Nanotechnology in British Columbia

The Nanotech BC Blog: The Young Turks of AMPEL

2007-11-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

Progress in science in technology is driven by many things -- money, infrastructure, as well as popular and political support, but the arguably the most important factor in innovation is people.

Recently Nanotech BC has had the opportunity to work with some of the members of the University of British Columbia's MiNa -- Micro-systems and Nanotechnology, group. They are a research group of scientists working on projects applying micro and nanotechnology to everything from bio-medical devices to energy to fabrication.

BC deserves credit for the huge investment it has made in nanotechnology researcher, but it's even more important to keep our eyes on the people behind the machines and MiNa is one of the teams that is making nanotechnology a reality.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Tougher Armor through Carbon Nanotubes

2007-10-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

I suppose that it's inevitable that one of the first showcases for new technology is weapons. It's slightly more comforting to see that some of the new materials nanotechnology is enabling are meant to protect lives instead of kill them.

The BBC news has a good article on how carbon nanotubes are being used to create "future fibres" for use within body armor.

"Our fibre is up there with the existing high performance bibres such as Kevlar", said Professor Windle. But he added: "We've seen bits that are much better than Kevlar in all respects."

The article also has a good section explaining the process of making the super-strong material. They've convinced me that what there producing has a lot of promise, but there are a few conspicuous and unanswered questions: How much does it cost to produce, and how scalable is the manufacturing process?

The Nanotech BC Blog: Plastic? Steel? Both!

2007-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

We're really just playing catch up with nature, aren't we?

Apparently, by mimicking the layered molecular grid of seashells scientists at the University of Michigan have created a new, biodegradable plastic-like material that's transparent and hard as steel.

The most impressive thing about this advance is that the researchers have managed to live up to the promise of nanotechnology -- realizing the remarkable strength of their nanoscale building-blocks at the macroscale.

Of course, as always there are questions that need to be asked. How expensive is it to create this material? How hard is it going to be to scale it up to economically viable production? This new material is a significant achievement, but the real success will come when we're using it in practical ways.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Coming Soon to a Fruit Fly Larvae Near You

2007-10-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

The intersection of nanotechnology and biology are attracting a lot of interest for many good reasons. On the one hand nanotech seems to promise new ways of curing disease and promoting health. On the other, nobody seems very sure of the extent that nanoparticles or nanotubes are harmful.

Now the brave fruit fly looks like it's about to find out:

Nanotubes Imaged In Fruit Fly Larvae

Using near-infrared fluorescence imaging, scientists at Rice University have managed to sneak a peek at single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) inside the bodies of living fruit fly larvae (Nano Lett. 2007, 7, 2650). It's the first time anyone has observed carbon nanotubes inside a living creature, according to principal investigators Kathleen M. Beckingham and R. Bruce Weisman, who think the technique could be useful for diagnosing diseases. The Rice team first fed Drosophila melanogaster larvae a steady diet of water-solubilized SWNTs. The researchers then used a near-infrared microscope and special camera to image SWNTs without harming the larvae. Neither the adult flies' viability nor their growth was reduced by ingesting the tubes. They also found that a small fraction—approximately 10^-8—of the ingested nanotubes were incorporated into the flies' organs, which suggests that SWNTs may have a negligible physiological impact on the insects.

Personally, I'm not planning on ordering a nanotube cocktail any time too soon no mater how much the flies liked it -- but the lack of damage to the larvae seems like a hopeful sign. Nanoparticles are part of the environment every time you burn a candle, but there is a strong possibility that the type and amount of nanomaterials we will all be exposed to will change.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Spreading the Word

2007-09-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit of an absentee landlord with this blog lately, but that's only because a lot has been happening.

First off, Vancouver's own Georgia Straight had a feature article on Nanotechnology that Alan Guest, the Executive Director of Nanotech BC contributed to. It's a good article and manages to present nanotechnology in a reasonable light -- as neither a world-devouring existential threat nor the key to a sci-fi utopia. Bit by bit an understanding of "nano" as a scale for technology rather than a distinct technology itself is filtering into the public.

