Quote of the day

"There is no doubt that nanotechnology has the potential to make the world a better place and that members of the National Nanotechnology Initiative have great intentions to do the right thing. But given what is at stake here — the quality of our environment, the future vitality of the American economy, and the health of workers and consumers — good intentions are not enough."

~Andrew Maynard, chief scientist for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, commenting on U.S Gov. non-action on nanomaterial safety regulation.

http://www.photonicsonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B1DDECABC-FA97-446B-B8DF-334E3B4FB267%7D&Bucket=Current+Headlines&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Quote of the day

Jeff Wacker, a futurist with Plano-based Electronic Data Systems Corp., said the evolution of nanotech into the consumer arena will be marked by three phases.

"I think there's the mild, I think there's the wild, and I think there's the magical," he said.

See http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=21916

Quote of the day

"No informed person doubts that developments at the nanoscale will be significant. We debate the time-frame, the magnitude and the possibilities, but not the likelihood for large-scale change. The least-speculative views suggest that we're in for changes of an order that justifies-if not demands-our undivided attention. Will we be ready?"

~Rocky Rawstern
from an article by Matthew N. Skoufalos, April 4, 2005
http://www.rt-image.com/content=8804J05C489E548640B69C74444090441

Quote of the day

RR: How do you - as scientists - help the public to understand the potential of nanomedicine? How can we - as a society - help insure that a nano-divide does not occur when it comes to distributing the benefits of nanomedicine to all?

Dr. James Baker:
Scientists need to take a lead role in educating the public about the potential for nanomedicine. By using the media to give real-life examples and visual representations of nanomaterials, we will be able to have people understand what is truly a real possibility and how it can benefit people's lives. The better educated the public are, the more supportive they will be of nanomedicine and the more rapidly we'll be able to develop nanomedicine applications. This relates to the second question. All healthcare is a societal issue that we need to deal with and the distribution of healthcare is one of the major issues our society will face as we move forward and our population ages. One of the hopes is that nanomedicines, nanobased health monitoring systems and nanodiagnostics can actually reduce the cost of healthcare to society. This will allow greater application of higher-quality healthcare to more individuals in our society, while at the same time, avoiding both the costs and pitfalls of current therapies. Let me give an example: To diagnose a tumor, we often have to use many different, expensive imaging studies, followed up by surgical procedures. If we can replace this with a nanomaterial, that could give a real-time diagnosis and allow earlier treatment of the disease before it becomes critical, we can save money in both the diagnostic and the therapeutic arena.

From: Nanotechnololgy Talk April 19, 2005
http://www.eurekalert.org/nanotalk/20050112/talk.php

Quote of the day

According to Tom Theis, IBM's director of physical sciences, "Nanotubes with diameters of only 1.5 to 2 nanometers possess many times the strength of steel and conduct electricity as both a metal and a semiconductor." Because of these properties, Theis says, "I can't imagine a more aggressive transistor technology right now."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9003397&taxonomyId=149

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In the chip-making world of the future, microprocessor makers will likely use carbon nanotubes instead of transistors to make chips smaller and more powerful.

"There's a lot of work going on in carbon nanotubes and some other exotic devices which may be the next technology that takes us to new levels of speed and performance."

~Ned Barnholt, Agilent Technologies CEO
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6713190/

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"The future is bright for nanotechnology. Nanoscale processes like General Motors' quick-plastic-forming aluminum are simplifying supply chains. Nanoparticulate diagnostics from companies like Nanosphere can turn fatal diseases into livable conditions. And nanoelectronics innovations from carbon nanotube electronics to spintronics promise to keep Moore's law going for another 30 years."

