Science Today - Daily Science News: March 2004
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March 2004

Carnegie Mellon University announces 'one-step' method to make polymer nanowires: A powerful one-step, "chain growth" method should make it easier to design and synthesize a variety of highly conductive polymers for different research and commercial applications, according to a presentation by the method's developer, Carnegie Mellon University chemist Richard McCullough. McCullough, dean of the Mellon College of Science and professor of chemistry. ............ - EurekAlert, March 31, 2004.

Pesticide detection on a chip: Nanotechnology can be applied to make high-throughput tests, for example for pesticides or other contaminants, that are smaller, faster and more sensitive than conventional assays. UC Davis researchers led by Ian Kennedy, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and Bruce Hammock, professor of entomology, have made fluorescent nanoparticles of lanthanide oxide and europium oxide that can be coupled to biological molecules and used in antibody-based assays for pesticide residues. The nanoparticles can also be sorted magnetically. The researchers are currently investigating carrying out these assays in microdroplets and in microchannels on etched chips............. - EurekAlert, March 31, 2004.

Cornell to present nanofabricated etching: In a salute to nanotechnology, Cornell University researchers have etched the world's smallest, full-color American flag on a silicon chip. The flag is part of an elaborate nanofabrication that includes six full-color flags and 15 White Houses, all etched on the chip. The size of a postage stamp, the chip has been placed in a Lucite paperweight that will be presented to the White House on Tuesday, March 30, in Washington, D.C., by Joshua Wolfe, a 1999 Cornell graduate and managing partner of Lux Capital, a New York City venture capital firm specializing in nanotechnology. It will be accepted on behalf of President George Bush by John Marburger III, science adviser to the president. ............. - Nanotechnology Now, March 31, 2004.

The Inner Life of a Cell: New Nanosensors A Body Can Live With: For two decades, chemists have been making great strides in analyzing the biological functions that drive living cells. But many biological substances still remain undetectable. That will soon change, thanks to a biological sensor being developed by University of Arizona chemists. Their new sensor platform has many capabilities that current ones lack. Most intracellular sensors are made from hard plastics (polymers). The plastic is formed into solid, nanometer-sized, BB-like beads, which are doped with chemicals. These chemicals make them sensitive to a variety of ions and molecules. But scientists can only detect intracellular compounds that react optically with these chemicals ............ - Newswise, March 31, 2004.

New family of hyperbranched polymers enhance mechanical, rheological, processing performance: Hyperbranched polymers – tree-like molecules – are not particularly useful for the creation of plastic films and molded parts because they don’t entangle. So Virginia Tech researchers have created segmented hyperbranched plastics, which do entangle and result in high-performance polymers............ - Innovations Report, March 31, 2004.

DNA-binding strands used to create molecular zipper: Virginia Tech students and faculty members are creating releasable coatings and thin films using the same chemistry that nature uses to bind the double helix of DNA....... "We are coating a patterned surface with accepting molecules then applying donating molecules – that is, using molecular recognition -- to create a molecular zipper," explains Tim Long of Blacksburg, professor of chemistry in the College of Science at Virginia Tech. Applications would be strong, multilayered structures that might be used for body armor, as well as for releasable coatings and films. ............ - Innovations Report, March 31, 2004.

Learning how to erase electronic paper: Developing electronic paper that can be written on and then erased with the touch of a button is a challenge. Sometimes the ink must adhere to the paper and other times bead up. Getting it just right requires knowing how, on a molecular level, the liquid ink interacts with the solid paper. Now Jeanne E. Pemberton has clarified why changing the electrical charge on electronic paper affects how well ink will stick. The finding will further efforts to make a reusable tablet. ............ - Innovations Report, March 31, 2004.

Electronic paper, wound dressings among novel uses for bacterial cellulose: New and unique products created from bacterial cellulose — from electronic paper to treatments for severe burns and wounds — will highlight a one-day symposium at the 227th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. The symposium begins at 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday, March 31, at the Anaheim Convention Center, Room 210A. ............ - EurekAlert, March 31, 2004.

Bring on the bio: Hydrogen fuel cell technology's future as a fuel for cars and other applications is likely to be weakened by issues regarding its availability and the expenses involved in storage. A new study from Technical Insights says that bio-based products such as ethanol are expected to open up new areas for research............ - e4engineering.com, March 31, 2004.

Boosting chemical fermentation: A device invented at Ohio State University (OSU) is said to have dramatically boosted the production of a chemical that performs tasks as diverse as scenting perfume and flavouring Swiss cheese............. - e4engineering.com, March 31, 2004.

Purdue engineers design 'shape-search' for industry databases: Engineers at Purdue University are developing a system that will enable people to search huge industry databases by sketching a part from memory, penciling in modifications to an existing part or selecting a part that has a similar shape. "It's like a special kind of Google that lets you search for parts based on their three-dimensional shapes," said Karthik Ramani, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Purdue Research and Education Center for Information Systems in Engineering, or PRECISE............. - Purdue News, March 31, 2004.

Nanotechnology Online Career: An online resource site has launched for the emerging field of nanotechnology. Called Workingin-Nanotechnology.com, the site aims to provide information on nanotechnology-related careers education and training. For job-seekers, nanotechnology positions are presented in three ways: by science, by industry and by technology. Those seeking jobs may also post online resumes............ - Industry Week, March 31, 2004.

Nanotechnology Network, Getting Nanotechnology to Markets: The Nanotechnology Network explores Getting Nanotechnology to Markets with executives from Albany Nanotech, Intel, Engelhard, Draper Atlantic, Lockheed Martin, Nanotechnology Institute, NIST/Advanced Technology Program, PPG, SAIC and Zyvex. The executives will address strategies and their experience in nanotechnology development and commercialization. Nanotechnology Network president, Richard Smith says it is an open question as to whether nanotech investment and commercialization strategies, both private and public, will keep the United States at the forefront of what appears to be a critical technology development and commercialization path............ - PRNewswire, March 31, 2004.

Nano work chases self-cooled chips: Future chips may be self-ventilating, thanks to added microfluidic-like layers that pump heat-laden air off-chip using a classic "corona wind" effect. Purdue University has patented the technique at the nanoscale, and two team members have co-founded a company to commercialize aspects of the cooling system........... - EE Times, March 30, 2004.

Nanowires Span Silicon Contacts: One challenge for researchers aiming to make electronics at the size-scale of molecules is finding ways to position and attach nanowires to the tiny components. Researchers from Hewlett-Packard Laboratories and have grown nanowires between electrodes that were made using common patterning techniques. Because the nanowires grow and connect automatically, the method promises to provide a relatively inexpensive way to mass-produce nanoelectronics........... - Technology Review (MIT), March 30, 2004.

Duke University Chemists Describe New Kind of 'Nanotube' Transistor: Duke University researchers exploring ways to build ultrasmall electronic devices out of atom-thick carbon cylinders have incorporated one of these "carbon nanotubes" into a new kind of field effect transistor. The Duke investigators also reported new insights into their previously published technique for growing nanotubes in straight structures as long as half an inch. Duke assistant chemistry professor Jie Liu will report on these and other nanotube developments during three talks at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society to be held March 28 to April 1 in Anaheim, Calif. Field effect transistors, among the workhorse devices of microelectronics technology, are tiny switches in which the passage of electric current between a "source" and a "drain" is controlled by an electric field in a middle component called a "gate." .......... - Ascribe, March 30, 2004.

Nanoparticles From The Ocean: Under the right conditions, nanoparticles can form spontaneously in the air. Atmospheric nanoparticles are an important missing factor in understanding global climate change, because they could influence cloud formation and change how the Earth reflects or retains heat, said Anthony Wexler, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at UC Davis........... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Gases To Provide Thin Films of Lubricant For MEMS: Tiny machines built as part of silicon chips are all around us, and their need for lubrication is the same as large machines such as automobile engines, but conventional lubricants, like oils, are too heavy for these micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), so Penn State researchers are looking to gases to provide thin films of slippery coating. .......... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

New Nano Way To See DNA: Like many objects of curiosity in the nanoworld, the DNA molecule has defied visual scrutiny because it lies beyond the "diffraction limit", a 200 nanometer cutoff where the too-tiny escapes resolution by an optical microscope. PNNL scientists Dehong Hu, Peter Lu and colleagues found their away around this barrier, combining FLIM, or fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, with AFM, atomic force microscopy. .......... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Carbon Nanotubes To Unmask Nerve Agents: Besides posing a serious environmental hazard, organophosphate-based pesticides, or OP compounds, are raw material for chemical-warfare nerve agents. Crews responding to a terrorist's nerve-agent attack have had no way to identify the compound they’re dealing with until it’s too late........... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Scientists Are Using A Household Humidifier To Create Nanocomposite Materials: In what may sound like a project from a high school science fair, scientists are using a household humidifier to create porous spheres a hundred times smaller than a red blood cell. The technique is a new and inexpensive way to do chemistry using sound waves, the researchers say. ........... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Nanoparticles Can Cause Toxic Effects In An Aquatic Species: Researchers have found that a type of buckyball, a carbon nanoparticle that shows promise for electronic, commercial and pharmaceutical uses, can cause significant brain damage in fish. The small preliminary study, the first to demonstrate that nanoparticles can cause toxic effects in an aquatic species, could point to potential risks in people exposed to the particles, they say............ - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Fluorescent Nanoparticles For Use In Microscopic Sensor Devices: Fluorescent nanoparticles that can be attached to biological molecules are being developed for use in microscopic sensor devices. Philip Costanzo, a graduate student in chemistry at UC Davis, and Timothy Patten, associate professor of chemistry, have prepared nanoparticles of cadmium sulphide and silicon dioxide coated with polymer chains with biotin attached to the ends. When avidin, a protein that binds to biotin, is added, the nanoparticles cluster into larger aggregates........... - AZoNano, March 30, 2004.

