Wired has an article by Gregg Easterbrook which discusses the problems of NASA I mostly agree with his analysis but his 4th place recommended priority Figure out a way to replace today’s chemical rockets with a much cheaper way to reach Earth orbit should be first. I also believe that laser arrays (preferrably with mirrors), …
A hot ice Neptune sized world with water has been found The star GJ 436, a diminutive star (red dwarf) 30 light-years from the Sun, was known since 2004 to harbour a 22-Earth mass planet, orbiting 4 million kilometers from the star (0.03 Astronomical Units). Measurements show that the planet has a diameter of about …
digg_url= ‘http://advancednano.blogspot.com/2007/05/engines-of-creation-predictions-are-not.html’; digg_skin =’compact’;reddit_url=’http://advancednano.blogspot.com/2007/05/engines-of-creation-predictions-are-not.html’reddit_url=’advancednano.blogspot.com/2007/05/engines-of-creation-predictions-are-not.html’ An updated version of Engines of Creation is online The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), has an article that points out that the term “molecular nanotechnology” has been associated almost invariably with fantastic notions like bloodstream nanobots, true universal assemblers (“meat machines”), and theoretically ubiquitous “utility fog.” Such concepts admittedly are …
The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems has examined what can be developed in labs today and then mapped out a step-by-step plan for the pathways of development that must take place to achieve productive nanosystems. This has been a long anticipated event by those (like myself) who follow molecular nanotechnology. Here is the Technology Roadmap …
“Mini bacteria”, or EnGeneIC Delivery Vehicles (EDVs) as the company has dubbed them, are cheap and easy to produce, and can be used as targeted drug delivery vehicles. They could be adapted to target virtually any tumour tissue in the body, and could put an end to many of the toxic side effects associated with …
Nanoparticles with a completely new shape may lead to cheaper catalysts that could make many experimental-energy technologies more practical. Nano geometry: This 24-sided platinum nanoparticle could lead to cheaper alternative energy. Credit: Zhong Lin Wang, Georgia Tech The 24-sided platinum nanoparticles have surfaces that show up to four times greater catalytic activity compared with commercial …
Loss of only one of the genes, a gene encoding the protein PHA-4, negated the lifespan-enhancing effect of calorie-restriction in worms. And, when researchers undertook the opposite experiment—by overexpressing pha-4 in worms—the longevity effect was enhanced. “PHA-4 acts completely independent of insulin/IGF-1 signaling and turns out to be essential for CR-mediated longevity,” says Panowski. “We …
A far more accurate blood test for prostate cancer has been created The American Cancer Society projects that in 2007 there will be 219,000 new cases and 27,000 deaths. Yet detecting the disease early has always been problematic. The new tests accuracy: about 3 percent of the time, when the test was positive, there was …
About a year ago, Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Tech in the US discovered that, when he disturbed zinc oxide nanowires, they gave off a tiny electrical current, a phenomenon called piezoelectricity. At the time, he had to use the tip of an atomic force microscope – a $250,000 instrument – to create about one-billionth …