~Matthew Nordan, President, Lux Research

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Nanotubes have gone into warp drive. Baughman's team can churn out up to ten metres of nanoribbon every minute, as easily as pulling a strip of sticky tape from a reel. This ribbon can be up to five centimetres wide, and after a simple wash in ethanol compacts to just 50 nanometres thick, making it 2,000 times thinner than a piece of paper. The ribbons are transparent, flexible, and conduct electricity. Weight for weight, they are stronger than steel sheets, yet a square kilometre of the material would weigh only 30 kilograms. "This is basically a new material," says Ray Baughman (Director of the NanoTech Institute of the University of Texas at Dallas). http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050815/full/050815-8.html

Quote of the day

"Enhanced abilities to understand and manipulate matter at the molecular and atomic levels promise a wave of significant new technologies over the next five decades. Dramatic breakthroughs will occur in diverse areas such as medicine, communications, computing, energy, and robotics. These changes will generate large amounts of wealth and force wrenching changes in existing markets and institutions."

~Joseph Kennedy, Senior Economist, in a speech to the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress. March 2007
http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/nanotechnology_03-22-07.pdf

Quote of the day

"Nanoscience will eventually revolutionize and impact upon every single aspect of our lives, including the arts. It brings all the sciences together at the level of the atom. It is completely new in the way we fabricate and make things."

~James Gimzewski, UCLA chemistry professor and nanoscience pioneer.

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"If I had to pick the No. 1 challenge facing nanotechnology firms, it's environmental, health, and safety regulation and the question of public perception."

~U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)

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"Most nanotechnology-based products pose little chance for public exposure and therefore pose little risk to health or the environment. That's because most uses are in composites in which the nanoparticles are encased in a product, such as golf clubs or car bumpers, or in nanoscale structures that are part of larger devices such as electronic circuits."

~E. Clayton Teague, Director, Federal National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO)

Important Quotes

Over the past 8+ years I have been gathering quotes that have a bearing on nanotechnology. Be they on investments, the ethics of advanced technologies, or forecasts and predictions, I have collects thousands of relevant quotes from individuals in business, government, academia, and the private sector.

Recently I put together a series of these quotes for my Access Team website "To help convey the most critical notions and core assumptions about nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing..." including these:

"As an emerging science in its infancy, nanotechnology promises the nano-scale manufacture of materials and machines made to atomic specifications. The impact of nanotechnology on our way of life is widely believed to reach profound and hitherto unimagined levels in the coming decades. Proposed changes include clean abundant energy, pollution-free and inexpensive production of superior defect-free materials, complete environmental restoration and cleanup, safe and affordable space travel and colonization, and quantum leaps in medicine leading to perfect health and immortality. As a result of these advances, we anticipate the obsolescence of nearly all of today's industrial and economic processes by the first half of the new century, leading to global and radical changes in life style, finance, law, and politics."

~Behfar Bastani and Dennis Fernandez
From Intellectual Property Rights for Nanotechnology

Starting around 2010, workers will cultivate expertise with systems of nanostructures, directing large numbers of intricate components to specified ends. One application could involve the guided self-assembly of nanoelectronic components into three-dimensional circuits and whole devices. Medicine could employ such systems to improve the tissue compatibility of implants, or to create scaffolds for tissue regeneration, or perhaps even to build artificial organs."

~Mihail C. Roco, Senior adviser for nanotechnology to the National Science Foundation and a key architect of the National Nanotechnology Initiative

"Over the next ten years, the fields of chemistry, physics, material sciences, biology, and computational sciences will converge in a way that will define nanotechnology and impact almost every industry, including computers, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, defense, health care, communications, transportation, energy, environmental sciences, entertainment, chemicals, and manufacturing. Previously distinct disciplines will also combine: medicine and engineering, law and science, art and physics, etc. This merging will result in developments that are not simply evolutionary; they will be revolutionary."

