Futuristic technologies such
as atomically precise manufacturing are a
good example of the initiatives that are part
of the University's Strategic Plan. Plans
are for more investments in "tomorrow's
inventions," especially in the natural
sciences, medical sciences and engineering,
all areas of great opportunity and impact.
The UT Dallas team will focus its research
on perfecting the ability to precisely control
the reactions that take place on a silicon
surface as the atom-by-atom assembly of a
device takes place, said Wallace.
This is still not quite equivalent
to molecular manufacturing, but it does represent
a major step along the way. And make no mistake,
that is the eventual goal of this team. Perhaps
this sort of significant public investment
in technologies leading directly toward molecular
manufacturing is what causes analysts like
this one to say:
Broadly speaking, nanotechnology
deals with matter at the atomic and molecular
scales. “Atomically precise manufacturing”
(APM) is the real business of making things
using nanotechnology. There is no more exciting
area for investors to be in right now. . .
APM will not only create new
opportunities, it will destroy many existing
industries. Just as light bulbs and AC electrical
power created huge opportunities, they razed
whole sectors. Lucrative businesses crumbled,
taking their investors’ fortunes with
them. My goal is to make sure that you don’t
wake up one morning to find that your portfolio
consists of buggy whips and chemical-based
photographic film.
Source: http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2008/03/tiny-assembly-l.html
Troika To Manage $6
Billion For Russia State Nanotechnology Co.
Moscow-based Troika Dialogue
Asset Management said Tuesday it has been
hired to manage $6 billion of funds held by
Russia's state nanotechnology investment company.
"The role of Troika Dialogue
will be to deploy the money before it is invested
in nanotechnology," the asset manager's
President Pavel Teplukhin told Dow Jones Newswires
at a conference in Singapore.
Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies
will entrust Troika Dialogue with the funds
later this month, and the asset manager will
invest mainly in the Russian bond market.
The new mandate will more
than double the asset manager's current portfolio,
which now totals about $5 billion.
Troika will be paid a fixed
annual management fee and there will be no
performance-based compensation.
Troika Dialogue Asset Management
is a unit of privately-held investment bank
Troika Dialogue Group.
Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=5147.php
The coming technological
revolution
It seems like magic. A small
appliance, about the size of a washing machine,
that is able to manufacture almost anything.
It is called a nanofactory. Fed with simple
chemical stocks, this amazing machine breaks
down molecules, and then reassembles them
into any product you ask for. Packed with
nanotechnology and robotics, weighing 200
pounds and standing half as tall as a person,
it can produce two tons per day of products.
Control is simple: a touch screen selects
the type and number of products to produce.
It costs very little to operate, just the
price of materials fed into it. In one hour,
$20 worth of chemicals can be converted into
100 pairs of shoes, or 50 shovels, or 200
cell phones, or even a duplicate nanofactory!
Impossible? Today, maybe,
but not tomorrow. The technology to create
such a machine is speedily being developed.
A nanofactory will be the end result of a
convergence between nanotechnology (molecular
scale engineering), rapid prototyping, and
automated assembly. These are all present-day
technologies. None of them has yet reached
its full potential, but each of them is advancing
rapidly, driven by powerful economic, social,
and military forces. The integration of the
three technologies will be far more powerful
than the sum of the parts.
Some experts claim that a
crash program started today could complete
the first working nanofactory within a decade
at a cost of between five and ten billion
dollars. And once the first one is built,
it can start making copies of itself. Five
to ten billion dollars is a lot of money,
of course, and many people will question if
it could not be better spent on something
else. But imagine the economic, environmental
and humanitarian benefits, when nearly any
product can be manufactured on the spot for
about $1 per pound. No more shipping costs
or time spent waiting. No more wasted resources
or hazardous byproducts. No more starvation,
homelessness, or poverty.
