Religious Leadersâ Silence on Nanotechnology
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There may not be a lot of agreement among the worldâs religions on exactly what constitutes humans âplaying God,â but you never hear a preacher or rabbi suggesting such behavior is wise or laudable. So you would think they might have a lot to say about nanotechnology.
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A British groupâs announcement that it would not allow its organic label to be used on any product containing synthetic nano-particles is a bit perplexing to people who follow nanotechnology.
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MONTERREY, Mexico  - Some Mexican churches are  using state-of-the-art technology developed by Israeli  electronic warfare experts to silence cell phones that ring  during mass, church officials said on Tuesday.
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Well, it is very small and hard to see A report published in the December issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology highlights the fact that 69 per cent of Americans have heard little or nothing about nanotechnology, despite the fact that this Christmas there are over 350 nanotechnology-based products on the shelves.â¦
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The United Nations abandons efforts to ban all cloning and opts for a non-binding resolution. It's a blow to President Bush's efforts to push a ban and a victory for embryonic stem cell researchers. By Kristen Philipkoski
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Says government has failed to act Nanotechnology will be the next industrial revolution, and if the UK wants a piece of the action, it has to move now to fund research in the subject.â¦
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One nanotechnology researcher said supercomputers small enough to fit into the palm of your hand are only 10 or 15 years away."If things continue to go the way they have been in the past few decades, then it's 10 years," said Michael Zaiser, a professor and researcher at the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering and Electronics. "The human brain is very good at working on microprocessor problems, so I think we are close -- 10 years, maybe 15."Zaiser's research into nanowires should help move that timeline along.For the last five years, he has been studying how tiny wires -- 1,000 times thinner than a human hair -- behave when manipulated. He explained that each such miniscule wire tends to behave differently when put under the same amount of pressure. Therefore, it has been impossible to line them up close to each other in tiny microprocessors in a production atmosphere.Zaiser said he's now figured out how to make the wires behave uniformly. He separates the interior material of the wire into distinct groups so the wire can't react as a whole. That makes it much easier to control. "It's like crowd control," he added. "If they can all go one way, you have a big mess."These nanowires will go inside microprocessors that could, in turn, go inside PCs, laptops, cell phones, or even supercomputers. And the smaller the wires, the smaller the chip can be.Shrinking down the microprocessors is a big step toward shrinking down computers.Zaiser was quick to point out that his nanowire discovery won't immediately lead to the development of supercomputers that can fit in the palm of a hand or even shrink down to the size of a book of matches. In addition to smaller microprocessors, engineers will need to deal with thermal fluctuations that erupt at that size.But he does humbly admit that taming nanowires is a big step toward the goal of small supercomputers."This will enable chips to become much smaller," he said. "Think 10 years back. You could hold [a cell phone] the size of a telephone receiver and it didn't work so well. Today, you can fit what is a powerful computer onto a small device."Charles King, an analyst at Pund-IT in Hayward, Calif., said that with advances like nanowire technology continuing to come along, Zaiser's predictions for tiny supercomputers may not be so far off. And that will be a huge step for the industry, considering that not so long ago supercomputers filled up enormous rooms or even entire buildings."Actually, what he's saying is not crazy," said King. "The wire problem was an important one. Solving that particular issue, one so fundamental, needed to be done. If he can solve that, a lot of people, a lot of companies, will appreciate that. The industry is aligning in a direction where we're going to be seeing continuing improvements and developments."Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz., said he definitely can see palm-size supercomputers coming out within 10 to 15 years, but he thinks they'll be based on the basic silicon technology used today. He added that the next generation of tiny supercomputers -- made with carbon nanotubes and nanowires -- may be as far off as another 30 to 40 years, though."You know, everybody says we'll get to a physical limit but every time we think we're going to hit it, we overcome it," said McGregor. "They end up being speed bumps instead of road blocks."King added that over the last 10 or 20 years, technology advancements have put smaller and more powerful computers into the hands of children and researchers alike. That leads him to believe that the shrinking of supercomputers is just ahead of us."We're at the beginning of some very exciting times in supercomputing," he said.Computerworld is an InfoWorld affiliate
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U.S. scientists say they have found a way to manipulate carbon nanotubes without destroying their extraordinary electrical properties.
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An unlikely meeting of minds on an issue of global concern.
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The annual meeting of Christian Scientists, held this week in Boston, emphasized the import of Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as a building block for healing.
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Everyone seems to have a different definition of nanotechnology, each one deficient in its own way. [Missing Links]
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Nanotechnology research advances are happening with such frequency these days that the individual achievements are losing some of their power to awe â until you stop and think about them. Take two successes announced in recent days: the creation of the worldâs most powerful electron microscope and the invention of a new [...].
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Science News, London: &quot;God genes&quot; are responsible for creating religious fanatics, says new scientific research - much to the chagrin of church representatives.
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What does the Roman Catholic  Church really think about the use of condoms to fight AIDS? It  seems to depend on who is doing the talking.
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K. Eric Drexler was the godfather of nanotechnology. But the MIT prodigy who dreamed up molecular machines was shoved aside by big science -- and now he's an industry outcast. By Ed Regis from Wired magazine.
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The top Vatican official for Islam has praised a novel Muslim call for dialogue but said real theological debate with them was difficult as they saw the Koran as the literal word of God and would not discuss it in depth.
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Response doesn't directly comment on group called "Anonymous" or the denial-of-service attacks on the church's Web sites.