~Jack Uldrich & Deb Newberry

Read this collection in full, here:
www.access-nanotechnology.com/quotes.htm

Visit Nanotechnology Now (nanotech-now.com) to read new quotes each week (left column, home page)

Quote of the day

"Nanotech is where breakthroughs are likely. Forget about just the cancer-detection and other advanced medical tools it's midwifing and the next-gen consumer electronics such as super-bright displays. On a planet that's on the cusp of catastrophic climate change, nano-engineered materials have the potential to make a real difference. Imagine solar power cells that are far cheaper and more efficient; batteries that allow for more efficient electric cars; components that make cleaner coal-fired power plants. These and other applications are hardly trivial--they'll save energy, reduce pollution, and maybe go a little way to making sure Times Square won't be under water for the next millennium celebration."

~David Talbot, Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/posts.aspx?id=17430

Quote of the day

"The successful companies will be those that can commercialize innovations that merge biotechnology, infotechnology, cognitive intelligence and nanotechnology."

~Robert McMahan, Ph.D., S enior Advisor to the Governor of North Carolina for Science and Technology www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=21257

Quote of the day

"Nanotechnology is about to dramatically change virtually every aspect of how we work, live, and play; in fact the process has already begun. If you've used a UV-blocking sunscreen it may well be 'powered' by nanospheres of titanium dioxide - the opaque stuff of lifeguards' noses - which, in its nano form, happens to be transparent to visible light, but not to UV. Similarly, nanospheres in your toothpaste are (or will soon be) giving you that ultra-bright smile. And Berkeley Lab's 'Materials Sciences Division' has recently demonstrated how to use a new electro-thermal technique on carbon nanotubes to turn them into 'conveyor belts' that move individual atoms to precise targets, potentially forming the basis for far more efficient nanoscale manufacturing."

~Jeffrey R. Harrow, author of The Harrow Technology Report. From: http://www.futurebrief.com/jeffharrownanolife022.asp

Quote of the day

The growth industry of the 21st Century is going to be clean power and green technology.

~Tom Friedman

...industries which will be enabled by nanotechnology.

~Rocky Rawstern

Quote of the day

Based on work performed to date with laboratory animals, NTRC believes that harmful pulmonary effects from exposure to specific nanotubes may constitute the major health risk for workers. NTRC has also preliminarily found that it is possible to control airborne exposure to nanoaerosols by using engineering controls such as exhaust ventilation and process enclosures. In addition, NTRC notes that preliminary evidence shows that respirators can be effective in protecting workers from particulates as small as 2.5 nanometers in diameter.
"While this evidence needs confirmation," says NIOSH, "it suggests that it is likely that NIOSH certified respirators will be useful for protecting workers from nanoparticle inhalation when properly selected and fit-tested as part of a complete respiratory protection program."

~From: Nanotechnology Respiratory Risks
http://safety.blr.com/display.cfm/id/103017

Quote of the day

"The timeline for initial development of assemblers and replicators depends on laboratory breakthroughs that are not easily predicted…if a full assembler actually can be developed within the next 10 to 20 years, and a useful replicator follows shortly thereafter, then an impressive capability for logistics sustainment will arrive during the third decade of the new century."

~Dr. Calvin Shipbaugh http://www.rand.org/natsec_area/products/thinkingsmall.html

Quote of the day

"Whether or not one believes in the Singularity, it is difficult to overestimate nanotechnology's likely implications for society."

~From: Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think (pdf)
Senior Economist Joseph V. Kennedy and sponsored by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ)
http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/nanotechnology_03-22-07.pdf

Quote of the day

When speaking about "the medium of exchange" in a society in which nanotech has removed the value from everyday objects, Glenn Harlan Reynolds said the following: "One thing that would retain scarcity is time. Personal services-teaching, lawyering, prostitution-wouldn't be cheapened in the same fashion. We might wind up with an economy based on the exchange of personal services more than on the purchase of goods. In a way, that's where we're headed already. Even without nanotechnology, the prices of many goods are falling. Televisions, once expensive, are near-commodity goods, as are computers, stereos, and just about all other electronics. Nanotechnology would simply accelerate this trend and extend it to everything else. Ironically, it may be the combination of capitalism and technology that brings about a near-propertyless utopia of the sort that socialists (usually no fans of capitalism) and romantics (no fans of technology) have long dreamed of."