Chemists rally in Anaheim: "Big Promise from 'Small' Science: How Nanotechnology Will Change Our Lives" was the title of an afternoon symposium that featured talks from experts in the area followed by a panel discussion. A National Research Council report, "Beyond the Molecular Frontier: Challenges for Chemistry & Chemical Engineering," was the subject of an evening symposium. ......... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 30, 2004.

2004 Priestley Medalist: Above and beyond organic synthesis: Elias J. Corey personifies extraordinary intellectual acumen and traditional values of family, service, and looking out for others. Room 319 of Conant Building at Harvard University is a good place to learn much in a short time about Elias J. Corey, this year’s recipient of the Priestley Medal. The outer office is lined with shelves filled with manila folders and books, chemical and medical. In one compartment, medals are arrayed, like in a shrine. On one wall are anchored strings from which molecular structure models hang, like clothes drying on a line. Three empty bottles of champagne stand in a row on a low table by the window, reminders of celebrations past. In the inner space are more shelves built like library stacks. More molecular structure models cascade from the ceiling to the floor like decorative garlands. One shelf wall is covered with greeting cards featuring Mount Fuji......... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 30, 2004.

Fuel cells minus membranes: A key component of common fuel cells—the membrane that isolates the fuel from the oxidizer—has been eliminated in a new fuel-cell design that uses microfluidic effects to separate the reagents. The design simplifies the electrochemical devices and may lead to new types of fuel cells that are free from the problems that typically bedevil membrane-based power systems. The membrane that is found in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells serves as a barrier to prevent the fuel and oxidizer from mixing without generating electricity......... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 30, 2004.

Evicting Einstein: Sooner or later, the reign of Einstein, like the reign of Newton before him, will come to an end. An upheaval in the world of physics that will overthrow our notions of basic reality is inevitable, most scientists believe, and currently a horse race is underway between a handful of theories competing to be the successor to the throne. In the running are such mind-bending ideas as an 11-dimensional universe, universal "constants" (such as the strength of gravity) that vary over space and time and only remain truly fixed in an unseen 5th dimension, infinitesimal vibrating strings as the fundamental constituents of reality, and a fabric of space and time that's not smooth and continuous, as Einstein believed, but divided into discrete, indivisible chunks of vanishingly small size. Experiment will ultimately determine which triumphs......... - Science @ NASA, March 29, 2004.

Evolution education down to a science on Web: As controversies simmer across the country over teaching evolution, scientists at UC Berkeley are taking the offensive against the modern-day foes of Charles Darwin. Experts at the university's Museum of Paleontology have created a new Web site designed to offer beleaguered classroom teachers support and guidance through the often slippery attacks they can encounter teaching natural selection and other concepts. The site, at evolution.berkeley.edu, grew out of a conference that the museum hosted four years ago at which representatives from virtually every national scientific and education organization gathered to consider the growing pressures against evolution curricula......... - San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2004.

Collaboration results in first consumer electronic paper display: Royal Philips Electronics, Sony Corp., and E Ink Corp. have announced the world's first consumer application of an electronic paper display module in Sony's new e-Book reader, LIBRIé, scheduled to go on sale in Japan in late April. This "first ever" Philips' display utilizes E Ink's electronic ink technology which offers a truly paper-like reading experience with contrast that is the same as newsprint.......... - OE Magazine, March 29, 2004.

Ethanol to Power Hydrogen Fuel Cells: Hydrogen fuel cell technology’s potentially strong future as a fuel for automobiles and various other applications is likely to be weakened by issues regarding its availability and the expenses involved in storage. Bio-based products such as ethanol are expected to open up new areas for research........... - AZoM.com, March 29, 2004.

New Advance In Nanotechnology Will Allow Physicians To Track Early Spread Of Breast Cancer: Genomics, proteomics, and nanotech biomedical engineering lead to precise early detection in prostate and ovarian cancer, and metastasis of breast cancer. Scientists described three novel advances aimed at early detection of cancer, a critical key to controlling or curing the disease. Through analysis of molecular fingerprints or genetic signatures, scientists have devised technology to identify ovarian or prostate cancer.......... - AZoNano, March 29, 2004.

Composite fibers with carbon nanotubes offer improved mechanical & electrical properties: Strong and versatile carbon nanotubes are finding new applications in improving conventional polymer-based fibers and films. For example, composite fibers made from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and polyacrylonitrile – a carbon fiber precursor – are stronger, stiffer and shrink less than standard fibers. Nanotube-reinforced composites could ultimately provide the foundation for a new class of strong and lightweight fibers with properties such as electrical and thermal conductivity unavailable in current textile fibers. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rice University, Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. and the U.S. Air Force have been developing new processes for incorporating nanotubes into fibers and films. ........ - EurekAlert, March 29, 2004.

Nanoparticles for biosensors: Fluorescent nanoparticles that can be attached to biological molecules are being developed for use in microscopic sensor devices. Philip Costanzo, a graduate student in chemistry at UC Davis, and Timothy Patten, associate professor of chemistry, have prepared nanoparticles of cadmium sulphide and silicon dioxide coated with polymer chains with biotin attached to the ends. When avidin, a protein that binds to biotin, is added, the nanoparticles cluster into larger aggregates. The researchers used dynamic light scattering, electron microscopy and other methods to study these aggregates. . ........ - EurekAlert, March 29, 2004.

Carnegie Mellon University creates novel carbon nanoparticles with vast potential: Carnegie Mellon University scientists have developed an attractive way to make discrete carbon nanoparticles for electrical components used in industry and research. This method, which employs polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a nanoparticle precursor, is being presented by Chuanbing Tang, a Carnegie Mellon graduate student, on Sunday, March 28, at the 227th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif. (POLY69, Garden A). The research findings have been accepted for publication in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. "This work really illustrates a particularly attractive strategy in the evolution of nanotechnology," said Tomasz Kowalewski, assistant professor of chemistry at the Mellon College of Science and principal investigator on this research, which is supported by the National Science Foundation. "Our well-defined carbon nanoparticles should find a wide range of applications, especially in energy storage/conversion devices and in display technologies." ........ - EurekAlert, March 29, 2004.

Type of buckyball shown to cause brain damage in fish: Researchers have found that a type of buckyball—a carbon nanoparticle that shows promise for electronic, commercial and pharmaceutical uses — can cause significant brain damage in fish. The small preliminary study, the first to demonstrate that nanoparticles can cause toxic effects in an aquatic species, could point to potential risks in people exposed to the particles, they say. The study was described today at the 227th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. ........ - EurekAlert, March 29, 2004.

Self-assembling proteins could help repair human tissue: Protein hydrogels can be genetically engineered to promote the growth of specific cells. Johns Hopkins University researchers have created a new class of artificial proteins that can assemble themselves into a gel and encourage the growth of selected cell types. This biomaterial, which can be tailored to send different biological signals to cells, is expected to help scientists who are developing new ways to repair injured or diseased body parts. ........ - EurekAlert, March 29, 2004.

A little insight into nanotech investing: Nanotechnology is the science of building things on a miniscule or molecular scale. To make money from nanotechnology, you must look beyond the novelty and figure out how the companies in this area will or won't make money. The Internet investing theme of the 1990s is a good illustration of what can happen. When news of the Internet first came along, some investors bought any stock with an Internet connection. Long before the boom ended, the business of many Internet stocks had already collapsed........... - The Star, March 29, 2004.

