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Tomorrow's green nanofactories
July 10, 2007New podcast explores how viruses produce eco-friendly batteries
WASHINGTON, DC-Viruses are notorious villains. They cause serious human diseases like AIDS, polio, and influenza, and can lead to system crashes and data loss in computers.
A new podcast explores how nanotechnology researcher Angela Belcher, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is working with viruses to make them do good things. By exploiting a virus's ability to replicate rapidly and combine with semiconductor and electronic materials, she is coaxing them to grow and self-assemble nanomaterials into a functional electronic device. Through this marriage of nanotechnology with green chemistry, Belcher and her team are working toward building faster, better, cheaper and environmentally-friendly transistors, batteries, solar cells, diagnostic materials for detecting cancer, and semiconductors for use in modern electrical devices-everything from computers to cell phones.
Unlike traditional semiconductor or battery manufacturing which requires expensive and toxic chemicals, Belcher's nanofactories generate little waste, grow at room temperature, and promise to be inexpensive and largely biodegradable.
Does all this sound too good to be true" Judge for yourself. Listen to an interview with Dr. Belcher, a 2004 winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award." It is second in an exciting new series of podcasts called Trips to the NanoFrontier. These podcasts are available online at www.penmedia.org/podcast, or directly from Apple's iTunes music store.
These podcasts and a recent publication, NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future (www.nanotechproject.org/114), are written by freelance science writer Karen F. Schmidt. Both focus on nanotechnology's ability to address the energy crisis, the need for better medical treatments, and the demand for clean water. They are based on a two-day NanoFrontiers forecasting workshop held in February 2006, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which is an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
"Nanotechnology is the future. In 2006 alone, governments, corporations, and venture capitalists spent $12 billion on nanotechnology research and development worldwide. Nanotechnology promises to change just about everything-our medical care, energy sources, communications and food. It is leading us to what many in government and industry are calling 'The Next Industrial Revolution.' Society needs to prepare now for how to exploit and harness its potential, especially to ensure that nanotechnology makes possible a greener, more sustainable tomorrow," said David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center.
"Dr. Belcher's research with viruses, proteins and yeast offers hope for new, ground-breaking solutions to the world's energy problems. It holds out the prospect of using nanotechnology in a variety of ways, ranging from improving the efficiency of production, storage, and transmission of energy to overcoming many of the obstacles to a hydrogen-based transportation system based on fuel-cell powered cars and trucks," according to Rejeski.
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Unlike traditional semiconductor or battery manufacturing which requires expensive and toxic chemicals, Belcher's nanofactories generate little waste, grow at room temperature, and promise to be inexpensive and largely biodegradable.
Does all this sound too good to be true" Judge for yourself. Listen to an interview with Dr. Belcher, a 2004 winner of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award." It is second in an exciting new series of podcasts called Trips to the NanoFrontier. These podcasts are available online at www.penmedia.org/podcast, or directly from Apple's iTunes music store.
These podcasts and a recent publication, NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future (www.nanotechproject.org/114), are written by freelance science writer Karen F. Schmidt. Both focus on nanotechnology's ability to address the energy crisis, the need for better medical treatments, and the demand for clean water. They are based on a two-day NanoFrontiers forecasting workshop held in February 2006, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which is an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
"Nanotechnology is the future. In 2006 alone, governments, corporations, and venture capitalists spent $12 billion on nanotechnology research and development worldwide. Nanotechnology promises to change just about everything-our medical care, energy sources, communications and food. It is leading us to what many in government and industry are calling 'The Next Industrial Revolution.' Society needs to prepare now for how to exploit and harness its potential, especially to ensure that nanotechnology makes possible a greener, more sustainable tomorrow," said David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center.
"Dr. Belcher's research with viruses, proteins and yeast offers hope for new, ground-breaking solutions to the world's energy problems. It holds out the prospect of using nanotechnology in a variety of ways, ranging from improving the efficiency of production, storage, and transmission of energy to overcoming many of the obstacles to a hydrogen-based transportation system based on fuel-cell powered cars and trucks," according to Rejeski.
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Nanotechnology Current Events and Nanotechnology News RSSNew study confirms exotic electric properties of graphene
First, it was the soccer-ball-shaped molecules dubbed buckyballs. Then it was the cylindrically shaped nanotubes. Now, the hottest new material in physics and nanotechnology is graphene: a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings much like molecular chicken wire.
Behavior modification could ease concerns about nanoparticles
In an advance that could help ease health and environmental concerns about the emerging nanotechnology industry, scientists are reporting development of technology for changing the behavior of nanoparticles in municipal sewage treatment plants - their main gateway into the environment.
UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers turn algae into high-temperature hydrogen source
In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles.
Caltech scientists develop DNA origami nanoscale breadboards for carbon nanotube circuits
In work that someday may lead to the development of novel types of nanoscale electronic devices, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has combined DNA's talent for self-assembly with the remarkable electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, thereby suggesting a solution to the long-standing problem of organizing carbon nanotubes into nanoscale electronic circuits.
New 'finFET' promising for smaller transistors, more powerful chips
Purdue University researchers are making progress in developing a new type of transistor that uses a finlike structure instead of the conventional flat design, possibly enabling engineers to create faster and more compact circuits and computer chips.
Findings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Magnetic nanoparticles to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat
Whether it's magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) giving an army of 'therapeutically armed' white blood cells direction to invade a deadly tumour's territory, or the use of mNPs to target specific nerve channels and induce nerve-led behaviour (such as the life-dependant thumping of our hearts), mNPs have come a long way in the past decade.
Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics.
An exquisite container
In campy old movies, Lucretia Borgia swans around emptying powder from her ring into wine glasses carelessly left unattended. The poison ring is usually a confection of gold filigree holding a cabochon or faceted gemstone that can be broken to empty the ring's contents. It is invariably enormous - so large it is rather odd nobody seems to notice it.
University of Cincinnati researchers create all-electric spintronics
A multidisciplinary team of UC researchers is the first to find an innovative and novel way to control an electron's spin orientation using purely electrical means.
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