Next, I was off to Oregon for ONAMI's Micro Nano Breakthrough Conference. The event was fascinating and a lot of fun. They had around three hundred attendees and some truly remarkable speakers. The two that stood out for me were Clayton Teague the NNCO Director and R. Stanley Williams of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. In particular I was amazed at what Hewlett-Packard is up to. It'll be interesting to see where the memristor takes us...

The Nanotech BC Blog: Social Issues in Nanotechnology

2007-08-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Soft Machines is one of my favorite nanotechnology blogs -- lucid, balanced and informed. Richard Jones's latest is a two-part article on the history of nanotechnology and the social interests that are propelling it.

The first part focuses on where nanotechnology has come from. The second looks at the social issues and groups that are affecting where it's going.

What particularly impressed me was Jone's recognition that science in general and nanotechnology in particular serve as a mirror for social and cultural fears and aspirations.

Technologies don’t exist or develop in a vacuum, and nanotechnology is no exception; arguments about the likely, or indeed desirable, trajectory of the technology are as much about their protagonists’ broader aspirations for society as about nanotechnology itself.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Enabling the Enabling Technology

2007-08-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

At Nanodot Christine Peterson briefly raises the issue of advanced software and its implications for nanotechnology. She rightly points out that nanotechnology with real molecules is difficult and expensive. The alternative is computer simulations.

Right now though even the most powerful computers are struggling to fold proteins -- the complexities of nanotechnology highlight the leap we are going to need in computing power in order to accurately model nanotech.

In her post Ms. Peterson refers to AI and the Singularity Summit, but there is no reason that AI has to be part of the ability to model nanotechnology. Perhaps the most promising means of bringing computing power to the necessary level doesn't involve AI: quantum computing.

Quantum computing is spooky stuff -- using the quantum features like superposition and entanglement to do computations that are impossible any other way. Quantum computing is farther along than most people think; D-Wave, the worlds first private quantum computing company is alive and well in British Columbia and they are well aware of how their work could accelerate nanotechnology in powerful ways.

The Nanotech BC Blog: The FDA Speaks

2007-07-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

The USA Food and Drug Administration has come to the conclusion that they have sufficient capability to test and regulate products containing nanoparticles. Products will not need special labeling to indicate the presence of nanoparticles -- a decision that will no doubt put a number of companies at ease. More details here and here.

Is this a good thing? It's hard to say, because the decision seems to be being made based on a lack of information -- the FDA simply doesn't know enough about nanoparticles to say they are a danger. This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean some of them aren't.

It really comes down to deciding just how cautious we want to be about nanotechnology. This is a tough call to make, and I sincerely hope that the FDA knows enough about the many different properties of the many different kinds of nanoparticles to make it.

The Nanotech BC Blog: The More Things Change...

2007-07-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Maybe Charles Babbage was onto something...

Computers have become so integrated into our lives that it's sometimes easy to forget how much energy is required to keep them going. Silicon chips use a lot of power and Nanowerk has a great article today on the consequences of that energy use:

...about 200 billion kWh of electricity a year used by computers.... That means that generating the electricity for using 1 billion computers will release some 128 million tonnes of CO₂ (280 billion pounds) into the air.

Maybe we can find the way forward by looking backwards.

Dr. Robert Blick at the University of Wisconsin is developing nanomechanical computational devices -- chips that sacrifice a degree of speed but in return are vastly superior to silicon in terms of energy consumption and robustness. Soft Machines adds to the discussion and distinguishes Dr. Blick's work from Eric Drexler's rod logic.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Aim for where the Target is Going to Be

2007-07-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Two interesting recent posts from the Nanotechnology Development Blog.

First, they mention how nanotechnology is being used to develop "green" packaging. By adding nanoparticles to the bioplastic Plolylactic acid (PLA), bags made from it become stronger while still maintaining their transparency. The great thing about PLA bags is that they are made from corn, biodegradable and require less energy to create than conventional plastic bags. A few fewer plastic bags in the world might not seem like a big deal -- but it is.