Quote of the day

"Nanotech is where breakthroughs are likely. Forget about just the cancer-detection and other advanced medical tools it's midwifing and the next-gen consumer electronics such as super-bright displays. On a planet that's on the cusp of catastrophic climate change, nano-engineered materials have the potential to make a real difference. Imagine solar power cells that are far cheaper and more efficient; batteries that allow for more efficient electric cars; components that make cleaner coal-fired power plants. These and other applications are hardly trivial--they'll save energy, reduce pollution, and maybe go a little way to making sure Times Square won't be under water for the next millennium celebration."

~David Talbot. From: Good News: No Nano News http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/posts.aspx?id=17430

Quote of the day

"The current public calm surrounding nanotechnology -- and the public's lack of awareness about nanotech -- could change radically. All it would take would be mass media coverage of a research finding of a potentially dangerous health effect to consumers who are currently unknowingly exposed to nanoparticles in their sunscreens or cosmetics."

~Sharon M. Friedman, Professor, Lehigh University

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"The need to engage the public in a dialogue about nano's potential benefits and risks, and how government proposes to manage them, has never been greater or more propitious. Without such an effort, nanotechnology's benefits could be lost in a sea of scary headlines and confused publics."

~Julia A. Moore, Deputy Director, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

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"The results of the citizens' jury suggest that nanotechnology is not perceived as a serious threat to the values of anyone but die-hard anti-technologists."

~Nature Magazine. From: Nanojury UK - the final verdict at http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=159

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"Any new technology is associated with risks. Stone age man discovered the hand axe to cut materials, but the tool was also a powerful weapon. But nanotechnology doesn't pose any greater threat than other established technologies. In any case, there's no sense in elaborating frightening scenarios that are just as misleading as naive promises that 'the whole thing's harmless.' It would be more effective for the development of this new technology to be accompanied by information, education and critical examination."

~Bayer

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To suggest that nanotech is the next asbestos scandal is "an overreaction. There's a lot of (research) work that needs to be done, but there is nothing indicating there's going to be a serious problem, not at the moment."

~Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser at the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. From: Big troubles may lurk in super-tiny tech at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG28FGMVJ1.DTL

Quote of the day

Dr Andy Miah, a British bioethicist, believes there is now a new frontier in sporting technology, driven by the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science.

"We can imagine nanotechnological devices being utilised by athletes to keep them fit...these are molecular-sized devices that could be inserted into the brain to elicit certain kinds of physiological modifications." The technique has already been used to implant molecular-sized devices into the brains of people suffering from Parkinson's disease.

~From: Technology pushes sporting boundaries at http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/1035788

Quote of the day

According to Tom Theis, IBM's director of physical sciences, "Nanotubes with diameters of only 1.5 to 2 nanometers possess many times the strength of steel and conduct electricity as both a metal and a semiconductor." Because of these properties, Theis says, "I can't imagine a more aggressive transistor technology right now."

~From: The bootless PC and terabytes on a dime at http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9003397&taxonomyId=149

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"Nanotechnology is about to dramatically change virtually every aspect of how we work, live, and play; in fact the process has already begun. If you've used a UV-blocking sunscreen it may well be 'powered' by nanospheres of titanium dioxide - the opaque stuff of lifeguards' noses - which, in its nano form, happens to be transparent to visible light, but not to UV. Similarly, nanospheres in your toothpaste are (or will soon be) giving you that ultra-bright smile. And Berkeley Lab's 'Materials Sciences Division' has recently demonstrated how to use a new electro-thermal technique on carbon nanotubes to turn them into 'conveyor belts' that move individual atoms to precise targets, potentially forming the basis for far more efficient nanoscale manufacturing."

~Jeffrey R. Harrow From: Life Itself is 'Applied Nanotechnology' at http://www.futurebrief.com/jeffharrownanolife022.asp