Center for Nanotechnology in Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
www.cns.ucsb.edu
WEEKLY CLIPS
March 24 - 31, 2008
Weekly Clips from CNS-UCSB are now available online:
http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/clips/
March 30, 2008
Hold on a nanosecond
Working in giant laboratories in the rims of extinct volcanoes under the command of
chief executives wearing eye patches and stroking fluffy white genetically engineered
pussycats, mad scientists are trying to find ways to secretly insert nanoparticles into
the human food chain.
James Bond isn't going to come to the rescue. Not only is he too busy playing cards
and shooting people these days as he attempts to flesh out his previously twodimensional character, but what the scientists are doing isn't even illegal. They can
do as they please. Yet still they are secretive.
But the nanotechnology revolution is going to be bigger than the industrial revolution,
nanoboffins say. Nanorobots will be introduced into the blood stream to repair cells
and kill cancers. Buildings will be made of super-strong, bendy carbon nanotubes,
with inbuilt solar panels. Cars and planes will be lighter, faster and safer. Life will be
bliss and we will all live forever with nanosmiles on our youthful nanofaces.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/hold-on-ananosecond/2008/03/29/1206207503873.html
March 24, 2008
You May Already Be Eating Nanoparticles
Consumer groups warn that potentially toxic manipulated materials have
been introduced into foods and packaging—even before regulations are
in place
Environmental groups are warning that advances in the science of nanotechnology
are racing ahead of public policy with neither consumers, regulators nor scientists
fully aware of the toxicity of so-called nanoparticles.
They are further calling on the European Union to introduce mandatory labelling on
all products that contain them and develop strict safety laws on the basis of health
and environmental risk assessment.
A new report from Friends of the Earth groups in Brussels, Germany, the US and
Australia has identified at least 104 food and agricultural products containing
manufactured nanomaterials, or produced using nanotechnology, which are already
on sale in the European Union, and warns that consumers are unknowingly ingesting
them, despite concerns about the toxicity risks of nanomaterials.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2008/gb20080324_741813.
htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories
March 26, 2008
Once bitten...
The science of nanotechnology is already revolutionising the worlds of medicine and
construction. Soon it could be doing the same for our food - but after the backlash
against GM foods, says Steve Boggan, will the consumers swallow it?
How do you fancy tucking into a bowl of ice cream that has no more fat than a carrot?
Or eating a burger that will lower your cholesterol? If you are allergic to peanuts,
perhaps you'd like to fix your food so that any nut traces pass harmlessly through
your body. Welcome to the world of nanofoods, where almost anything is possible:
where food can be manipulated at an atomic or molecular level to taste as delicious
as you want, do you as much good as you want, and stay fresh for ... well, who
knows? A world where smart pesticides are harmless until they reach the stomachs
of destructive insects; where food manufacturers promise an end to starvation;
where smart packaging sniffs out and destroys the micro-organisms that make good
food go bad. In short, a food heaven to those who see it spelling the end of obesity
and poor diet. Food hell to those who believe the case for nanofood safety is still far
from proven. One thing is certain: after the controversy that surrounded genetically
modified foods, nano is set to become the next kitchen battleground.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/26/nanotechnology.food?gusrc=rss
&feed=science
March 2008
Greener Nanoscience: A Proactive Approach to
Advancing Applications and Reducing Implications
of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology continues to offer new materials and applications that will benefit
society, yet there is growing concern about the potential health and environmental
impacts of production and use of nanoscale products. Although hundreds of studies
of nanomaterial hazards have been reported, due (largely) to the complexity of the
nanomaterials, there is no consensus about the impact these hazards will have. This
Focus describes the need for a research agenda that addresses these nanomaterial
complexities through coordinated research on the applications and implications of
new materials, wherein nanomaterials scientists play a central role as we move from
understanding to minimizing nanomaterial hazards. Greener nanoscience is
presented as an approach to determining and implementing the design rules for
safer nanomaterials and safer, more efficient processes.
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/article.cgi/ancac3/2008/2/i03/html/nn800131j.html
March 30, 2008
A pilot toxicology study of single-walled carbon
nanotubes in a small sample of mice
Single-walled carbon nanotubes are currently under evaluation in biomedical
applications, including in vivo delivery of drugs, proteins, peptides and nucleic acids
(for gene transfer or gene silencing), in vivo tumour imaging and tumour targeting of
single-walled carbon nanotubes as an anti-neoplastic treatment. However, concerns
about the potential toxicity of single-walled carbon nanotubes have been raised. Here
we examine the acute and chronic toxicity of functionalized single-walled carbon
nanotubes when injected into the bloodstream of mice. Survival, clinical and
laboratory parameters reveal no evidence of toxicity over 4 months. Upon killing,
careful necropsy and tissue histology show age-related changes only. Histology and
Raman microscopic mapping demonstrate that functionalized single-walled carbon
nanotubes persisted within liver and spleen macrophages for 4 months without
apparent toxicity. Although this is a preliminary study with a small group of animals,
our results encourage further confirmation studies with larger groups of animals.