Already scientists have made
chemical reactions happen by directly manipulating
the individual atoms. They can draw lines
of chemicals only ten atoms wide. They can
send electricity down molecular wires. They
can attach propellers to molecular motors
and analyze their performance. They can make
functioning tweezers from DNA molecules. Within
a few years, we will have the ability to build
three-dimensional, active, molecular constructions.
It's a small and predictable step to building
robots and chemical plants at the nanometer
scale.
It sounds too good to be true:
a non-polluting, personal-size machine that
within a few hours and for a few dollars can
manufacture almost anything—clothing,
books, tools, communication devices—but
there is a catch. It can also manufacture
weapons, poisons, tiny surveillance cameras,
and other illicit products. How will this
be controlled?
Imagine the possibilities! And the problems...
What we're doing about
it
The mission of the Center
for Responsible Nanotechnology (a non-profit
program of World Care) is to raise awareness
of the issues presented by molecular nanotechnology:
the benefits and dangers, and the possibilities
for responsible use.
Designing and developing molecular
nanotechnology (MNT) is a major challenge
in itself. It will not be easy, and it will
not happen overnight. But it will happen,
and it should happen. A greater challenge—and
one that has not been addressed—is creating
the infrastructure to administer the most
powerful technology imaginable in a way that
allows its safe and effective use, but that
protects investors, users, and innocent bystanders.
"Nanotechnology will
give rise to a host of novel social, ethical,
philosophical and legal issues. It will be
important to have a group in place to predict
and work to alleviate anticipated problems."
— US Rep. Mike Honda (D-Cal.)
The technology is already
on its way. But who will control it? If MNT
is not administered properly, there is great
risk of it being used badly—either by
the entity that first develops it, or by groups
that later gain access to it. Development
or control of the technology by a special
interest group would probably lead to military
or economic oppression. Two competing programs
could lead to an unstable arms race. Uncontrolled
release would make the full power of the technology
available to terrorists, criminals, dictators,
and irresponsible users. The safest course
appears to be a single, rapid, worldwide development
program by an organization that recognizes
the necessity of wise administration.
Christine Peterson of the
Foresight Nanotech Institute made this point
in her April 2003 testimony to the US House
Committee on Science:
"In developing a powerful
technology, delay may seem to add safety,
but the opposite could be the case for molecular
manufacturing. A targeted R&D project
today aimed at this goal would need to be
large and, therefore, visible and relatively
easy to monitor. As time passes, the nanoscale
infrastructure improves worldwide, enabling
faster development everywhere, including places
that are hard to monitor. The safest course
may be to create a fast-moving, well-funded,
highly-focused project located where it can
be closely watched by all interested parties.
Estimates are that such a project could reach
its goal in 10-15 years."
CRN is dedicated to studying
the problem of how to make MNT as safe as
possible. We will find technological solutions
and plan systems of administration. We will
work to educate people at all levels about
the dangers of nanotechnology, and the possible
solutions to those dangers.
Beyond addressing measures
of safety and environmental protection, we
believe that responsible use of MNT should
include consideration for ways to reduce the
gap between the haves and the have-nots. This
new technology can make a tremendous impact
for good; unwise regulation might impede such
hopes. As suggested in the Foresight Guidelines:
"Experimenters and industry should have
the maximum safe opportunities to develop
and commercialize the molecular manufacturing
industry. In addition, MNT should be developed
in ways that make it possible to distribute
the benefits of the technology to the four-fifths
of humanity currently desperate to achieve
material wealth at any environmental or security
cost."
Effective administration will
not be easy, and it is unlikely that a wise
course of action can evolve without guidance.
There are too many risks to avoid, too many
benefits to preserve, and too many special
interests to satisfy. A technology this powerful
has implications in the areas of national
security, commercial rights, human rights,
global environment, and even cultural stability.
Any single organization with a narrow focus
will create too many regulations while trying
to control things that it does not know how
to control; too many regulations will create
an unregulated black market, which creates
unacceptable risks. We believe that MNT must
be regulated at a global level, but the regulatory
system must be designed with extreme care
to be acceptable to the world's population—and
to avoid the internal corruption that naturally
accompanies so much power. The design of such
a system is one of our main concerns.