Can India Plug Its Brain Drain?: IIT Bombay is using its technology incubator to counter the exodus of its brightest graduates to the West. For years, it was talked about as India’s "Brain Drain." Smart young students would take one of the most competitive entrance examinations in the world, get a bachelor's degree in engineering—and promptly go West. .......... - Technology Review (MIT), March 29, 2004.

Indian university establishes semiconductor lab: BITSConnect, an association of alumni, faculty and current students of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, has established a semiconductor R&D lab that the group says is the first campus-based VLSI design facility in India. The move could advance India's efforts to establish a global reputation in chip design.......... - EE Times, March 29, 2004.

Seizing the nano edge: It’s a project to turn science fiction into futuristic reality. At Velbionanotech, a little-known Bangalore-based company, researchers are working on pathbreaking projects that — if successful — might dramatically reduce the need for heart surgery or for kidney stone operations. What’s the frontier technology Velbionanotech is developing? It’s working on designing nanochips which will deliver a drug exactly to the affected area in the body. ........... - Business Standard, March 29, 2004.

Silicon metal!: Xiao Cheng Zeng, Jaeil Bai and their colleagues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, working with Hideki Tanaka of Okayama University, in Japan, have used the supercomputer, Prairiefire, to model single-walled silicon nanotubes in hexagonal, pentagonal, and square configurations in an effort to see just how low one might go. The computer ran for about a year doing the calculations. It would have taken six years on a desktop computer, which is somewhat longer than the usual research period for a doctoral student......... - Spotlight, March 29, 2004.

Light-activated key to 3D chemistry: Seth Marder of the Georgia Institute of Technology discussed details of the two-photon 3D lithography technique, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle. "Two-photon 3D lithography is a disruptive platform technology that we believe will provide broad new capabilities," says Marder, "We believe this technique provides a real competitive advantage for making complicated three-dimensional microstructures."........ - Spotlight, March 29, 2004.

Gambling on equations: Cambridge University's Steven Hawking was advised to avoid equations and formulae in his infamous 1987 book, A Brief History of Time; purportedly on the basis that every formula printed would equate to a halving of the readership. Einstein, on the other hand, proclaimed that his life was divided between politics and equations. Equations, of course, provide the basis for understanding the universe and their solution could mean the settling of an old wager......... - Spotlight, March 29, 2004.

Tracking a Textbook: From Idea to Publication:
PROPOSAL PATHWAY
Selling Yourself: Part of a prospectus is convincing the publisher that you are the right person to write the proposed textbook. Teaching experience is a plus; prestigious publications do not show that you can explain mitosis to a freshman. In your sample chapter, show concise writing that is inclusive, yet innovative
Idea: "I can turn my lecture notes into a textbook! It’ll be easy!"
Initial Research: Talk to sales reps, editors, authors
Proposal Reviewed: Instructors and sponsoring editor evaluate suitability, Editor presents proposal to publishing committee.....

Publication
WRITING AND REWRITING CYCLE
Regarding Reviews: The goal is to satisfy reviewers (course instructors) while retaining the flavor and rationale of your book. Reviewers can be wrong. When in doubt, check it out........ - The Scientist, March 29, 2004 [Article in PDF format]


Nanoporous Sands Could Help Clean Up Radioactive Pollution: CSIRO research has found unusual properties in ilmenite sand from the Murray Basin that could be harnessed to remove heavy metal and radioactive pollution from mine drainage, industrial waste streams, and ground water. CSIRO scientists discovered the sand grains contains tiny holes, just nanometres across, but just the right size to potentially capture and filter out toxic pollutants from mining and other industrial wastes, as well as catalyse important industrial processes......... - AZoNano, March 27, 2004.

Spin-coated chips: While traditional silicon semiconductor devices are increasingly smaller and more complex, they're also becoming more expensive and difficult to manufacture. As a result, silicon chips are often too costly for many simple applications. Researchers are therefore seeking new ways to make massive quantities of inexpensive, relatively basic semiconductor devices.......... - e4engineering.com, March 27, 2004.

Supercritical CO2 finds new use in medical implants: Carbon dioxide, an eco-friendly solvent for dyeing and dry cleaning, may become a valuable new tool for making medical implants, according to a study at Ohio State University (OSU). Engineers at OSU used compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) to push chemicals into a plastic that is often used as a bone replacement. With further development, the technology could be used in a wide range of plastics that release medicines -- from antibiotics to anti-tumour agents - into the body.......... - e4engineering.com, March 27, 2004.

Blue Garnets: Russian researchers produce crystals of various colors and shades based on yttrium, aluminium and oxygen. Outwardly, they practically do not differ from well-known semiprecious garnet stones. However, artificially produced crystals possess higher solidity, and the color variety is much wider than that of their natural "relatives". Sometimes a minor thing is sufficient to change the situation beyond recognition. That is particularly important in chemistry, especially in chemistry of crystals. A crystal is like a huge building constructed from atom "bricks": in case of one redundant atom or vice versa – and the building changes the shape, the quality of such structure decreasing........ - Innovations Report, March 27, 2004.

Bright light yields unusual vibes: By bombarding very thin slices of several copper/oxygen compounds, called cuprates, with very bright, short-lived pulses of light, Ivan Bozovic, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, and his collaborators have discovered an unusual property of the materials: After absorbing the light energy, they emit it as long-lived sound waves, as opposed to heat energy. This result may open up a new field of study on cuprates -- materials already used in wireless communications and under investigation for other applications in the electronics industry. ........ - EurekAlert, March 27, 2004.

Studying 3-D materials in one dimension: Research by Young-June Kim, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, may help determine how a class of materials already used in electronic circuits could be used in optical, or light-based, circuits, which could replace standard electrical circuits in telecommunications, computer networking, and other areas of technology. ........ - EurekAlert, March 27, 2004.

Tunable Surfaces: In a new experiment conducted at Bell Labs/Lucent, a liquid drop was maneuvered around a special surface consisting, at the microscopic level, of a forest of tiny stalks. The blades of this "nanograss" can be selectively electrified so as to move the drop from place to place or to cause it to lose its spherical shape and to wet the surface below. ........ - Physics News Update, March 27, 2004.

A few billion years in development, biomimetics emerge at last: In the 1940s, Swiss engineer George de Mestral returned from a hike with his dog and discovered that his pants and his pooch’s coat were covered with cockleburs. Examining the burrs’ hooks under a microscope, de Mestral was struck with an idea for a fabric fastener. Velcro was born. Velcro is the quintessential example of biomimetics, or biomimicry, literally the study of nature in order to imitate it. ........ - Small Times, March 27, 2004.

Maths 'Nobel' awarded: The Abel Prize, often described as a Nobel Prize for maths, has been awarded to two mathematicians for unifying swathes of mathematical theories that were once thought to be unrelated. Sir Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer worked together to create something called index theory, which helps to bring together branches of maths from topology to geometry. Their work can be described as a tool that helps scientists work out how many solutions there are to problems they are trying to unpick - such as how heat flows, or how an object moves. ........ - Nature Science Update, March 27, 2004.

Smiles reveal secrets to security cameras: Expressive muscles could be the key to face recognition. Mapping the muscles that shape smiles could lead to better face recognition systems, a team of physicists has suggested. ........ - Nature Science Update, March 27, 2004.

Carbon Nanotubes Display Light Emission: A scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, working with colleagues at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, has caused an individual carbon nanotube to emit light for the first time. This step in research on carbon nanotubes may help to materialize many of the proposed applications for carbon nanotubes, such as in electronics and photonics development........ - AZoNano, March 26, 2004.

New polyelectrolyte inks create fine-scale structures through direct writing: Like spiders spinning webs, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are creating complex, three-dimensional structures with micron-size features using a robotic deposition process called direct-write assembly. As reported in the March 25 issue of the journal Nature, Jennifer Lewis and her research team have developed novel inks that readily flow through micro-capillary nozzles and then rapidly solidify to retain their shape. Patterning such fine structures could be useful in applications such as drug-delivery, micro-fluidics, photonics and tissue engineering. ....... - Innovations Report, March 26, 2004.

Metamaterials with new electromagnetic properties: The development of new types of artificial materials, known as "metamaterials" and with electromagnetic properties not found in nature, is the aim of the Metamorphose Excellence European Network, of which the Public University of Navarre forms part, together with twenty-one other research institutions from 13 European countries. Metamaterials are electromagnetic and multifunctional artificial materials, created in order to comply with certain specifications. They involve materials that have properties superior to those found in nature. Development of these materials will give rise to new optical, microwave and radio technologies, based on new revolutionary materials which derive from the large-scale amalgamation of basic elements (nanoscopic and microscopic) in heretofore unprecedented combinations........ - Innovations Report, March 26, 2004.