The other post that I thought was interesting was about the increasing demand for Electron Microscopes. Apparently the spiraling decent of semiconductors to the nano-scale is making Electron Microscopes essential for product inspection. This should really have been an easy trend to predict.

Here's a prediction of my own -- a lot of money is going to be made by companies that take the adoption of nanotechnology as a given, and position themselves to provide goods or services that make that adoption easier.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Safety, Nano-Particles and Fuel Cells

2007-07-19T09:14:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to participate in a day of meetings and discussion about nanotechnology and safety at the National Research Council, Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. Nanowerk has a great article on the major challenges to realizing the potential of hydrogen fuel cells and how nanotech fits in to making that happen.

The researchers at the CFCI need to deal with nano-particles as part of their work. Tuesday was an attempt to get a handle on how to evaluate and respond to health risks caused by nano-particles.

The problem is a lack of knowledge. With conventional materials we know how much a person can be exposed to safely. When we use those same materials at the nano-scale however, our information starts to fall apart. Most of these nano-materials are new even if their macro-scale counterparts are not, and are being developed much faster than toxicologists can test them.

Nobody can guarantee safety, especially at this point. The key, and I heard this reiterated many times, is to be proactive. Traditionally, health and safety have been reactive and investigatory, i.e. it's only after someone gets sick or dies that we try to find out why and stop it from happening again. The specter of asbestos looms large.

That kind of approach isn't good enough. Researchers and health and safety experts are working hard to intelligently calculate risks and develop ways to protect people well before the damage is done. The price for this kind of forethought is dealing with a lot of unknowns, but step by step we're getting it figured out, and in the process making nanotechnology safer.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Beetles, Wood and Nanotech

2007-07-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Speaking of using nanotech to benefit the environment, Nanowerk has a very good summary of some of the many ways that nanotechnology looks to be able to reduce greenhouse gases.

Global Warming is something we've been hearing about for a long time. It's only been comparatively recently that visible, serious consequences are starting to hit home. One of the least discussed but most serious consequences of a warming climate is the expansion of pests into new territories.

In BC that means the Mountain Pine Beetle. Thanks to a series of warm winters that caused the population of the Pine Beetle to explode, vast stretches of forests in British Columbia have turned rust red and died.

Unfortunately nanotechnology doesn't offer any easy solutions to the Pine Beetle problem. Pine Beetle damaged wood can be sold, but at reduced prices and this is hitting the forest industry hard. Nanotechnology cant protect the trees themselves, but it might be able to protect the economies that rely on forestry by enabling the creation of new high value products from damaged timber.

Nanocrystalline Cellulose is a product of plants derived through nanotechnology. As is so often the case when dealing with nanotech, nanocrystalline cellulose has properties that are quite different from its macro-scale counterpart, including "extraordinary catalytic, electrical and optical properties."

Nanocrystalline Cellulose is an example of how nanotechnology is allowing us to look at the resources we depend on and see them in a new way. By examining materials at the nano-scale we sometimes find uses and capabilities that nobody dreamed were there.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Cool(er) Runnings

2007-07-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hydrogen fuel cells seem to be one of those technologies that's perpetually just about to change the world. It's such a simple idea -- hydrogen + oxygen = energy, with no waste product more harmful than water. Of course fuel cells aren't primary power sources, but with every car on the street running off of them, it would sure be a lot easer to breath deeply in the middle of rush-hour.

Unfortunately there are a few serious stumbling blocks to producing viable hydrogen fuel cells. One problem is the necessity of platinum as a catalyst. Another is the heat of the reaction -- up to 1,800 degrees Celsius and enough to burn out the cell's materials in short order.

Now it looks like there might be a solution at hand to the heat problem and it comes, not surprisingly, from nanotechnology. Researchers at UC Davis have been able to create nano-scale cubic zirconia. As with so many materials, the properties of cubic zirconia are different at the nano-level than they are at the macro -- being much more conductive to electricity. This translates into cooler temperatures for fuel cells; perhaps as low as 50 degrees Celsius.

