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G-quartets 40 years later: from 5'-GMP to molecular biology and supramolecular chemistry Davis JT Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2004 Jan 30; 43(6): 668-98 Molecular self-assembly is central to many processes in both biology and supramolecular chemistry. The G-quartet, a hydrogen-bonded macrocycle formed by cation-templated assembly of guanosine, was first identified in 1962 as the basis for the aggregation of 5'-guanosine monophosphate. We now know that many nucleosides, oligonucleotides, and synthetic derivatives form a rich array of functional G-quartets. The G-quartet surfaces in areas ranging from structural biology and medicinal chemistry to supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. This Review integrates and summarizes knowledge gained from these different areas, with emphasis on G-quartet structure, function, and molecular recognition. More Paranemic crossover DNA: a generalized Holliday structure with applications in nanotechnology Shen Z, Yan H, Wang T, Seeman NC J Am Chem Soc. 2004 Feb 18; 126(6): 1666-74 The key feature of the structure is that the two adjacent parallel DNA double helices form crossovers at every point possible. Hence, reciprocal crossover points flank the central dyad axis at every major or minor groove separation. More Discuss You click, you buy DNA's Debut Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA

News in a NanoSecond

Molecular Nano Weapons: Research in China and Talk in the West (NewsMax.com) As a research associate of Drexler’s Foresight Institute puts it today, a country confronted by molecular nano weapons “would be in the position of a band of spear-throwing warriors, confronted with an army deploying mass-produced guns, armored vehicles, and helicopters”. More Global Bar Group Forms To Explore Tiny New Frontier (New York Lawyer) A unique new global organization for lawyers, scientists, medical professionals, industry executives and government officials is set to be announced today at a noon press conference in New York. Brainchild of Manhattan solo attorney Sonia E. Miller, the "Converging Technologies Bar Association" will address the legal and ethical uncertainties about a new frontier of scientific advancement so transformative that some would say the very definition of humanity is at question. More Can nanotubes keep PCs cool? (CNET) Intel is conducting research with nanotechnology provider Zyvex to see if carbon nanotubes can help dissipate the pent-up heat inside PCs. More (Nano)Tech licenses up for grabs? (South Florida Business Journal) Seamless Nanorings Could Be Nanoscale Sensors, Resonators Or Transducers (SpaceDaily) Quantum Dot thinks big (IDG) Spintronics goes organic (nanotechweb) NanoBusiness Alliance names new advisers (Small Times) Discuss You click, you buy High Tech Weapons set Science at the Bar: Law, Science, & Technology in America Technology Transfer

Carlo's just a Copycat

I've had Carlo Montemagno on my mind the past couple of days, partly because he made the news recently with his spectacular microcyborg, and partly because I'm working on a Small Times magazine column that incorporates some of his work. I'm in geek heaven when I take the time out from various duties just to go through some of my old interviews with brilliant people like Montemagno who, to paraphrase ZZ Top, not only got knowledge, but know how to use it. The winner of the 2003 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology is really just a big copycat. He's obsessed with imitating nature. I can't blame him, really, since nanomachines are all around us, just waiting for magicians like Montemagno to figure out how they work. In addition to his incredible achievement in making a microrobot move by muscle power, Montemagno is working on another project that might not make for such spectacular headlines, but in the long run will make a bigger splash in the world. I'll roll the tape and give you a peak into Montemagno's mind. Last fall, I gave him my usual prelude about how I try to write to a lay audience, and I thought his answers were beautifully understandable. But I made the mistake of calling him a "science guy," so he quickly interrupted to set me straight: Montemagno: I'm not a science guy. I'm an engineer. I look at trying to achieve a device functionality that meets a societal need. So, I focus always on the end game, where it's going to go or how we will use it. I don't do inquiry-driven science unless I come to an intellectual roadblock that requires me to make an advance in that area. So, I'm an engineer, and being an engineer is fundamentally different than being a physicist or biologist. Me: So, what's the end game for you? Montemagno: My end game is focused on making devices that have embedded intelligence and which, the component pieces, when I put them together, the functionality is greater than the functionality of the individual pieces. ... I take all these building blocks and I put them all together and these building blocks, by the interactions with one another, they elicit properties which are not manifest by any individual building blocks. It's the difference between pressure and molecular reaction. At the nanoscale, pressure doesn't exist. Right? Molecules bang into one another. In the aggregate, pressure emerges as a result of all these molecules banging together. And there are numerous properties which emerge, particularly in biological systems, as a result of these molecules all interacting together that reveals sophisticated behaviors. Me: Can you give me a practical example? Montemagno: The example that I'm most focused on right now is making nanosize particles that transport information very much like neurons do. How do I do that? I take a membrane, an engineered membrane which I make, I take some molecules that allow the flow of calcium or potassium, I take another molecule that pumps potassium, and I put them all together. When I put them all together, what happens is collectively they generate an electrical signal. If I do it properly, they'll make an oscillator and they'll keep on pumping the signal. But the parts don't do that. It's something that emerges as a result. I see that as a tableau for trying to make embedded materials, or smart materials. The smartness is part of the way the molecules interact with one another. He told me that he's reached a level in the lab where molecules are sorted and protons pumped. The next stop, and relatively soon, is commercialization. What kind of useful product will come out of this mess-o-molecules? The scientists among you probably already know. But for the rest of you, that's a story for another day ... Related Posts The Amazing Montemagno Driving under the influence of Feynman Merkle and the case of the Misleading Metaphor Nano 'crackpots' seem downright respectable Discuss

