Singularity University

What is the mission of SU?

"Singularity University aims to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s grand challenges."

If they can get funding this will be exciting!

"We are now in the steep part of the exponential trajectory of information technologies in a broad variety of fields, including health, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. It is only these accelerating technologies that have the scale to address the major challenges of humanity ranging from energy and the environment to disease and poverty. With its strong focus on interdisciplinary learning, Singularity University is poised to foster the leaders who will create a uniquely creative and productive future world.”

Ray Kurzweil

Better Tools

In our quest to better understand the properties of nanoscale materials (which differ from their larger macroscale cousins) scientists are developing new tools such as the one used to create the image above.

"This image of an early moment in the simulated mixing of two fluids was created by researchers using a powerful new algorithm they developed to extract features and patterns from massive data sets. In the image, blue and red spheres and the lines between them represent the branching of pockets of fluid."

"A powerful computing tool that allows scientists to extract features and patterns from enormously large and complex sets of raw data has been developed by scientists at University of California, Davis, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The tool - a set of problem-solving calculations known as an algorithm - is compact enough to run on computers with as little as two gigabytes of memory."

Credit: Attila Gyulassi/UC Davis copyright UC Regent

Click on the title to read the whole article at Nanotechnology Now

Giving Science Back it's Voice

In today’s inaugural speech, President Obama gives us hope that science and technology won’t be strangled by special interests nor it’s voice hushed by our leaders in government for political gain.

“The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.”

Why mention this on a nanotechnology blog? Simple, really; every one of the areas mentioned above will be enabled by nanoscale technologies.

Picture of the day

VLS Silicon Nanowire

High-crystalline silicon and other semiconducting nanowires are key building blocks for electronic devices, light emitting devices, field emission sources and sensors. Pictured is a crystalline silicon nanowire grown by the vapour-liquid-solid mechanism (VLS). VLS growth is so named because the constituents in gas form precipitate through a liquid catalyst onto a solid crystallin surface. Thermal-vapour-growth from solid precursors, usually in a high temperature furnace, is the most common way to obtain a bulk production of nanowires.

Source: K.B.K. Teo

Original post by Ryan Munden at http://www.nanopicoftheday.org/

Nanomedicine Today

To get excited about the potential of nanomedicine (AKA: nanobiotechnology) all one need do is read the headlines at sites like Nanotechnology Now.

Here are a few since January 1st:

• Nano "Tractor Beam" Traps DNA
• Revolutionize the utility of adult stem cells through nanotechnology
• Tiny capsules deliver
• Wireless microgrippers grab living cells
• Tool Gives a Glimpse of Biomolecules in Motion
• New guidelines open up the potential of molecular diagnostics
• Lab-in-a-Cartridge for Fast and Accurate Detection of Cancer and Infectious Diseases
• Nanotubes Sniff Out Cancer Agents in Living Cells
• Artificial Antibody Delivers Nanoparticles to Tumors
• Toxin-Nanoparticle Combo Inhibits Brain Cancer Invasion While Imaging Tumors
• Microfluidic Devices Capture and Analyze Single Cancer Cells
• Biodegradable Nanoprobe Images New Blood Vessel Growth
• Polymer Nanoparticle for Oral Anticancer Drug Delivery
• A fantastic voyage brought to life
• Synthetic HDL: A New Weapon to Fight Cholesterol Problems (as illustrated, next)
  
  

“The researchers successfully designed synthetic HDL and show that their nanoparticle version is capable of irreversibly binding cholesterol. The synthetic HDL, based on gold nanoparticles, is similar in size to HDL and mimics HDL's general surface composition.”

http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=31934

Now, more than ever, nanobiotechnologies are looking increasingly promising for applications in screening, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of today’s more pernicious diseases. While I was cautiously optimistic back in the 1990’s and into the ‘00’s, I am now certain that nanobio will enable many lifesaving technologies in the next decade. Some of which may do more than just detect and cure; they may even help extend our productive life spans, giving each of us several more decades (or more) of good health and vitality.

There is also good news on the “safety” front:

• Nanotech Safety High on Congress' Priority List

My advice? If you have time only for visits to just two sites per day, consider time spent at Nanotechnology Now and Responsible Nanotechnology a must.

http://www.nanotech-now.com/
http://crnano.typepad.com/

Want to learn more about nanotechnology in general? Here are a few sites that offer information essential to understanding nanoscale technologies:

What is Nanotechnology? -- http://www.crnano.org/whatis.htm
Howard Lovy’s Nanobot -- http://nanobot.blogspot.com/
Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies --http://www.nanotechproject.org/

And by all means read the books you see listed on the right column on this blog.

Memo to Pres. Obama: Advanced Nanotechnology - What, When, and Why

"Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. In its advanced form, which should be achieved within the next decade or two, the technology will allow a revolution in manufacturing—building powerful products with atomic precision from the bottom up—and could fundamentally alter our ability to confront challenging issues such as climate change.

Some experts confidently predict that once exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing is achieved, our worries about global warming and climate change will be over. A relatively simple solution like tiny balloons fitted with adjustable mirrors could, they say, give us all the control we will need to moderate warming and create preferred climate conditions."

Mike Treder
Executive Director
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
http://CRNano.org