BC has a lot going on with regards to fuel cells -- Ballard and the NRC-IFCI in particular. It'll be interesting to see how this development impacts their work.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Use Nanotech Instead

2007-07-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Nanotech gets its incredible potential from the unusual properties that materials sometimes exhibit at the nano-scale. That potential is a double-edged sword however -- we don't know very much about the toxicity of most nano-particles or how they interact with natural environments. This should, and is being studied.

At the same time nanotechnology promises new technologies that have the potential to address some of our most serious environmental problems. Nanowerk brings up a further use for nanotechnology -- to substitute for dangerous chemicals that are in use now.

The key to nanotechnology is that it allows us, to an extent, to rationally design our materials. This isn't a simple process but it holds the promise of allowing us to create new substances that can meet our needs without the often very serious drawbacks of conventional chemicals.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Watch and Learn

2007-07-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

Soft Machines led me to homunculus which in turn led me to Nano2Hybrids...

It's one thing to read about nanotechnology, but now you can watch it happening. Over the next three years Nano2Hybrids is going to be posting video diaries recording real experimental nanotechnology research.

Are you ready to see what science looks like? It might not be pretty...

Not quite ready for that? Brush up on the basics with the Top 10 things to know about nanotechnology.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Worm's Eye View

2007-07-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Watching new advances in nanotechnology come rolling in everyday is exciting -- but with all the single-molecule sensors and nano-wagon wheels, it's easy to loose sight of what "nanotechnology" means to the average consumer.

For anybody interested in a worm's eye view of nanotechnology, take a few minutes to go through the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. It's a consumer product inventory focused on nanotechnology.

Browsing the inventory is an educational experience, if only for the number of dubious claims you're likely to encounter. For a lot of products "nano" seems like magic, imparting remarkable qualities by virtue of association alone (Galaxia Nano Technology Limited Nano Cup Group Aerobics Living Supply Box.) There are also a lot of cases where limited nanotechnology, in the form of nano-particles like nano-silver is being used, even though there isn't yet a real sense of the long term health or safety consequences of some of these applications.

This is just a roundabout way of saying that nanotechnology is new and complicated. It takes time and patience to tell the snake-oil from the real medicine. Consumer groups play an important role in this process. It's also important for people to understand how really big (ironically enough) the word "nano" is -- encompassing a huge range of sciences, technologies and even particle types. Christine Peterson does a great job in today's Nanodot post of getting across how important it is for everybody, particularly consumers to recognize the variety within the nano lable.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Nano-Agony and Nano-Ecstasy

2007-07-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

It's not winning that counts, it's how you play the game.

The SFU team at the Nanogram division of the 2007 RoboCup ran into trouble with their plastic-based "Whirling Dervish" entry to the worlds smallest soccer competition. It seems the robot -- less than one-sixth the size of an amoeba -- didn't have the weight to move smoothly across the "field."

Complications notwithstanding, the nanogram soccer competition is succeeding admirably at its goals: raising nanotechnology's profile in a fun and exciting way, and providing proof of principal for more demanding future nanotechnology applications off the soccer field.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Everyday I Write the Book

2007-07-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

I keep stumbling upon great nanotech blogs:

Nanotechnology Development Blog -- articulate and wide ranging. I've only read the first four or five posts, but they seem to have a nice balance between research and business. It's definitely on my daily reading list from now on.

Blog-Nano: Nanoscale Materials and Nanotechnology -- I hadn't even gotten through the Weekly Round-up post before I linked to it. In particular I'm grateful for the link to SFU's grand achievement in fine-print: the Worlds Smallest Book. Here's a picture, but make sure you have your glasses (or a scanning electron microscope) handy.

Finally, I can't finish the week without linking to something a bit more mind expanding. Nanowerk has a great article about nanotechnology and neural interfaces. Nanotech is starting to blur the line between human and machine, raising questions that we need to start considering.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Very Small Soccer

2007-07-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Under-20 is one thing; under a micron is something else. I've never been too interested in FIFA, but I'll be cheering for the Simon Fraser University team competing in the nanogram division of the 2007 RoboCup. Even the Vancouver Sun is following the game!

