signals.

Tetrahedrons of DNA can change shape in response to further "remote control" DNA molecules. Here, one side of a structure can be made to change its length by more than half with the addition of another DNA molecule (Image: Nature/Oxford University)

Tags: nanotechnology, dna, robotics

Nanotechnology: Entirely New Way Of Storing Gas Created

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:14:47 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: The transition happens quickly and is controlled simply by heating the material to close the nanovalves, then adding water to the substance to re-open them and release the trapped gas. The paper includes video footage of the process taking place under a microscope, showing gas bubbles escaping from the crystals with the introduction of water.

"The process is highly controllable and because we're not breaking any strong chemical bonds, the material is completely recyclable and can be used indefinitely," Shimizu said.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — A new process for catching gas from the environment and holding it indefinitely in molecular-sized containers has been developed by a team of University of Calgary researchers, who say it represents a novel method of gas storage that could yield benefits for capturing, storing and transporting gases more safely and efficiently.

"This is a proof of concept that represents an entirely new way of storing gas, not just improving on a method that already exists," said U of C chemistry professor George Shimizu. "We have come up with a material that mechanically traps gas at high densities without having to use high pressures, which require special storage tanks and generate safety concerns."

Tags: nanotechnology, gas

New Cell Phone Batteries to Last for Months

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:05:24 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

New Cell Phone Batteries to Last for Months

- Thanks to nanotechnology

Researchers from Stanford University have discovered a new way to use silicon nanowires in rechargeable batteries that power mobile phones, laptops,

video cameras, iPods and other similar devices. The new batteries will be able to store up to ten times more electrical power than existing Li-Ion batteries.

"It's not a small improvement. It's a revolutionary development", said Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, who lead the research for the new battery technology.

Thanks to the new concept, a mobile phone that now has a stand-by time of 6 days could operate for 60 days with a single full battery charge. The same goes for laptops, video cameras and other devices – they will be able to provide a much longer operating time compared to the one they are currently capable of.

hopefully, the batteries will start to be manufactured in 2008. Charging your mobile phone only six times a year

Tags: battery, cellphone, technology

Nanotechnology roadmap published: statement by Eric Drexler

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:30:27 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.kurzweilai.net

Nanotechnology roadmap published: statement by Eric Drexler

EXCLUSIVE TO KURZWEILAI.NET -- I'm pleased to report that the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems has finally been released. This marks the completion of the first broad, multidisciplinary effort to explore how current laboratory techniques for atomically precise fabrication can be extended, step by step, toward increasingly advanced products and capabilities.

The Roadmap project was led by the Battelle Memorial Institute, a not-for-profit corporation that manages a set of U.S. National Laboratories that includes Pacific Northwest, Oak Ridge, and Brookhaven. These labs hosted three of the Roadmap workshops and provided many of the participating scientists and engineers.

I expect that the Roadmap will have a strong, cumulative impact on research agendas and strategic directions in the US and internationally. Its greatest impact may be in forward-looking Asian countries with an appetite for change.

Tags: nanotechnology, drexler

Nanotechnology Produces Nanoscale Wireless Voltmeter

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:20:35 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

Nanotechnology Produces Nanoscale Wireless Voltmeter

The device built at the University of Michigan could revolutionize the understanding of the processes that take place inside living cells, and may bring valuable insight on how or why certain cells grow without control, and damage nerves.

The device has a spherical shape, is about 30 nanometers in diameter, and compared to the currently existing voltmeters is about 1,000 time smaller; also, unlike other electronic devices which need constant power to work,

it is powered by light. This could be probably used to probe the electrical fields inside a living cell, and measure the voltage of the surrounding cells, but not the one inside the cell.

The discovery of such a powerful electric field inside living cells came as a shock for scientists studying this domain.

Tags: nanotechnology, biotechnology, cell, electricity

Levitation breakthrough proposed

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:53:16 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Levitation breakthrough proposed

A way of making levitation possible using a mysterious force of nature has been proposed by two British physicists.

Their ideas are now being looked at seriously by a leading American scientist who may put them into practice.

The theory will not enable people to fly like Peter Pan but could revolutionise nanotechnology and the design of micro-machines. It centres on a phenomenon called the "Casimir force" predicted by quantum physicists in 1948 and first measured in 1997.

The force is caused by a strange quirk of nature that at tiny scales allows particles to pop into existence from nowhere. This creates a force that will push two objects placed very close to each other, such as a pair of mirrors, together.

Generally the Casimir force has no effect on everyday life and can be ignored. But it is extremely important when trying to develop tiny switches and micro-machines, since their components tend to stick to each other.

Tags: physics, quantum, nature

Remotely Controlled Nanomachines

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:20:07 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Remotely Controlled Nanomachines

Science Daily — Physicists at the University of California at Berkeley have produced images that show how light can control some of the smallest possible machines.

By shining ultraviolet laser light on tiny molecules of azobenzene adhered on a layer of gold, they could force the molecules to change shape at will. Potentially, the molecules could be incorporated into nanomachines in the form of remotely controlled switches, pistons or other movable components.

Scientists have experimented with shape-shifting azobenzene in previous studies, but the molecules only responded properly when suspended in liquids or incorporated into plastics, neither of which makes a very good foundation for complex nanomachines.

Tags: nanotechnology, physics, laser, optics