The Nanotech BC Blog: The Young Turks of AMPEL

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: Plastic? Steel? Both!

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: Beetles, Wood and Nanotech

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: Hierarchical Systems and Natural Strength

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: Why Stretching Matters

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.