Simple, non-factory forms
of nanotechnology already are being developed,
and already are raising safety questions.
Although these simple forms are less dangerous—and
less useful—than the advanced nanotechnology
that is our main concern, we will be addressing
today's issues of safety as well as tomorrow's.
The purpose of CRN is to investigate
the wise use of molecular nanotechnology,
and to educate those who will influence its
use, or be affected by it. Through this we
hope to see our vision made real: a world
in which MNT is widely used for productive
and beneficial purposes, and where malicious
uses are limited by effective administration
of the technology.
Source: http://www.crnano.org/magic.htm
Nextreme Awarded
Seminal Patent in Nanotechnology to Boost
Efficiency of Thermoelectrics
Nextreme Awarded US
Patent for "Phonon-Blocking, Electron-Transmitting
Low-Dimensional Structures" - a Technology
That Enhances Cooling and Energy Conversion
Efficiency
Nextreme Thermal Solutions(TM),
the leader in microscale thermal and power
management products for the electronics industry,
announces that it has been awarded US Patent
7,342,169 for "Phonon-Blocking, Electron-Transmitting
Low-Dimensional Structures" technology
that has the potential to significantly impact
energy conservation and thermal management
- two major drivers in the world economy today.
Nextreme's newest patent represents the culmination
of pioneering work carried out by RTI International
more than seven years ago in the area of nano-structured
thermoelectric materials. Nextreme acquired
all of RTI's intellectual property in thermoelectric
materials and devices in 2004.
Thermoelectrics are used to
convert waste heat into electrical power,
and also for cooling electronics. Numerous
researchers in North America have reported
significantly enhanced efficiencies in thermoelectrics
using nano-structured materials. This includes
pioneering work on superlattices at RTI International
and MIT that started in the 1990's and more
recently at MIT and Boston College using nano-particles.
The nano-approach uses a commonly
available thermoelectric material called Bismuth
Telluride, constructed on a nanoscale to create
an assembly that researchers believe blocks
the transmission of phonons, which carry heat,
and enhances the transmission of electrons,
which carry electrical energy. The result
is a radical boost in material efficiency
with reports of 40% to 140% improvement.
"This patent award is
the culmination of years of research from
a pioneer in the field of thermoelectrics,"
said Dr. Seri Lee, Chief Technology Officer
at Nextreme. "Nano-structured materials
hold great promise for significantly enhanced
cooling and energy conversion performance."Nextreme
has already revolutionized the use of thin-film
thermoelectrics in the electronics industry
by integrating thermoelectric materials into
commonly used electrical interconnects called
copper pillar bumps to create a thermal bump.
This approach has provided a scalable and
inexpensive pathway for integrating thermal
management functionality directly into electronic
packaging and has enabled Nextreme's OptoCooler(TM)
module, the world's smallest thermoelectric
cooler and the industry's first device to
offer a heat pumping density in excess of
70 W/cm(2).
Source: http://www.centredaily.com/business/technology/story/495232.html
Nanomaterial turns
radiation directly into electricity
Materials that directly convert
radiation into electricity could produce a
new era of spacecraft and even Earth-based
vehicles powered by high-powered nuclear batteries,
say US researchers. Electricity is usually
made using nuclear power by heating steam
to rotate turbines that generate electricity.
But beginning in the 1960s,
the US and Soviet Union used thermoelectric
materials that convert heat into electricity
to power spacecraft using nuclear fission
or decaying radioactive material. The Pioneer
missions were among those using the latter,
"nuclear battery" approach.
Dispensing with the steam
and turbines makes those systems smaller and
less complicated. But thermoelectric materials
have very low efficiency. Now US researchers
say they have developed highly efficient materials
that can convert the radiation, not heat,
from nuclear materials and reactions into
electricity.