Antibiotics in the environment: Scientists discover a method to detect trace levels of swine antibiotics in the groundwater. Scientists from the Department of Soil, Water, & Climate at University of Minnesota have developed a simple method to quantify two types of antibiotics in animal manures, and surface and ground waters. Chlortetracycline and tylosin antibiotics are commonly used for growth promotion in swine production. ....... - Innovations Report, March 26, 2004.

Sandia National Laboratories new 'inchworm' actuator allows study of friction at the microscale: Creating a tool small enough to measure friction on a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device is not an easy task. The tool has to be about the width of a human hair. Yet, researchers at the at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new "inchworm" actuator instrument that provides detailed information about friction at the microscale. ....... - EurekAlert, March 26, 2004.

Atomic Holographic Storage - Every File You Ever Owned on One Disk : By being able to program optical lenses many applications based on light and color can be developed like holographic storage, bio-terror detection devices, optical electronics, security products and hundreds of other products never seen before on the world’s market place......... - Press World, March 26, 2004.

Ultrasound imaging goes supersonic: Physicists in France have generated supersonic sound waves in human tissue for the first time by exploiting the acoustic equivalent of Cerenkov radiation - the light emitted by charged particles when they travel through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium. Matthias Fink and colleagues at the Laboratoire Ondes et Acoustiques in Paris say that their results could have applications for ultrasound imaging in medicine....... - PhysicsWeb, March 26, 2004.

Going vertical: Nanowire transistors are turned on their end: Many predict that the current rate of miniaturization of electronics using conventional materials and device structures will become unsustainable within the next decade. The race is therefore well and truly on to find new ways for reducing the size and increasing the density of these devices. Transistors and other electronic devices based on semiconductor nanowires are a leading contender in this race. However, most devices demonstrated so far involve orienting nanowires flat on the surface of a substrate, increasing the surface area required by each individual device, thereby limiting the number that can be integrated onto a single chip........ - Nature Materials Update, March 26, 2004. (Registration Required)

Nanopropellers made by atomcraft: The power of synthetic chemistry for building nanostructures with exquisitely sculpted shapes has been demonstrated by a team of researchers in Germany, who have fashioned carbon propellers just 3 to 4.5 nm across. The structures constructed out of carbon by Klaus Müllen and colleagues at the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz have three or four blades with a screw-like twist. The blades are made from six-membered rings of carbon atoms hexagonally tiled into large sheets....... - Nature Materials Update, March 26, 2004. (Registration Required)

Wire-growth process leads to flexible nanosystems: An approach to creating single-crystal nanowires from just about any semiconducting material is being pioneered by Charles Lieber and his group at Harvard University in tandem with the nanotech startup he co-founded, Nanosys Inc. Together with methods for placing wires in arrays and multilayers, the technique promises to create complex systems at the nanoscale....... - EE Times, March 25, 2004.

Nanowires span silicon contacts: One challenge for researchers aiming to make electronics at the size-scale of molecules is finding ways to position and attach nanowires to the tiny components. Researchers from Hewlett-Packard Laboratories and have grown nanowires between electrodes that were made using common patterning techniques. Because the nanowires grow and connect automatically, the method promises to provide a relatively inexpensive way to mass-produce nanoelectronics....... - Technology Research News, March 25, 2004.

Molecular logic proposed: Researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and University College London in England have devised a scheme for designing logic circuits within individual molecules. The scheme could eventually be used to produce small, fast computers and to store large amounts of data in very small spaces. The method could also be modified to make sensors for detecting individual molecules........ - Technology Research News, March 25, 2004.

DNA has Nano Building in Hand: Researchers from Ludwig Maximilians University in Germany have built a simple molecular machine from DNA that can bind to and release single molecules of a specific type of protein. The DNA hand can be made to select any of many types of proteins, and could eventually be used to construct materials or machines molecule-by-molecule.......... - Technology Review (MIT), March 25, 2004.

Titania nanotube hydrogen sensors clean themselves: Self-cleaning hydrogen sensors may soon join the ranks of self-cleaning ovens, self-cleaning windows and self-cleaning public toilets, according to Penn State researchers. "The photocatalytic properties of titania nanotubes are so large -- a factor of 100 times greater than any other form of titania -- that sensor contaminants are efficiently removed with exposure to ultraviolet light, so that the sensors effectively recover or retain their original hydrogen sensitivity in real world application," says Dr. Craig A. Grimes, associate professor of electrical engineering and materials science and engineering.......... - EurekAlert, March 25, 2004.

Massive Manufacturing: The Promise and Peril of Nanotechnology: Today, it takes a whole economy to produce the technology that goes into a factory. But this article describes a new technology that could produce a tabletop manufacturing system—compact, flexible, and fast enough to build a duplicate in an hour or so. That would be revolutionary—and dangerous. For many purposes, nanotechnology is defined as anything small enough to be interesting and innovative. This can include large molecules, small minerals, modern semiconductors, and a wide variety of sub-microscopic structures with an equally wide variety of purposes. But nanotechnology has another meaning, one that's even more interesting: using programmable chemistry as the basis of a manufacturing system. ..... - Future Brief, March 25, 2004.

A Step Closer to the Optimum Solar Cell: Besides cost, the most fundamental issue in assessing photovoltaic solar cells is efficiency—how much of the sunlight that falls on the cell can it convert to electricity? For the second time in two years, Kin Man Yu and Wladek Walukiewicz of the Materials Sciences Division, working with colleagues from Berkeley Lab and other institutions, have announced a new solar cell material that may be able to achieve extraordinary efficiency. In every other way these discoveries are different, however........ - Science Beat, March 25, 2004.

Discovery at Brookhaven Lab: A Subatomic Sensation: Talk about patience. For 14 years, starting in 1988, physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory searched painstakingly for evidence of an extremely rare decay mode of a fleeting subatomic particle called the K meson. We're talking needle-in- a-haystack rare. Yesterday, the team reported it had identified just the third example of the rare decay in some 7.8 trillion K meson events produced by a particle accelerator at the lab. The first rare decay was reported in 1997, the second in 2002........ - Newsday.com, March 25, 2004.

Rare kaon decay hints at new physics: An experiment at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US may have found further evidence of new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The E949 team has detected twice as many rare K-meson decays as predicted by the model. The results, which were presented at Brookhaven today, have been submitted to Physical Review Letters........ - PhysicsWeb, March 25, 2004.

Clean water: a neglected research priority: Providing adequate supplies of clean drinking water may not be the most exciting challenge facing scientists working in developing countries. But it is certainly one of the most pressing — and, potentially, the most rewarding........ - SciDev.Net, March 25, 2004.

Making Smart Drugs That Deliver The Right Kind of Punch: It's a bitter irony of cancer therapy: treatments powerful enough to kill tumor cells also harm healthy ones, causing side effects that diminish the quality of the lives that are saved. Researchers at the University of Michigan's Center for Biologic Nanotechnology hope to prevent that problem by developing "smart" drug delivery devices that will knock out cancer cells with lethal doses, leaving normal cells unharmed, and even reporting back on their success......The U-M group is using lab-made molecules called dendrimers, also known as nanoparticles, as the backbones of their delivery system. Dendrimers are tiny spheres whose width is ten thousand times smaller than the thickness of a human hair, explains physics doctoral student Almut Mecke. ....... - AZoNano, March 24, 2004.

Molecular Machine That Functions Like A Nanoelevator: UCLA supramolecular chemists report in the journal Science an artificial molecular machine that functions like a nanoelevator. "Such nanoscale robotic devices could find use in slow-release drug delivery systems and in the control of chemical reactions within nanofluidic systems conducted in laboratories on a chip," said Jovica Badjic, postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Fraser Stoddart, holder of the Fred Kavli Chair in nanosystems sciences and director of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA........ - AZoNano, March 24, 2004.

Nanotechnology opens new possibilities in optical circuit design: Nanotechnology, broadly, provides tools that allow materials to be manipulated in ways that have not previously been accessible or controllable, such as adding to or changing the structure of a material in a way that alters or augments its properties in interacting with other material or energy, including light. For optical properties, a critical threshold is achieved when important dimensions of a structured material are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the incident light. For IR, visible, and UV light, these dimensions are on the order of a few hundred nanometers to under ten nanometers. The creation of materials patterned on this scale is an application of nano-technology......... - Fiberoptic Product News, March 24, 2004.

Scientists create fifth form of carbon: Magnetic carbon 'nanofoam' could find medical applications. Researchers have created a new form of carbon: a spongy solid that is extremely lightweight and, unusually, attracted to magnets. The foam could one day help treat cancer and enhance brain scans, say the inventors........ - Nature Science Update, March 24, 2004.