PhD Students Daniel Sameoto, See-Ho Tsang and Ian Foulds have developed a soccer team so small you need a scanning electron microscope to follow the action. Soccer might not be the first thing you think of when you hear "nanotechnology", but success on the playing field could be the first step to more significant applications in medicine, electronics and a wide range of other fields.

Go Canada!

The Nanotech BC Blog: 3 Views of the Nanotech Mountain

2007-07-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Long View:

Nanoscale memory devices made of quantum dots and viruses -- could lead to disease treating nanorobots.

Short View:

Simple magnet can control the color of a liquid through affecting nano-particles of iron oxide -- could lead to new display screens and electronic paper and ink.

Panoramic View:

NanoArt -- science, technology, photography and sculpture; beautiful snapshots of the nanoworld.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Talking about Nanotech

2007-06-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Richard Jones at Soft Machines has been writing lately about new and promising developments in the British nanotechnology community. His post on Friday was particularly interesting, focusing not on the science of nanotechnology, but on the challenges we face in deciding how, when or if to apply it. It appears that the technical challenges of nanotech might be the easy part. In reference to All Talk? Nanotechnology and public engagement:

On the one hand, there was the view that Science itself provides clear answers to policy questions; for example, given the correct information the need for GM food to feed the world’s population and nuclear energy to power it would become obvious. As for policy, we have a representative democracy to ensure that the people’s views are represented; it is politicians, not opinion polls, who ought to decide these issues, and public engagement is really just a question of the print and broadcast media informing people. On the other hand, we heard that the direct action and controversy-stoking of the social movements are the only way that opposing views can properly be heard, and that irrationality is a legitimate tool in the face of the entrenched hegemony of technoscience.

Perhaps it's natural that such potentially revolutionary technologies like nanotech end up dividing people into almost cartoonishly stark camps -- natural but depressing. My own sense is that there is a general inability in the scientific community to communicate the possibilities of nanotechnology in terms that make sense to regular people. That leads to misunderstandings and frustration on both sides and makes compromise very difficult.

Jones links to an interesting post by policy maker David Bott who also attended the same meeting as Jones and proposes the only real way out of the communication impasse that cutting-edge science often finds itself in:

If you are a scientist, I think there is real value in taking the time to explain what you do, and why you do it, to those who are not scientists, but only if you listen to what they say in return.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Who Needs Nanobots?

2007-06-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Christine Peterson at Nanodot makes a good point about unrealistic expectations in nanotechnology by bringing up a 2000 prediction that full clinical application of "fleets of microscopic robots" would be underway by 2003.

The funny thing about predictions is that though they're often wrong about means, they can sometimes be surprisingly accurate about ends. The purpose of fleets of circulatory robots is the medical treatment of cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. The lack of advanced nanorobotics isn't stopping researchers from using nanotech to attack those diseases in different ways.

PhysOrg.com has an article on how attaching polymeric nanoparticles to red blood cells turns the body's own blood into an ideal delivery system for medicine. This is a brilliant example of how synergising with the body's natural systems can allow us to elegantly do things that we're not yet capable of any other way.

There's nothing wrong with working towards a vision of nanorobotics, but it's important to be able to appreciate the danger of getting fixated on a hypothetical "ideal" technology and missing simpler and sometimes better solutions.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Hierarchical Systems and Natural Strength

2007-06-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

One of the unexpected benefits of nanotechnology is that it is making us appreciate the amazing sophistication of naturally evolved materials. You may not have thought much of it the last time your arm was in a cast, but bone is one of the most remarkable materials in nature, combining strength and resilience with a range of biological functions.

Bone is the scaffold of most life on earth and the secret to its success lies at the nanoscale. Nanowerk has a fascinating article on the molecular properties of bone and how they use hierarchies of flexible and strong components to build up a material that's able to absorb huge amounts of stress without failure.

In biology, universality generates robustness, while diversity enables optimality. Materials like bone, being a nano-composite of strong but brittle and soft but ductile materials, illustrate this unification of components with disparate properties within a hierarchical structure.