Power boost
Liviu Popa-Simil, former Los
Alamos National Laboratory nuclear engineer
and founder of private research and development
company LAVM and Claudiu Muntele, of Alabama
A&M University, US, say transforming the
energy of radioactive particles into electricity
is more effective.
The materials they are testing
would extract up to 20 times more power from
radioactive decay than thermoelectric materials,
they calculate.
Tests of layered tiles of
carbon nanotubes packed with gold and surrounded
by lithium hydride are under way. Radioactive
particles that slam into the gold push out
a shower of high-energy electrons. They pass
through carbon nanotubes and pass into the
lithium hydride from where they move into
electrodes, allowing current to flow.
"You load the material
with nuclear energy and unload an electric
current," says Popa-Simil.
Space probes
The tiles would be best used
to create electricity using a radioactive
material, says Popa-Simil, because they could
be embedded directly where radiation is greatest.
But they could also harvest power directly
from a fission reactor's radiation.
Devices based on the material
could be small enough to power anything from
interplanetary probes to aircraft and land
vehicles, he adds.
"I believe this work
is innovative and could have a significant
impact on the future of nuclear power,"
says David Poston, of the US Department of
Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory. However
perfecting new nuclear technologies requires
years of development, he adds.
Popa-Simil agrees, saying
it will be at least a decade before final
designs of the radiation-to-electricity concept
are built.
Changing the way we
go about
Think
about a world which can never be seen but
really exists. Yes, this is the nanotechnology
world which is not visible to the naked eye
even with a light microscope.
It is denoted as nano because
a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, smaller
than the wavelength of visible light and has
a width hundred-thousandth times less than
a human hair. In general, nanotechnology makes
sense when something measures within the range
between 1 and 100nm.
It was 1986 when Eric Drexler
introduced the term nanotechnology and from
then on the nano world went through many revolutionary
changes. Recently more than 13,000 patents
have been registered in the US. Nanotechnology
has broad spectrum approach that successfully
attracts biologists, chemists, physicists
and engineers.
Until recently, researchers
discovered two nano-sized structures namely
nanowires and carbon nanotubes. Nanowires
has very small diameter -- near about 1 nanometer.
Researchers have developed it to construct
tiny transistors for computer chips and other
digital accessories. But the advent of carbon
nanotube blurred the prospects of nanowires.
Basically carbon nanotube
is a nano-size cylinder of carbon atoms. Imagine
a sheet made of carbon atoms. If you roll
the sheet and insert it into a tube then it
becomes a carbon nanotube. Carbon nanotube
properties depend on how you roll the sheet.
Furthermore, although all carbon nanotubes
are made of carbon, they can be very different
from each other based on how the atoms are
organised.
Due to the proper combination
of atom, it is possible to develop a carbon
nanotube which is hundreds of times stronger
than steel, but six times lighter. Modern
day engineers seriously consider carbon nanotubes
as a manufacturing element to produce cars
and aircrafts. A relatively weightless vehicle
ensures easy to handle opportunity and reduces
fuel cost.
With the proper combination
of atoms it is possible to develop high quality
semiconductor device. Scientists are still
working on finding ways to make carbon nanotubes
a realistic option for transistors in microprocessors
and other electronics. Nowadays nanotechnology
is implemented in several areas which is very
astonishing. Many sunscreen-manufacturing
companies today use nanoparticles of zinc
oxide or titanium oxide to produce sunscreens.
Older sunscreen ingredients are larger particles
that are responsible for their whitish colour.
Smaller particles are less visible, meaning
that when you rub the sunscreen onto your
skin, it doesn't give you a whitish tinge.
Researchers are now thinking
about the prospects of nanotechnology in apparel
industry. Integrating nanoparticles of zinc
oxide, manufacturers can create clothes that
act as protective shield to ultraviolet (UV)
radiation. Some clothes have nanoparticles
in the form of little hairs or whiskers that
help repel water and other materials, making
the clothing stain-resistant.