Nano-foam makes magnetic debut: Physicists in Greece, Australia and Russia have made a new form of carbon that has the lowest density ever reported for a solid - just 2 milligrams per cubic centimetre. The material is a nano-foam of carbon clusters and is the first form of pure carbon to display ferromagnetism, albeit temporary, at room temperature. The team, which presented its results at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Montreal yesterday, says the foam could be used for spintronic applications and in medical imaging........ - PhysicsWeb, March 24, 2004.

Another twist in the field of superconductivity: Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered an interesting type of electronic behavior in a recently discovered class of superconductors known as cobalt oxides, or cobaltates. These materials operate quite differently from other oxide superconductors, namely the copper oxides (or cuprates), which are commonly referred to as high-temperature superconductors......... - EurekAlert, March 24, 2004.

IUPAC Solubility Data on the Internet: A database containing solubilities originally published in the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry-National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Solubility Data Series is now available at no cost online at http://srdata.nist.gov/solubility. This database, which is of significant value to analytical chemists, engineers, health scientists, and environmentalists, is derived from 11 volumes of the series and is concerned primarily with liquid-liquid systems. A limited number of multi-component (organic-water-salt) systems are also included. Typical solvents and solutes include water, seawater, heavy water, inorganic compounds, and a variety of organic compounds such as hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, alcohols, acids, esters, and nitrogen compounds. For many systems, sufficient data were available to allow critical evaluation............ - Chemistry International, March 23, 2004.

Simple Method of Controlling the Shape of Nanotube Structures: Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are reporting the discovery of a simple method for rapidly creating different shapes of carbon nanotube structures. To produce the minuscule structures on a commercial scale, manufacturers are looking for such techniques that make it possible to work with materials several billionths of a meter in size. Since their discovery in 1991, nanotubes have tantalized researchers because of their exceptional combination of size, strength, and physical properties. They conduct electricity and channel heat efficiently, and their tiny dimensions raise hopes for a new generation of semiconductors and a host of other applications in medicine and materials science............ - AZoNano, March 23, 2004.

Nano-Lightning Cooling For Computers: Mechanical engineers at Purdue University are developing a new type of cooling technology for computers that uses a sort of nano-lightning to create tiny wind currents. The researchers have shown that the underlying concept for a "micro-scale ion-driven airflow" device is sound and have recently filed for a patent........... - AZoNano, March 23, 2004.

Silicon-based magnets boost spintronics: A family of silicon-based semiconductors that exhibit magnetic properties has been discovered, paving the way for "spintronic" computer chips that are compatible with existing silicon manufacturing technology. Spintronics is an emerging field that exploits the fact that current flowing through transistors made of certain materials can store data not only as charge but also as magnetic moment.......... - New Scientist, March 22, 2004.

The First Nanochips: For most people, the notion of harnessing nanotechnology for electronic circuitry suggests something wildly futuristic. In fact, if you have used a personal computer made in the past few years, your work was most likely processed by semiconductors built with nanometer-scale features. These immensely sophisticated microchips--or rather, nanochips--are now manufactured by the millions, yet the scientists and engineers responsible for their development receive little recognition. You might say that these people are the Rodney Dangerfields of nanotechnology. So here I would like to trumpet their accomplishments and explain how their efforts have maintained the steady advance in circuit performance to which consumers have grown accustomed. ......... - Scientific American, March 22, 2004.

Nanomachinery gets a lift: A molecular machine consisting of two mechanically interlocked components behaves like a nanometer-scale elevator, according to the chemists in California and Italy who built the machine. The nano-actuator is made of a platformlike component with a central floor fused to three macrocyclic rings that loop around three legs of a tripodlike component. The team that designed and synthesized the machine included chemistry professor J. Fraser Stoddart, director of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, and chemistry professor Vincenzo Balzani and assistant professor of chemistry Alberto Credi at the University of Bologna, Italy [Science, 303, 1845 (2004)]. The system is about 2.5 nm in height and 3.5 nm in diameter. Each leg has two recognition sites: an upper dialkylammonium site and a lower bipyridinium site. When base is added to the system, the platform moves down the tripod to the lower level. Addition of acid returns the platform to the upper level. The tripod legs have bulky feet that prevent the platform from slipping off..........- Chemical & Engineering News, March 22, 2004.
GOING UP Molecular platform can move up and down the legs of the molecular tripod. (C, H, O, and N atoms are black, white, red, and blue, respectively.)


Step towards building tiny, molecular motors: A step towards building tiny motors on the scale of a molecule has been demonstrated by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In an article appearing in the current issue of Science magazine, the researchers from the two institutions described how they were able – through light or electrical stimulation – to cause a molecule to rotate on an axis in a controlled fashion, similar to the action of a motor.......... - Innovations Report, March 22, 2004.

New advance towards superconductor wires: Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), and various German and North American institutions have developed a simple method for measuring the maximum current that coated superconductors can carry. The material will, most likely, be used to manufacture the superconductor wires of the future. The research has been published in the journal, Applied Physics Letters. ......... - Innovations Report, March 22, 2004.

Light at the End of the Tunnel: Photonic crystals promise to shrink the optical devices used in telecommunications by confining light more compactly than current designs do. But getting light in and out of them has been a challenge: once light leaves a photonic crystal it sprays out in all directions, and much of it is lost. Two independent reports, in the 15 March Physical Review B and the 19 March PRL, describe using the surface of the photonic crystal as a kind of antenna to beam the emitted light in a single direction, like a flashlight. Improvements on this technique may help photonic crystal devices to efficiently swap light signals with conventional fiber optic devices........... - Physical Review Focus, March 22, 2004.

Nanotechnology's unhappy father: Eric Drexler invented nanotechnology. But what he thought he had invented is not what has come to pass. It is a galling thing to see your invention stolen. That is not, however, what Eric Drexler thinks has happened to him. Rather, and rather worse, he believes the name of his invention has been stolen and applied to something else. That name is nanotechnology, and Dr Drexler is cross not merely about the theft, but the fact that he feels the theft has stopped him pursuing his original vision. For the term nanotechnology, which once had a precise, if far-off, meaning, is now being bandied about by every Tom, Dick and Harriet with half a plan for making very small things, and a need to get a government grant or raise venture capital.. ........... - Economist.com, March 22, 2004.

The Nanotech Schism: High-Tech Pants or Molecular Revolution?: The field of nanotechnology is divided between those who think it will simply improve our lives and those who think it will completely transform them. The former group thinks of nanotechnology as essentially a new branch of materials science. The latter group, inspired by nanotechnologist Eric Drexler, hews to a more ambitious vision in which molecular manufacturing, nanomedicine, and even nanoweapons will radically reshape the world. Many people in the former category think that Drexler’s version of nanotechnology is bunk.......... - The New Atlantis, March 22, 2004.

The Scientist and the Poet: "The worthiest professor of physics would be one who could show the inadequacy of his text and diagrams in comparison to nature and the higher demands of the mind." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe This is the kind of comment we expect from a poet on a scientist. Poets generally seem to be unsympathetic to science; they question its capacity to tell us the full truth about our world. Typically, poets claim that science offers us only abstractions, and destroys the living phenomena it purports to study in the very process of analyzing them into their separate (and hence lifeless) parts. As William Wordsworth famously put it: "We murder to dissect."......... - The New Atlantis, March 22, 2004.

Nanogen Issued Nanotechnology Patent for Photonic Driven Assembly and Hybridization: Nanogen, Inc. has announced that it was issued U.S. Patent No. 6,706,473, "Systems and Devices for Photoelectrophoretic Transport and Hybridization of Oligonucleotides," by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The '473 patent relates to new devices for nanofabrication that enable the photoelectric transport and positioning of self-assembling DNA nanostructures (and microstructures) on a semiconductor substrate material. These devices use directed light beams to create precise electric fields on the substrate material. Charged nanostructures (such as DNA derivatized nanoparticles) are transported to the electric field site where they become attached and can then lead to the further self-organization of higher-order nanoscale or microscale structures and devices........... - AZoNano.com, March 22, 2004.

St. Joseph’s Among First in U.S. to Use New Technology in Genetic Testing for Alzheimer’s Disease: Researchers at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center are among the first in the country to use a new molecular diagnostic tool to help develop genetic tests for Alzheimer’s disease. St. Joseph’s DNA Diagnostic Laboratories validated the test in collaboration with Nanogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: NGEN), a company that develops and commercializes molecular diagnostic products for the gene-based testing market.......... - St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center News, March 22, 2004.