Nature's toolbox begins with nanotechnology. By slowly unraveling the molecular structures of natural materials like bones, researchers are learning principals that can be applied to human-made materials in order to make them stronger, lighter and more efficient.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Very Tiny Needles

2007-06-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

What can't carbon nanotubes do? Now scientists at the University of California at Berkeley have been able to use them to inject quantum dots into living cells.

With a diameter of just one nanometer, you're not likely to see a carbon nanotube injector at your local clinic anytime soon, but they do seem poised to play a key role in cell biology research and gene delivery. Yet another example of nanotech as enabling technology paving the way for further advances to come.

The Nanotech BC Blog: No Progress Without an Informed Public

2007-06-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Nanodot links to a very interesting paper: Nanotechnology Policy: An Analysis of Transnational Governance Issues Facing the United States and China. One of the most significant issues raised was about the general level of understanding of nanotechnology:

...publics throughout the world remain largely in the dark about nanotechnology. A major study, funded by the NSF and conducted in 2004 by Michael Cobb and Jane Macoubrie at North Carolina State University (NCSU), found that 80 percent to 85 percent of the American public has heard “little” or “nothing” about nanotechnology.47 Similarly, a nationally representative, August 2006 poll of over 1,000 adults, commissioned by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, found similar results, with about 70 percent of the public reporting that they have heard little to nothing at all about nanotechnology. These findings are consistent with similar polls that have been commissioned in Europe and Canada, and it is possible that these trends associated with low levels of public of understanding of nanotechnology would also occur in China as well.

The paper goes on to point out that a lack of understanding of what nanotechnology actually is can lead quickly to a consumer backlash -- a backlash that nanotechnology can't afford as it's making it's first tentative steps into commercialization.

How do we avoid this?

... coordinated nanotechnology education and engagement programs will be needed, supported by both government and industry. These efforts will have to be structured to reach a wide range of consumers, many of which may have little to no scientific or technical training. Establishing such a widespread public engagement campaign will require the use of both traditional media outlets—such as print, radio, television, and film—alongside more non-traditional media outlets—such as the Internet, weblogs, games, and podcasts—to capture the attention of a diverse range of individuals in various age, gender, and socioeconomic categories.

Which is very much the mandate of Nanotech BC -- to build an inclusive nanotechnology community that addresses the needs of researchers, businesses and consumers. We have a collection of papers about a wide range of nanotechnology topics and hold events throughout the year. Stay tuned for more opportunities to get involved with one of the technologies that will shape our future.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Science Without Borders

2007-06-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

In elementary school most of us had a class called Science. Later on that was broken up into physics, chemistry and biology -- and generally science has been broken up ever since.

Nanotechnology poses a challenge to those traditional clear-cut divisions. At the nanometer scale physics, chemistry and biology are inescapably intertwined -- resulting in developments that are difficult to classify.

Case in point: Nanowerk has a great article on "green" nanotechnology; using plants to fabricate inorganic nanomaterials. Nanotechnology is vividly demonstrating how the divisions we use to organize science are not necessarily natural divisions at all, but artifacts of our own thinking.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Learning from Geckos

2007-06-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Not only is Mother Nature inventive, she's had a very long time to add to her tool box. A case in point is the humble gecko -- able to scamper up walls and hang upside-down on ceilings thanks to the tiny fibers on its feet.

Now nanotechnology is about to let us do the same thing by using carbon nanotubes to develop tape based on the same principle that makes a gecko's feet sticky -- but with four times the adhesive power. Ars Technica and PHYSORG.com report on the cutting edge of stickiness.

Better tape might seem prosaic, but it will be advances like gecko-tape that bring nanotechnology into the mainstream by providing large jumps in effectiveness in materials with huge numbers of uses.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Keeping our Eyes on the Road

2007-06-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

There's a great post up on Soft Machines describing different types of "nanohysteria" --

Nanohysteria comes into different varieties too. Type 1 nanohysteria is represented by greed driven “irrational exuberance”, and is based on the idea that nanotechnology will change everything very soon, as touted by investment tipsters and consultants who want to take people’s money off them. What’s wrong with this is the absence of critical thought. Type 2 nanohysteria is the opposite - fear driven irrational paranoia exemplified by the grey goo scenario of out of control self-replicating molecular assemblers or nanobots. What’s wrong with this is again, the absence of critical thought.