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2008.68.html
March 25, 2008
Commentary: Delicious Gray Goo
Everyday products, from baby-bottles to beer, contain particles manipulated by
unregulated and potentially dangerous nanotechnology, according to a new report by
Friends of the Earth.
…In its subversion of nature for our own intensified pleasure, nanotech may not differ
conceptually from domesticating cattle, or from damming rivers. But as it evolves
from concept to reality -- and as its implications extend beyond the purely legal and
commercial -- nanotechnology may so revolutionize our basic habits of nourishment,
and so efficiently infiltrate our food chain, that restricting its use will prove
impossible. Caveat emptor.
http://thecurrent.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/gray-goo.php
March 25, 2008
Nanotech goes big time in Palo Alto
Local nanotechnology firms, researchers aim to change medicine,
computing and more
Scientist Cheri Pereira stood in a lab at Palo Alto-based Nanosys and held up a glass
beaker with a half-inch of gold-tinged liquid at the bottom.
That half-inch contained around a billion nanowires, she said.
Her work, and that of researchers like her, could be Silicon Valley's next big thing.
…Some predict the nano-revolution will dwarf the computer revolution in its scope.
Much of it is happening locally.
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=7548
March 28, 2008
Nanotechnology manufacturing key to
industrialized countries' future competitiveness
An Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Manufacturing Research and Development
established by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has identified
three technology areas as key research and development priorities for future
manufacturing: Manufacturing R&D for Hydrogen Technologies; Nanomanufacturing;
and Intelligent and Integrated Manufacturing. The Working Group summarized their
findings in a new report titled "Manufacturing the Future". Although this report is
specific to the U.S., most of its general conclusions and recommendations apply to
most other industrialized nations and their industrial nanotechnology efforts as well.
Nanotechnology is viewed throughout the world as a critical driver of future economic
growth and as a means to addressing some of humanity’s most vexing challenges
(e.g. energy, environment, health). Because of its broad range of prospective uses,
nanotechnology has the potential to impact virtually every industry, from aerospace
and energy to healthcare and agriculture.
http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=5099.php
March 25, 2008
Nanotechnology is the future for Indian firms:
Commerce Secretary
New Delhi -- The Indian growth story is continuing and moving forward at a steady
pace overcoming problems, said Commerce and Industry Secretary G.K. Pillai while
speaking at the Chem Summit 2008 in the capital on Tuesday.
He also said that the Electronic Data Interface (EDI) system would be in place and
working before the end of the current financial year.
Pillai further added that three focus areas of the summit -- nanotechnology, biofuels
and water treatment -- are appropriately chosen, as these would be the most relevant
in the immediate future. He said that the 21st century is the century of water, and it
scarcity would make it necessary to recycle it. Planned SEZs in the country, he said,
are already proposing to recycle 90 percent of their water. Therefore, recycling
treatment would have a huge market.
While talking about nanotechnology, Pillai said that India would not be able to do
without it, and Indian companies should be encouraged to get into it at the earliest.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/ET_Cetera/Nanotec
hnology_is_the_future_for_Indian_firms_Commerce_Secretary/articleshow/289864
9.cms
March 28, 2008
The Future Of Computing, NanoTechnology
The silicon chip, which has supplied several decades’ worth of remarkable increases
in computing power and speed, looks unlikely to be capable of sustaining this pace
for more than another decade – in fact, in a plenary talk at the conference, Suman
Datta of Pennsylvania State University, USA, gives the conventional silicon chip no
longer than four years left to run.
As silicon computer circuitry gets ever smaller in the quest to pack more components
into smaller areas on a chip, eventually the miniaturized electronic devices are
undermined by fundamental physical limits. They start to become leaky, making them
incapable of holding onto digital information. So if the steady increases in computing
capability that we have come to take for granted are to continue, some new
technology will have to take over from silicon.
Replacing the chip with carbon nanotubes
At the conference, researchers at Leeds University in the UK will report an important
step towards one prospective replacement. Carbon nanotubes, discovered in 1991,
are tubes of pure carbon just a few nanometres wide – about the width of a typical
protein molecule, and tens of thousands of times thinner than a human hair.
Because they conduct electricity, they have been proposed as ready-made molecularscale wires for making electronic circuitry.
…But the problem is arranging nanotubes into circuit patterns. One particular
difficulty is that they are typically made as mixtures of metallic and semiconducting
tubes, whereas just one type or the other is needed for a specific component. These
electrical properties depend on the precise arrangement of carbon atoms in the
nanotube, but that’s hard to determine for single tubes.
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/9519
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