News in a NanoSecond

Piercing the Fog With a Tiny Chip (New York Times) Radar technology was once synonymous with the big and the bulky - for instance, the heavy, rotating antennas at the airport, scanning skies and runways. But lately radar, like so many other technologies, has been slimming down. Now a team of electrical engineers at the California Institute of Technology has shrunk the functions of a radar system into one tiny, intricately designed silicon chip and eight minuscule antennas. More Dismissing Drexler Is Bad for Business (Better Humans) Ignoring the potential of molecular manufacturing won't make it go away, so why is the US nanotech industry painting its advocates as kooks? More Atto boy! The shortest time yet measured, and the most sensitive set of scales (Economist) People who think “nano” is the epitome of smallness should think again. A nanosomething is but a billionth of that something. Two new pieces of research concern themselves with attosomethings—billionths of the nano. More The Hedonistic Imperative (Future Hi) Squealing cells? (The Globe and Mail) 'Musclebots' Are Coming (Roland Piquepaille) Help asked for nanotech center (The Oregonian) Self-assembly wins with gold rosette (nanotechweb) Marine Sponges Provide Model For Environmentally Friendly Nanoscale Materials Production (Science Daily) Technostart tries to bridge the gap between investors and inventors (Small Times) Discuss You click, you buy Polyoxometalate Chemistry: From Topology via Self-Assembly to Applications Self-Assembly Monolayer Structures of Lipids and Macromolecules at Interfaces Troubled Pleasures : Writings on Politics, Gender and Hedonism

The Amazing Montemagno

I've written about UCLA's Carlo Montemago here, and he continues to amaze. At right is a picture I took (all rights reserved, etc., etc.) of Montemagno giving his Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology acceptance speech at a conference last October. Now, Montemagno has made a microrobot move by muscle power. According to the New Scientist: Whatever the ultimate applications of the technology, no one was more surprised to see the tiny musclebots finally move than Carlo Montemagno, the microengineer whose team is developing them at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has spent three disappointing years trying, and failing, to harness living muscle tissue to propel a micromachine. But when he and his team looked into their microscopes, they were amazed to see the latest version of their musclebot crawling around. Montemagno now wants to use the technology to help people who have damaged phrenic nerves. These stimulate the diaphragm to make us breathe and damage means patients often need ventilators instead. Rather than moving the legs of a musclebot, the muscle fibres would flex a piece of piezoelectric material and generate a few millivolts to stimulate the phrenic nerve. Using cells from the patient's own heart would prevent rejection of the implant, and the muscle could be powered by blood glucose. Montemagno's initial brief from NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts was to design a muscle-powered micromachine that could seek and repair micrometeorite punctures on spacecraft. Discuss

Oregon Trail and the Holy Grail

From BendBulletin.com, an update on Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski's quest for one of 10 Holy Grails -- a vessel in which to store federal nano funds. When last we left our nano-knight-errant, the adventurer reversed the Columbia River course followed by Lewis & Clark, Woody Guthrie and others to seek the favor of rulers in the Eastern lands. The Bulletin's Andrew Satter reports: "We wanted to get to look at somebody who is involved in the decision-making process so that when we call them they know who we are and what we are calling about," the governor said. "We're trying to get in the door to let everyone know that Oregon is first in line." ... Kulongoski said that boosting Oregon's technology industry, with an emphasis in nanotechnology, is at the forefront of his long-term plan for bringing the state economic stability and job growth. "If you get the seed capital in for this nanotechnology and get designated, my belief is that these broader investments will continue to flow into the state, and Oregon will develop in the western part of the United States as one of the leading centers for nanotechnology," he said. More background here. Discuss