In any journey it's natural to imagine what the destination will be like. There's nothing wrong with speculation but problems come up when we mistake our speculation for reality.

Developments in nanotechnology are starting to come thick and fast and each one can seem like the last step before utopia or world devastation. The potential of nanotechnology seems limitless -- so much so that it's easy for even the most intelligent person to get lost in fantasy.

Just about any prediction about the future of nanotechnology, from the most optimistic to the most dire, could be true -- but it's exactly when anything seems possible that it's most crucial to focus on what we know now.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Why Stretching Matters

2007-06-18T10:37:00.001-07:00

Perhaps the most surprising recent story in consumer electronics is the phenomenal success of Nintendo's Wii. Overpowered by Microsofts X-Box and Sony's Playstation 3, the Wii has none the less been flying off the shelves since it was introduced -- all because of an intuitive, candy-bar shaped controller and the fact that Nintendo understands a truth that too often gets lost: The way we interact with technology is just as important as technology itself.

Tech companies are starting to realize that faster and cheaper are no longer enough -- usefulness is king. Unfortunately, that often turns out to be extremely difficult because many of the materials that are central to electronics don't lend themselves to the kind of flexible use that our lives demand.

Nanotechnology may be the solution to this problem. By altering materials at the nano-scale it's becoming possible to create new capabilities in crucial materials. Physorg.com reports on advances in stretchable silicon. Advances like these beg the question, what could we do with computers in gloves or cloths or blankets? What would the ability to break computing power out of the boxes it's locked in mean to our everyday lives? Nanotechnology may be the key to finding out.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Old Medicine, New Technology

2007-06-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Herbs play an important roll in folk medicine and one of the most important of them is turmeric. That bright yellow spice, in addition to providing taste and color to curry, is used to treat infection, arthritis, fever and many other illnesses.

Now curcumin, the substance that gives turmeric its color, is being combined with medical nanotechnology to fight cancer, Alzheimer's, and maybe more. Technology Review has an article on nanotech delivery systems that take molecular-scale doses of curcumin to tumors .

Medicine is one of the key places where nanotechnology can make a difference. On June 7th, Dr. Ellen Wasan of the BC Cancer Research Center spoke at the Nanotech BC Networking Session at BCIT. She presented on work she has been doing developing nanopharmacuticles that can take advantage of tumor physiology to deliver medicine directly to cancer cells. Dr. Wasan is using nanotechnology to solve toxicity, solubility and elimination problems.

Nanotech work is happening all over the world, yielding a wide variety of approaches to many devastating problems. This diversity comes from that fact that nanotechnology is no one set thing -- it's a broad enabling technology that gives researchers everywhere powerful new tools.

The Nanotech BC Blog: The Customer is Always Right

2007-06-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Over the next few years, whether we know it or not, we will begin using and living with products that depend on the sometimes uncanny properties that can come from nanotech. On the verge of any change that promises to saturate our lives so completely, there's an obligation to ask a simple question: What can go wrong?

Part of the mandate of Nanotech BC is to encourage discussion about NE3LS -- Nanotechnology, Environment, Ethics, Economics, Legal and Safety issues. We need to find ways to enjoy the rewards of nanotechnology without making mistakes that harm health or the environment.

As nanotechnology moves into the marketplace, the roll of watchdog will increasingly be taken up by business and consumer groups. Consumer Report is already doing that, looking at nanoparticles in sunscreen. Nanowerk contributes to the analysis, looking at how or if nanoparticles might be a danger.