Will Silicon Valley make way for nanotube valley?: A team of University of California, Riverside researchers received $1.5 million from the Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation (MARCO), a not-for-profit research management organization, to create a new generation of nanoscale materials and devices to make computers and other semiconductor-based devices faster, cheaper and more efficient. ........... - EurekAlert, March 22, 2004.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine: In the op/ed piece below, Michael Ruse, Professor of the Philosophy of Biology at Florida State University, considers the possible political and religious issues at stake in the selection of winners of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The 2003 prize was awarded to Dr. Paul Lauterbur and Dr. Peter Mansfield for their work in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Amidst the controversy surrounding the Nobel committee's exclusion of Dr. Raymond Damadian despite his groundbreaking work in MRI, Ruse speculates that Damadian's exclusion was motivated by knowledge of his religious commitments, specifically his support of creation science.......... - Metanexus, March 22, 2004.

George Ellis wins 2004 Templeton Prize: George F.R. Ellis, a leading theoretical cosmologist renowned for his bold and innovative contributions to the dialogue between science and religion and whose social writings were condemned by government ministers in the former apartheid regime of his native South Africa, has won the 2004 Templeton Prize. The announcement was made today at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York. The Templeton Prize, valued at 795,000 pounds sterling, more than $1.4 million, is the world's largest annual monetary prize given to an individual. It will be awarded to Ellis by the Duke of Edinburgh in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on May 5. ......... - Metanexus, March 22, 2004.

Statement by George Ellis At The Templeton Prize News Conference: I am simultaneously humbled and delighted at the award of the Templeton Prize. I feel greatly honoured by the choice the judges have made. I am a scientist by profession, specialising in general relativity theory (that is, Einstein's theory of gravity) and its applications to cosmology - the study of the origin and evolution of the universe......... - Metanexus, March 22, 2004.

New knowledge about plutonium calms scientists: New analyses from KTH in Stockholm are creating order in the uncertainty that has prevailed for the last four years about how plutonium dioxide, one of the most important radioactive compounds in nuclear waste, behaves when it comes into contact with water. The findings are being published in the latest issue of Nature Materials. In January 2000 an article was published in the American scientific journal Science. A research team had discovered that plutonium dioxide, PuO2, quite unexpectedly could be transformed by oxidation to form a new stable compound PuO2,27. ......... - Innovations Report, March 20, 2004.

Copper substrate boosts red LEDs: Red LEDs based on a copper substrate can produce a luminous intensity which is three times higher than that of traditional gallium-arsenide-substrate LEDs, according to two researchers from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University. The duo also claims that their Cu-substrate LEDs can operate at an injection current which is eight times higher than that of traditional GaAs-substrate devices......... - Optics.org, March 20, 2004.

Miniaturizing polymer electronics: Organic electronics offers a future of fantastic possibilities including smart textiles and electronic paper. Currently, however, the road to this future is blocked by difficulties in finding solution-based means for patterning organic materials with feature sizes down to one micrometre and below. To overcome this, Jizheng Wang and colleagues investigate the parameters that control the dewetting of a water-soluble conducting polymer from hydrophobic lines formed on a silicon substrate. By carefully optimizing these parameters, the authors pattern pairs of conducting polymer electrodes separated just 250 nm apart. Using these as drain and source electrodes, they demonstrate the shortest channel organic transistors ever reported. Reducing the minimum feature size of organic electronic devices is expected to result in significant improvements in their performance.......... - Nature Materials, March 20, 2004.

Self-assembled liquid-crystalline gels: Combining liquid crystals with polymers allows some control not only of the crystalline orientation of the resulting materials, but also of their properties. To date, however, such combinations have resulted either in nonuniform materials or slow reorientation dynamics. Julia Kornfield and colleagues now propose a synthetic strategy to create self-assembled nematic liquid-crystal gels using a triblock copolymer.......... - Nature Materials, March 20, 2004.

Solar-powered Molecular Motor Built: The first molecular motor has been created that runs on electricity or light. Developed by Frederick Hawthorne and colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles, the tiny motor could power machines on a scale smaller than biological motors such as flagella. "Given the existence of biological motors, the interest of chemists in designing molecular motors stems from the challenge not only of making even smaller nanomachines that perform controllable motion, but also of creating systems that can be powered with light or electrical energy, rather than depending on the delivery of ATP," say the researchers......... - Betterhumans, March 19, 2004.

Nanoscale Elevator Raises the Bar: A complex nanoscale machine that can shuttle molecules like a tiny elevator has been designed, built and operated. Developed by Italian and American researchers, the tiny, chemically driven machine consists of a platform with three rings, each of which is attached to the leg of a tripod-like structure. ........ - Betterhumans, March 19, 2004.

Sensors Can Detect Carbon Monoxide at Room Temperatures: The detection of toxic and flammable gases, especially with the increasing focus on atmospheric pollution, is becoming essential in both the domestic and industrial environment. In a boost to toxic gas detection, researchers at Kyungnam University in South Korea have fabricated a novel carbon monoxide sensor that can operate at room temperature. To calibrate the sensor, the research team, led by Professor Sung Pil Lee, has also devised a sensing model........ - Technical Insights, March 19, 2004.

Synthesizing Superlattices of Iron Nanocubes: With so much nanotech research focused on ways to make ever-tinier logic devices cheaply, it’s easy to overlook the equally important field of data storage. Here too, nanotech has much to contribute, since layers of metal nanoparticles are at the heart of advanced memory applications. Single-electron devices and those using spin-dependent tunneling will also rely on the ability to precisely control materials at the nanoscale, in terms of size, shape, composition, crystal structure and 2D or 3D organization....... - Technical Insights, March 19, 2004.

Nanoparticles Remove Toxins From Blood: The integration of nanotechnology with biology and medicine is becoming more imminent lately. Today, several biocompatible materials are available for the manufacture of these nanoparticles for medical purposes. Different manufacturing methods and modifications are in place to bring these tiny particles into commercial applications ...... - Technical Insights, March 19, 2004.

Scientists Discover Crystalline Structures Longer Than Most Man-Made Nanostructures: A team of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered deep in an abandoned iron mine a microbe that produces willowy crystalline structures only nanometers across and longer than most man-made nanostructures....... - AZoNano.com, March 19, 2004.

Wavelet Bootstrapping: For certain classes of data that may be very expensive or difficult to obtain, a new statistical technique may provide useful information from a single data run by allowing meaningful re-sampling. The technique, known as "wavelet bootstrapping" or "wavestrapping," has applications in the geophysical sciences, bioinformatics, medical imaging, nanotechnology and other areas. ........ - Georgia Institute of Technology News, March 19, 2004.

Red wine mends solar cells: Researchers from the University of Toledo have found a way to increase energy production using red wine. One challenge in making solar cells more efficient is countering the effects of bad spots in the large areas of semiconductor material used to harvest energy from light. These spots drain current, making devices like solar cells less efficient........ - Technology Research News, March 19, 2004.

2003 Lifetime Achievement: He has a Nobel, a company and Washington’s ear: Sometime after his opening speech but before the close of the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s 2002 regional symposium in Houston, Richard Smalley managed to sequester one of the federal government’s highest-ranking officials for a tête-à-tête in his campus office. Smalley’s goal: to get a read on Phil Bond, an under secretary for the Department of Commerce and its quarterback for commercializing technology. Bond recently had begun promoting nanotechnology publicly as a means for expanding the national economy. They slipped into one of Rice University’s science buildings, the one where in the mid-1980s Smalley and his colleagues discovered a new form of carbon called buckminsterfullerenes, or buckyballs. They went to the third floor, circling the lab where Smalley devised a method for making another form of fullerene, carbon nanotubes. They turned into a reception area and passed the framed Nobel Prize for chemistry that Smalley shared in 1996 with co-discoverers Robert Curl and Sir Harry Kroto.......... - Small Times, March 19, 2004.

2003 Innovator of the Year: Iijima’s nanotube breakthroughs give laptops new power source: The year 1991 holds special meaning for NEC Corp. scientist Sumio Iijima. So does 2003. On Nov. 7, 1991, the journal Nature published a research paper by Iijima that detailed a process for making "graphitic carbon needles, ranging from 4 to 30 nanometers in diameter and up to 1 micron in length." What he identified as "needle-like tubes" now bear the name "carbon nanotubes" and a variation of those nanotubes provided the umph in a miniature fuel cell that NEC demonstrated at an international exhibition Sept. 17-20. The built-in fuel cell successfully powered a notebook PC for up to five hours, according to NEC, which expects to make a commercial fuel cell-run laptop available by the end of 2004.......... - Small Times, March 19, 2004.