Nanotechnology has also its
presence in solar power technology. Researchers
are currently exploring the prospects of nanotechnology-based
solar cell against traditional silicon-based
solar cell. This new category of solar cells
derived from nanocrystals will be capable
of converting sunlight into electricity at
a fraction of the cost of silicon solar cells.
Silicon-based solar cells are made from a
refined, highly purified silicon crystal,
similar to those used in the manufacturing
of integrated circuits and computer chips.
The high costs of these silicon solar cells
and their complex production process have
generated interest in developing alternative
photovoltaic technologies.
Besides high-end solutions
nanotechnology can be utilised to develop
stylish gadgets. A company called Pilkington
offers a product they call Activ Glass, which
uses nanoparticles to make the glass photocatalytic
and hydrophilic. The photocatalytic effect
means that when UV radiation from light hits
the glass, nanoparticles become energized
and begin to break down and loosen organic
molecules on the glass. Hydrophilic means
that when water makes contact with the glass,
it spreads across the glass evenly, which
helps wash the glass clean.
In medical science nanotechnology
has a great significance. Nanotechnology has
been used to create new and improved imaging
techniques to find small tumours. Researchers
have shown that incredibly small iron oxide
particles (nanoparticulates) can be used with
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to accurately
detect cancers that have spread to lymph nodes,
without requiring surgery.
In the near future, nanoscale
devices may be available to detect the earliest
stages of cancer while simultaneously delivering
anticancer agents to the tumour. Early research
has shown that nanoparticulate sensors can
detect the cell death that occurs when a cancer
cell succumbs to the effects of an anticancer
drug.
It is worth mentioning that
nanotechnology can effectively address the
biological complexities. Nanrobots will mix
with fluids programmed to attack and reconstruct
the molecular structure of cancer cell and
viruses. There's even speculation that nanorobots
could slow or reverse the aging process, and
life expectancy could increase significantly.
Environmental concern is a great issue in
recent times. Nanotechnology can bring breakthroughs
to eliminate environmental catastrophes. For
instance, scientists could program airborne
nanorobots to rebuild the thinning ozone layer.
Nanorobots could remove contaminants from
water sources and clean up oil spills. Manufacturing
materials using the bottom-up method of nanotechnology
also creates less pollution than conventional
manufacturing processes.
Although nano world promises
substantial changes in the traditional world,
suspicion remains about its side effects because
elements at the nanoscale behave differently
than they do in their usual form.
Some doctors worry that the
nanoparticles are so small that they could
easily cross the blood-brain barrier, a membrane
that protects the brain from harmful chemicals
in the bloodstream.
Nanotechnology may create
some social obligations. For instance, this
technology could be used to create more powerful
weapons, both lethal and non-lethal. It may
create imbalance in power which may result
in unrest in the society. To deal with this
phenomenon, some organisations have urged
scientists and politicians to examine carefully
all the possibilities of nanotechnology before
designing increasingly powerful weapons.In
essence, there is no doubt that nanotechnology
has the power to empower the modern civilization.
But implementers should first thrash out the
ethical aspects of this new age technology.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=26433
‘Happy tree’ yields a
cancer-fighting drug
Vancouver
Sun - B.C. cancer patients who don’t
get better on standard treatment will be offered
a locally developed experimental drug using
a nanotechnology smart bomb type of treatment
derived from the bark of the “happy
tree,” indigenous to China.
Scientists at the B.C. Cancer
Agency (Vancouver, Canada) have developed
an anti-cancer weapon that is not unlike a
cruise missile, which is meant to hit targets
with precision. It’s been tested in
mice and they say it’s now ready for
testing in humans.
They are calling their drug
Irinophore C; its compounds are originally
derived from a somewhat stubby tree called
Camptotheca (or happy tree), which was found
40 years ago to have anti-cancer properties
that were eventually extracted and synthesized.