Criticism and analysis is a sign of success. The fact that consumer publications are aware of nanotechnology speaks to the growing acceptance of nanotech. Thorough study of any new material is essential, but laboratory testing is only one part of the equation -- consumers need to be informed. Everybody has a stake in the development of safe nanotech, and everybody should have a voice.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Long Carbon Nanotubes and the Desert Bloom

2007-06-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's easy to think technological progress follows an incremental and predictable path -- that research leads to development, then to commercialization and finally to the consumer.

Take a trip to a desert in spring and you'll see evidence of a different model for growth. One day the landscape is dry and bleak, and the next it explodes into plants and flowers. Years of invisible preparation have been taking place and the result is a change so swift and complete that the landscape becomes an entirely different place.

Right now the desert of nanotechnology looks dry. Billions of dollars are being invested and thousands of researchers are working all over the world on countless different issues, but we've yet to see any single, revolutionary advance. Even so, the groundwork is being laid, and every day nanotech moves forward.

One of the most exciting new developments is the production by UC engineering researchers of arrays of 18mm carbon nanotubes. That might not seem like much, but it's a huge increase in length over past efforts and is an important step towards producing a material that is stronger and more conductive than anything now in use.

What will come of this achievement? A replacement for copper wire? Energy independence? A space elevator? Nobody can say for sure because so much more work remains to be done before carbon nanotubes fulfill their promise. Even so, one thing seems certain -- we're getting closer and closer to the day the desert will bloom.

The Nanotech BC Blog: The Power of a 100 Suns!

2007-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is a few days old, but Phys.org has reported on the development of 40% efficient solar cells. That can't be anything but good news.

For anybody interested in solar power research in British Columbia, Mike Wolf is working at UBC on Energy Storing and Energy Harvesting and Karim Karim is at Simon Fraser Universtity concentrating on Mechanically Flexible Solar Cells using Thin Film Silicon Technology.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Visualizing the Invisible

2007-06-05T09:15:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest challenges in explaining nanotechnology to most people is that you end up talking about a scale that is so incredibly tiny that it's difficult to imagine. Expo Nano in Paris has produced an excellent tour of the many worlds of the very small. The site takes you down to, and well beyond, the nano-scale and does it in a way that's fun and connects dramatic changes in scale to different parts of our daily lives.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Sweet Power and the Taste of Success

2007-06-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Pacemakers, cochlear implants, neurostimulators, drug delivery systems -- implanted medical devices are crucial to the lives of tens of thousands of people. All of those systems need electricity which means bulky batteries containing toxic chemicals and dangerous, expensive surgery to extract and replace them. But perhaps not for much longer.

Sweet Power, a BC medical technology company based on Vancouver Island is developing an implantable fuel cell capable of generating electricity using blood sugar. Sweet Power's glucose fuel cell is a great example of MEMS (microelectronic systems) and how as devices get smaller, their power and usefulness keep increasing.

Sweet Power was recently recognized for their achievements at the 2007 Nanotech Ventures Awards in the Health and Medical Category. The significance of what Sweet Power is doing goes beyond their own technical achievements. By developing a way to make implantable devices cleaner, safer and smaller, Sweet Power is enabling the next generation of technology to save lives.

The Nanotech BC Blog: Good Things Start Small

2007-06-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm eager to get started posting about all of the amazing things going on in the world of nanotechnology, but before I do I thought it might make sense to write a little about who we are at Nanotech BC, what we're trying to do, and what this blog is for. Nanotech BC is a not-for-profit organization started as a collaboration between British Columbia's business, scientific and governmental communities. Nanotech BC has three goals:

To advocate for growth of BC's nanotechnology research and development community and infrastructure.
To communicate with industrial, academic, government and public stakeholders to increase awareness of nanotechnology.
To represent BC's nanotechnology interests and pursue partnerships nationally and internationally.

This blog is one of the ways we are working to achieve these goals. Research and development in nanotechnology is progressing at a blistering pace and we want this blog to be a record of what's happening, particularly in BC. You'll find regular updates on the science and business of nanotechnology as well as thoughts on where nanotechnology is going and what it means for BC. Community is built through discussion and we hope that this blog will help get people thinking and talking about nanotechnology and the exciting challenges and promises that it brings.