Call for papers: Nanotech Challenges: HYLE: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry and TECHNE: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology invite papers for a joint special issue on Nanotech Challenges (Deadline: June 30, 2004). Some fifteen years ago, when the term "nanotechology" was almost unknown, ideas about molecular manufacturing or "producing new materials at the nanometer scale" would clearly have been associated with synthetic chemistry or materials science. Today, almost all of the natural and engineering sciences are engaged in nanotechnology, in some disciplines even as much as 10 per cent. The rapid emergence and growth of nanotechnology across the disciplines, fuelled by visions of a new technological revolution and huge governmental funding, present many great challenges not only to scientists and engineers, but also to those whose profession is to reflect on science and technology and their place in society....... - HYLE: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, March 19, 2004.

Semiconductor thin films get in a spin: Scientists at IBM have come up with a technique for spin-coating substrates with a layer of metal chalcogenide semiconducting film just 5 nm thick. The films have carrier mobilities around 10 times higher than other spin-coated semiconductors......... - Nanotechweb.org, March 19, 2004.

Tiny 'elevator' most complex nanomachine yet: Nanoscale elevators made of two interlinking organic molecules have been built and operated by US and Italian scientists. They are the most complex molecular machines built yet, consisting of a platform flanked by three rings that thread through three vertical rods. ...... - New Scientist, March 19, 2004.

100-metre nanotube thread pulled from furnace: A thread of carbon nanotubes more than 100 metres long has been pulled from a fiery furnace. The previous record holder was a mere 30 centimetres long. Carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel and better conductors than copper, but are often just a thousandth of a millimetre in length........ - New Scientist, March 19, 2004.

Rocket fuel boosts speed of transistors: Rocket fuel can significantly boost the speed of transistors, researchers have discovered. The fuel, hydrazine, has turned out to be ideal in helping to make faster thin-film transistors, a crucial component of liquid crystal displays. What is more, it does so in a novel "wet" manufacturing process that should lend itself to cheaper mass production of the components....... - New Scientist, March 19, 2004.

Ultra-Low Friction, Without Lubricants: Ultra-low friction, without lubricants, has been observed in an experiment at the University of Basel in Switzerland, with interesting implications for possible nanotech applications........ - Physics News Update, March 19, 2004.

Production nanophotonics - dream or reality?: Nanophotonics could well revolutionise the fields of telecommunications, computing and sensing, according to Professor Clivia Sotomayor Torres. But why is research into nanophotonics important? It has the potential to provide ultra-small optoelectronic components, high speed and greater bandwidth. Professor Sotomayor Torres believes current research into fabricating nano-electronics could open the way for new methods of making nanophotonic devices, i.e. mass producing light handling devices that may be only tens or hundreds of nanometres in size that will help drive this revolution......... - Innovations Report, March 18, 2004.

Single-crystal plastic transistors reveal hidden behaviour: Printing circuits on sheets of plastic may offer a low-cost technique for manufacturing thin-film transistors for flexible displays, but maximising the performance of such devices will require a detailed, fundamental understanding of how charge flows through organic semiconductors. ....... - e4engineering.com, March 18, 2004.

Electricity controls nanocrystal shape: Wires, tubes and brushes make it possible to build and maintain the machines and devices we use on a daily basis. Now, with help from a surprising source, these same building blocks can easily be created on a scale 10,000 times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence........ - Argonne National Laboratory News, March 18, 2004.

Optical technique explores nanotube chirality: Scientists at Nagoya University, Japan, have used micro-photocurrent (µ-PC) spectroscopy to investigate the chirality of a single-walled carbon nanotube in a field-effect transistor (FET). Chirality can affect a nanotube’s density of states, band gap and other electronic properties......... - Nanotechweb.org, March 18, 2004.

Give Me a Nanohand: Extremely impressive! A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark have a whole lab integrated under an electron microscope. Two manipulators and a turntable, and MEMS tips for the manipulators. And they can build 20-nanometer tips on the MEMS tips by using the electron beam to deposit metal atoms. That's small enough to move individual molecules around. ........ - Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, March 18, 2004.

For nobility in the Nobel Prizes: Of all the Nobel prizes, the one for economics has been most controversial - for its inclusions as well as omissions. A stroll down memory lane. The Nobel Prizes for 2003 were awarded in Stockholm with the usual pomp and circumstance. But equally ubiquitous were the controversies dogging them. For one, as soon as the last year's prize for medicine was awarded to Paul C. Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield for their discoveries on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a US citizen with Islamic heritage claimed that he was the original inventor of MRI. In fact, he had won the US patent for his MRI-related discovery and had also won a case regarding the same at the US Supreme Court. Economics is probably the field where such allegations of unfairness have been most widespread - this year as before. It has been pointed out that British economists traditionally did not find much favour - compared to their US counterparts - with earlier awards committees....... - Business World (India), March 17, 2004.

Tabletop Fusion: How Taleyarkhan put the Sun in a beaker: For many scientists it was a dream, much like alchemy. But it seems the researchers at Purdue may have struck gold. It is being touted as the ultimate energy source for the planet. Scientists all over the world had tried to tap this source, but they had reached dead alleys, taken the wrong turns, remained fascinated by red herrings on the way and, sometimes, thought they had reached their destination when they had not even begun their journey. So if a scientist announces that he or she has finally done it, the announcement is bound to be regarded with scepticism. Rusi Taleyarkhan and his American and Russian colleagues claimed two years ago that they had achieved nuclear fusion in a tabletop beaker. Nuclear fusion is the way the Sun gets its energy. But the Sun has a vast expanse of fuel to draw from, and no one in the vicinity to get hurt. Creating another Sun on the Earth is a risky business. Putting it inside a beaker is a dream.......Their research paper, to be published this month in the journal Physical Review E, has already stirred up the scientific world. It has promised the stars too.....Many scientists had criticised the first research paper published in the journal Science in March 2002. Now the circle of critics has narrowed, but has not disappeared completely. Yet Taleyarkhan is confident...... - Business World (India), March 17, 2004.

Optical glucose sensor holds promise for diabetics and intensive care patients: Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a novel optical glucose sensor that could be used to provide continuous monitoring of glucose levels in diabetics and hospitalized patients. Recently published studies showed that the sensor detects glucose under physiological conditions, giving a reversible fluorescent signal that changes intensity in response to changes in the concentration of glucose....... - EurekAlert, March 17, 2004.

Landmarks: Photons are Real: Does light consist of waves or particles? In the early 1920s physicists were still not certain. Albert Einstein's description of particles or "quanta" of light--now called photons--had been around since 1905, but at the same time, over a century of experiments had confirmed that light behaves like water waves. In May 1923, Arthur Compton of Washington University in St. Louis almost single-handedly ended doubts about photons with his paper in the Physical Review. He aimed x rays and gamma rays at electrons and showed that they emerged from the collisions just as would be expected for minuscule billiard balls....... - Physical Review Focus, March 17, 2004.

Nanotechnology Art Gallery: Nanotechnology Now is pleased to announce another artist contribution to our Nanotechnology.......
Antonio Siber - Nanobots
Two nanobots in pulmonary alveola killing a virus using nano-lasers
- Nanotechnology Now, March 17, 2004.

Chip takes over lab routine: Stamp-sized device could assess workings of single cell. By shrinking laboratory machines to minute proportions, California scientists have built a postage stamp-sized chip that drags DNA from cells. The device might one day shoulder some of scientists' routine tasks....... - Nature Science Update, March 16, 2004.

Yarn spun from nanotubes: Tiny tubes may yield ultrastrong fibres. Scientists have spun long, rope-like fibres from nanotubes. Their environmentally friendly method could be tweaked to make high-strength threads for use in engineering. The long ropes could even lead to futuristic applications such as a space elevator....... - Nature Science Update, March 16, 2004.

DNA detection made easy: Physicists in France have shown that it is possible to detect DNA with a purely electronic technique. Ulrich Bockelmann and colleagues at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris measured the intrinsic charge of DNA molecules with an array of silicon transistors, which allowed them to avoid the markers and labels used in conventional detection techniques. The team has already used its device to detect and identify a common genetic mutation in human DNA, and hopes to exploit the approach in lab-on-a-chip applications...... - PhysicsWeb, March 16, 2004.