While at least one drug company
markets a chemotherapy drug called Camptosar,
based on the same tree compounds, B.C. Cancer
Agency scientists maintain they have discovered
a unique way to get a modified version into
patients’ bodies using a drug delivery
system that doesn’t release its load
until it gets to the desired site of action.
As the scientists discuss in a research journal,
their own patented formula fits with the goal
of an “ideal drug delivery system [which
retains] its therapeutic payload until it
reaches the target site whereupon the drug
[is] released.” Dawn Waterhouse, director
of non-clinical studies and manager of production
and manufacturing with the cancer agency’s
investigational drug program, said in an interview
that in mice studies, the Irinophore C drug
system was “remarkably better in therapeutic
effect and less toxic” when compared
to Camptosar. Animals were inoculated with
human tumour cells from various types of cancer
and then they got Camptosar or Irinophore
C for treatment of the tumours they developed.
The cancer agency-developed
drug accumulated in the tumours with far greater
efficiency and that convinced the scientists
that a phase-one trial in humans is now possible.
A phase-one trial is meant to evaluate the
safety of the drug, not the effectiveness.
Such a trial is not expected
to start immediately since researchers need
to get more grant funding before proceeding.
Work so far on the “proof of principle”
concept has been funded with a $250,000 grant
from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research
but that federal agency insists that matching
funds be obtained from other partners. Scientists
are now trying to secure at least another
$1.1 million to start the trial in patients
with various types of advanced cancers.
What’s unusual about
the drug is that it is encapsulated in a fatty
coating membrane called liposomes. The nanoscale
technology aspect of the system relates to
the fact that the fat molecules are so microscopically
tiny (one-fifth the size of a red blood cell),
which allows the drug to be infused into patients’
veins and then travel to cancer cells where
it kills them and also disrupts the vascular
system that feeds the growth of tumours. “In
our phase-one trial, we will assess the safety
of the drug in 18 patients with advanced solid
tumours. “Patients will be those who
have failed standard therapy and their cancer
has progressed. These are patients for whom
we have nothing more to offer except for investigational
drugs,” Waterhouse said.
Nanotechnology; a
Double Edged Sword
Nanotechnology is probably
the most exciting technological development
that the world has seen for generations. Commentators
are keen to hail the new technology as a revolutionary
step that will enter nearly every industry
and practically all walks of life. Arguments
are abounding that nanotechnology will revolutionise
not just IT, but medicine, agriculture and
manufacturing as well. New materials will
be created to cater for the ever increasing
demands of various industries. But while these
benefits are touted by commentators, the potential
downsides have been practically ignored. Surely
the revolutionary technologies will have detrimental
effects on life that will be near impossible
to predict.
The first major concern can
be seen as the lack of governmental controls
and investigation into these new industries.
Despite claims that they have the development
under control, accounting for health and safety
ramifications is essential. The applications
for nanotechnology are so wide ranging that
their effects are hard to predict. For instance
the use of nanos in spy agencies will render
human rights laws useless in the face of technologies
too advanced to be detected.
Governments are however waking
up to the risks of nanoparticles, with expert
bodies advising that nanotechnologies should
be put under the same rigorous tests that
new chemicals undergo to enforce safety of
use and storage. The testing phase is fundamentally
important as scientists have little idea how
some nanoparticles will affect the body in
large numbers.
While the socioeconomic effects
of the new technologies have been studied
extensively, the health and safety impacts
are not understood enough. Without a universal
procedure for the development, use and storage
of nanotechnologies, health and safety standards
cannot be defined. This may be a problem at
the moment but doubtlessly a resolution will
eventually be forthcoming.
With so many revolutionary
uses for nanotechnologies, it is undeniable
that their development will be pursued wholesale
and with gusto. They are hailed as the future
and scientists are very excited about which
applications will seriously affect our lives.
Despite the apparent risks to health and safety,
most will have a Machiavellian attitude to
the pursuit of what could be a technological
revolution.
Source: http://blog.highposition.net/article/nanotechnology-a-double-edged-sword/45683
