Hey there, my name is Bryan Bishop. Here's to trying to keep up with yourself. RSS.
About
Transapient Musings of an S6 Archailect
Metacognitive trivialities over smooth topologies and Julian knots of subgeometric spaces; a.k.a mastermind Singularitarian, node of the Larger Submind and Clone of the Ineffable Original.
Bryan Bishop
http://heybryan.org/
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Archives
Wed, 11 Jun 2008
Nano, Geo, Uh-Oh With molecular manufacturing, we'll be hard-pressed to make a clear distinction between the potential power of individuals and the power of nations...
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In our most recent C-R-Newsletter, the feature essay is by Jamais Cascio, CRN's Director of Impacts Analysis. His title is " Nano, Geo, Uh-Oh ," and here is an excerpt:
The deployment of molecular manufacturing technologies will give individuals and small groups production capacities far beyond what we've ever experienced. That's what the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology has long argued, and it's a crucial point.
Whether we're talking dry nano or wet, diamondoid or biomimetic, the ability to shape materials at a molecular scale with systems able (in principle, at least) to self-replicate will be fundamentally transformative. We simply can't reliably apply our understanding of how people behave with limited capacities to a world where individuals no longer face those same limits.
With molecular manufacturing, we'll be hard-pressed to make a clear distinction between the potential power of individuals and the power of nations...
posted at: 11:32 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Weizmann Institute Scientists Create New Nanotube Structures
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Dr. Ernesto Joselevich, together with Ph.D. student Ariel Ismach and former M.Sc. student Noam Geblinger of the Weizmann Institute's Materials and Interfaces Department, are developing techniques to coax carbon nanotubes to self-assemble into ordered structures - essentially making the nanotubes do the hard work for them.
posted at: 10:48 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Wed, 28 May 2008
Federal Government Taps NC State Experts To Explain Nanotech Risks
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The arm of the federal government responsible for coordinating nanotechnology research and regulations across the country has called on experts from North Carolina State University to craft a white paper that will lay out how government and industry officials should communicate potential risks associated with nanotechnology to the media and the public.
Hm. Maybe NC State Experts aren't the people to be talking to -- what about CRnano and other nanotech institutes? Foresight Institute? etc.
posted at: 11:44 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Tue, 20 May 2008
Panel to discuss productive nanosystems Sunday night
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Sunday, May 18th at 7:00 PM Pacific / 10:00 PM Eastern, FastForward Radio will feature a distinguished panel discussing the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems.
The panel will discuss the background and history of the roadmap, and explore how it will serve to help realize these horizons. The panelists are:
- Christine Peterson, Acting President of Foresight Nanotech Institute
- Dr. David Forrest, President of the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and a Senior Fellow at the Foresight Nanotech Institute
- Dr. Pearl Chin, Research Fellow with Foresight Nanotech
For more information, see The Speculist: “Panel to Discuss Productive Nanosystems“
—Jim
posted at: 23:25 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Sun, 20 Apr 2008
New Artificial Material Paves Way To Improved Electronics
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University of Liege and University of Geneva scientists have developed a new artificial material based on interface engineering at the atomic scale that promises to open up radically new electronic applications. 
(University of Liege) The material is a superlattice, with a multilayer structure composed of alternating atomically thin layers of two different oxides (PbTiO3 and SrTiO3). It has properties that are different from either of the two materials--ferroelectricity and a dielectric constant--created by the artificially layered structure and driven by interactions at the atomic scale at the interfaces between the layers. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415193420.htm)
posted at: 16:27 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Atom-thick material runs rings around silicon
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University of Manchester researchers have used graphene to make some of the smallest transistors ever, at one atom thick and ten atoms wide. 
credit: MU Mesoscopic Physics Group They found that cutting small quantum dots of graphene gave the material switchable conductivity. Dots just a few nanometers across trap electrons due to quantum effects, and applying a magnetic field to the smallest dots lets current flow again, making a switchable transistor. The smallest dots that worked as transistors contained as few as five carbon rings--around 10 atoms or 1 nm wide. Previous graphene transistors were significantly bigger--ribbons 10 nm across and many times longer. (Source: http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13730-atomthick-material-runs-rings-around-silicon.html)
posted at: 16:26 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
Fri, 11 Apr 2008
Jurvetson on nanotechnology startup ecosystem
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Our favorite nanotechnology VC is Steve Jurvetson, who is interviewed over at LiveMint.com from India, which is affiliated with The Wall Street Journal. An excerpt:
How are the elements of the nanotech start-up ecosystem different from other sectors?
First, it is hard to find human talent because a lot of the really interesting breakthroughs happen in interdisciplinary areas, such as biology and electronics, for example. So you need people who are either skilled in both or have experience in one but are willing to learn (the other).
For example, Zettacore, one of our investments, is a nanotechnology company focused on semiconductors, but it is also based on principles of organic chemistry, which perhaps has things in common with a bio or life sciences company.
Second, the challenge is what product you ship. If you fundamentally innovate at an atomic level, you might need an entire industry to be built around it, so that the physical world interfaces with the nano world.
Steve mentions the conference at which he first became interested in nanotech:
In 1998-99, a friend invited me to a nanotech conference where people brainstormed about (technologies of) the future. It was one of the most intellectually stimulating conversations I’d had.
That was the spring 1999 Foresight Senior Associate Gathering. If you join Foresight as a Senior Associate, you’ll be invited to our next one! —Christine
posted at: 23:33 | path: /nanotech | permanent link to this entry