Superconductivity: Turn up the temperature: A more elaborate picture is developing of what makes some materials superconduct at relatively high temperatures. With it come hints for how to design materials with still higher transition temperatures. Discovered a hundred years ago, superconductivity describes the flow of electric current without resistance in metals. Most metals do not become superconducting until cooled to within about ten degrees of absolute zero. But the discovery, in 1987, of materials that become superconducting at much higher temperatures rekindled an old dream that one day room-temperature superconductivity might be achieved...... - Materials Update , March 16, 2004. (Registration Required)

How small can you go?: Nanoelectromechanical devices weigh particles by their effect on the vibrations of a slender arm. Their sensitivity limits reach down to the level of single atoms. It will soon be possible to weigh individual small molecules with nanoscale sensors, a team of US researchers claims. Kamil Ekinci of Boston University in Massachusetts and co-workers have calculated the ultimate limits to the sensitivity of nanoelectromechanical scales (NEMS mass sensors), and find that they should be capable of registering the weight of a single hydrogen atom (about 10-24 g)...... - Materials Update , March 16, 2004. (Registration Required)

Supramolecular nanovalve: Developments in supramolecular chemistry have lead to the construction of molecular-scale machines, where the molecular components can make mechanical-like movements in response to stimuli. Researchers in California have now used pseudorotaxane complexes, tethered in pores in a silica film, to create nanovalves, which can trap luminescent molecules within the pores and release them on demand. The pseudorotaxanes they used are formed from a complex between a linear polymer and a bulky cyclopolymer..... - Materials Update , March 16, 2004. (Registration Required)

Toward better, colorful devices: Scientists report advances in making organic transistors and green polymer. Two new reports in the hot field of organic electronics highlight advances in the fabrication of flexible transistors and colorful displays......Organic transistors usually are built by depositing components such as electrodes and dielectrics onto an organic material. The fabrication process, though, often damages the organic material's fragile surface..... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 16, 2004.

Sweeteners for ion liquids: The anions of artificial nonnutritive sweeteners may help to enhance the "green" nature of room-temperature ionic liquids, suggest chemists at the University of South Alabama, Mobile.... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 16, 2004.

Mineralized Filaments Help Power Microbes: Bacteria in an abandoned Wisconsin iron mine have been found to extrude and shed alginate polysaccharide filaments that serve as templates to form extraordinarily long iron oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) nanocrystals. The researchers who made the discovery believe the microbes generate the mineralized strands as part of an elaborate metabolic process to produce energy ...... - Chemical & Engineering News, March 16, 2004.

Detection at a Distance for More Sensitive MRI: Alexander Pines and his colleagues have discovered a remarkable new way to improve the versatility and sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the technology upon which it is based, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)...... - Berkeley Lab News, March 16, 2004.

Molecular Gearheads: "Investigating Molecular Motors Step by Step" -- that's the title of a fascinating article in The Scientist. Sounds like they might be building machines for molecular manufacturing, right? Well, not exactly, but close. The subtitle says, "Recent discoveries begin to answer how dyneins, kinesins, and myosins actually work." Ah, so what these gearheads are actually studying is how protein motors work...and the similarities are intriguing.. ........ - Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, March 15, 2004.

The Impossible Dream of Eliminating the Nobel Prize: It's here to stay, however, so here are a few pointers on garnering your own. Given the reverence that the Nobel science prizes command, there's but a scant chance that the century-old awards will be deservedly terminated for what they've become: anachronisms that caricature the workings of modern research and sow acrimony among scientists. .......As one of the biggest, oldest, and most mystique-bound awards, the prizes create a unique class of super-sages. But if the Nobels didn't exist and someone proposed their creation today, the idea would not fly..... - The Scientist, March 15, 2004.

Converting biotech scientists to managers: Far too many people with technical expertise stumble on the path to management. The transition from technical contributor to technical manager is difficult. In biotechnology companies around the world, scientists are often given the responsibility for people and projects without a second thought or additional training. Some of them make the transition, but most experts agree that the industry has had a rough time with this changeover and needs to improve the odds. Failures in the transition to management occur because scientists believe that adding supervision skills is simply a learn-as-you-go experience......The new supervisor needs to constantly stay updated, because technical obsolescence can set in quickly.......A manager must be able to clearly visualize the desired goal. He or she then has to communicate this concept to others.....The problem is that many new managers think it is their employees' responsibility to be flexible in their communication style..... - Bioentrepreneur, March 15, 2004. (Registration Required)

Does your chairman need to be Superman?: To find the right chairman for your biotechnology company, brush up on your chemistry skills. In recent years, with the maturation of the industry and the need for world-class leadership, biotechnology companies have increasingly turned to executive search companies. Biotech companies are usually small to mid-sized entities facing important challenges; they need to be able to raise funds and manage their cash flow while adhering to a long-term, credible strategy. At the cutting edge of technology and science, their leaders need to balance both technical judgment and business-driven decisions on an international scale...... - Nature Biotechnology, March 15, 2004. [Article in pdf]

Recycled water could risk health: Using recycling water at home can pose health risks, according to Australian researchers. They say that people turning to rainwater, stormwater, greywater and treated sewage to save water may be unwittingly exposing themselves to pathogens or chemical contaminants..... - ABC Science News, March 15, 2004.

The Small and the Beautiful: With the help of semiconductor nanocystals, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, and their collaborators at the Universidad de Buenos Aires are now able to capture movies of signal transmission processes involved in the control of gene expression (Nature Biotechnology, February 2004 issue). This breakthrough is expected to speed up the development of new cancer-curing drugs. Quantum Dots (or QDs) can be used as nano-sized markers to visualize DNA sequences, proteins, or other molecules and track them in the cell. The complexes consisting of QDs and specific ligands, in this case a cellular growth factor, bind to target molecules such as receptors on the cell surface. The QDs glow in a variety of colors and are up to 1000 times brighter than conventional fluorescent dyes.......... - Max Planck Society News, March 15, 2004. [Article in pdf]

Are you Slow in Coordinating your Thoughts?: Many complex systems are composed of a large number of similar units that are connected in a complicated manner. An important example is provided by neural networks where nerve cells in the brain communicate by exchanging pulses via synaptic connections. Unlike atoms in a crystal which are arranged on a regular, e.g cubic lattice, nerve cells in the brain grow synaptic connections in a highly specific but irregular fashion. In such systems, a particular question is how rapid coordination, e.g. synchronization, between units of a complex network can be achieved. Three theoretical neuro-physicists from the Max Planck Institut for Flow Research in Goettingen have now shed new light on this question for networks of pulse-coupled oscillators, simple models of neural networks in the brain......... - Max Planck Society News, March 15, 2004. [Article in pdf]

Nano Patterning: Self-assembly has become a critical implement in the toolbox of nanotechnologists. Scientists and engineers who explore the nano realm posit that the same types of forces that construct a snowflake--the natural attractions and repulsions that prompt molecules to form intricate patterns--can build useful structures--say, medical implants or components in electronic chips. So far much of the work related to self-assembling nanostructures has been nothing more than demonstrations in university laboratories.......... - Scientific American, March 15, 2004.

Dry Nano, Wet Nano: I've recently been talking with a scientist who asserts that I alienate scientists by focusing on diamond-based "dry" nanotech to the exclusion of biochemical-based "wet" nanotech. This indicates a misunderstanding that needs to be cleared up. We do not think that dry nanotech is the only kind that matters. ........ - Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, March 15, 2004.

Our Molecular Future: "The molecular age may let us connect our actions more directly with consequences arising from them. As manufacturing becomes compressed in time and space, many of its consequences, beneficial or otherwise, are going to be right in front of us." ........ - Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, March 15, 2004.

Ion Optics and Innovative Micro Technology Building Low Cost Gas Sensors: lon Optics, Inc, and Innovative Micro Technology (IMT) announced today that they are working together to bring Ion Optics’ SensorChip products into production. Ion Optic’s SensorChip™ is a silicon micro-machined infrared gas sensor that offers significant cost advantages along with reduced size and power consumption. Initial designs target carbon dioxide and combustible gas sensing applications in medical devices, process monitoring, industrial safety, as well as, residential and automotive sensors........... - AzoNano News, March 15, 2004.

Composites: Bridging from nano- to macro-world: Semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, are nanometer- sized structures that are so small that quantum mechanical effects determine their properties. EviDots are commercially available quantum dots that range in size from 2nm to 10nm, corresponding to between 500 and 50,000 atoms. For an EviDot material system the optical properties are determined by the size of the nanocrystals. Different material systems allow the optical properties to span from ultraviolet to near infrared. EviDots produce intense fluorescent brightness at targeted peak wavelengths. .. ............ - Evident Technologies Press Release, March 15, 2004.

Quantum dots in polymers and solid matrix materials (PDF format): Evident Technologies announced today that it is the first company to make commercially available a composite of quantum dots (semiconductor nanocrystals) in common polymers and matrix materials. EviDot Composites enable the use of quantum dots in solid matrix materials that bridge the critical gap from the nano- to macro-worlds. Solid matrix materials allow product developers to control the form factor of the quantum dots and enable films, beads, fibers and micron-sized particle to be readily created. The EviDot Composites are available in prepared films, optical mounts, a ultra-violet (UV) curable resin and as a custom order in common polymers such as polycarbonate, polystyrene, PMMA, and sol-gels.. ............ - Evident Technologies Press Release, March 15, 2004.

Information coding and retrieving using fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals for object identification (PDF format): The spectral features, i.e., wavelength and