News in a NanoSecond

USPTO - Nanotechnology Customer Partnership Meeting (Nipper's Patent Law Blog) This Nanotechnology Customer Partnership initiative is designed and developed to be a forum to share ideas, experiences, and insights between individual users and the USPTO. ... Meeting date: April 20, 2004. More Small technology attracts big interest from NZ investors (www.stuff.co.nz) E-Commentary-- Hey Dude, The Surf's Up... Somewhere (Industry Week) As University of Houston knows, learning doesn't end with licensing (Small Times) Growing Silicon Nanowires Where You Want Them (Roland Piquepaille) Insights gained from molecular modeling may lead to better insecticides (Eurekalert) Duke nanoscience certificate approved (The Chronicle Online) DuPont links with solar nano developers 10 Rules of Tech Transfer "Mipan Nano-Magic Silver" Donations fuel USC nano research Scientists Brew Tree-Shaped DNA Realm of particles affect tomorrow Nanotech job engine hard to get started Profiting From Nanotechnology Indian institutes to focus on nano Molecular trains scheduled Discuss

Mr. Kulongoski goes to Washington

According to the Stateman Journal of Salem, Ore., Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to ask "Bush administration science officials" that his state get in on federal nano dollars. The governor said the follow-up phone call shows the importance of face-to-face meetings in Washington, D.C. He hopes it works today, when he meets with Bush administration science officials to argue that Oregon should be one of 10 centers for nanotechnology research. The proposal is part of a bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that passed Congress last year. The new law authorizes but does not guarantee $3.6 billion in federal funding during four years for research on building atom- or molecule-sized electronic circuits for use in construction, energy storage or medical treatment. Kulongoski doesn’t expect an answer today, but he said, “If you don’t show up, you can’t get in the queue.” The governor's reverse-Oregon-trail pilgrimage is part of the state's push to capitalize on Wyden's influence with nanotechnology proponents. As Small Times reported last week,  Oregonians are going to make the most out of their senator's co-sponsorship of the nanotech act. Update: And this just in from The Oregonian. Scientists scramble to gain footing in the burgeoning field of nanotechnology" Discuss Related Stories at Small Times President thinks a billion of nano, but a bit less than allowed by law Wyden visits Oregon State University for a big nano pep rally Boomtown wannabes all want a piece of the new nanotech action Retired HP official to lead Oregon nano center University of Oregon nano researchers aiming for marketable products Oregon, My Oregon Free Money from the Federal Government for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs Grant Writing For Dummies

Nanoscience writers as lab rats

A project at the University of South Carolina's center for societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology (Thanks, Jack): Science Journalism: Lowndes Stephens (J. Rion McKissick Professor of Journalism, USC) will pursue an experimental study of ways to improve science journalism, particularly that covering nanotechnology. The experiment will be conducted during summer 2004 on a group of experienced science writers who will have a weeklong training course in Newsplex, a $2 million state-of-the-art multi-media, micro newsroom laboratory at the University of South Carolina. Using information from other team members and from members of USC’s NanoCenter, the subjects will be asked to research, source and write news stories on several significant advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The subjects and their stories will be examined both before and after their experience in Newsplex, as a way to determine the degree to which this experience improves their ability to write about nanotechnology. I met a couple of the USC nanopeople last autumn, and they told me about this database of nanoscience abstracts that they're building. Sounds like a worthwhile project. While you're on the USC site, browse around a bit and find nano-enlightenment via pdf. The science of the study of the popular perception of the study of nanotechnology has truly arrived. Discuss Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics Human Genetic Information: Science, Law and Ethics - Symposium No. 149 Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists and Engineers

News in a NanoSecond

Lee C. Gerhard and Victor John Yannacone Jr. want to invoke a real precautionary principle. I threw precaution to the wind here. A bit fast and loose with the 'n' word? DF Moore is looking at some interesting thesis topics Joe is lonely. Please visit him. Discuss Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis

Journal recants publication of autism study

For those who read my Small Times column on this topic, here's an update via The Seattle Times. Another update from BBC News: Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer, accused Dr Andrew Wakefield of peddling "poor science". He said the 1998 study was flawed and has been criticised by "independent experts around the world". His comments came as the General Medical Council prepared to open an investigation into the way Dr Wakefield carried out his study. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged parents to have their children vaccinated. Discuss Autism Spectrum Disorders Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism? Curious Incident of Dog in Night-Time Immunization Safety Review: Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine & Autism

News in a NanoSecond

The Republican Main Street Partnership is taking credit for passage of the nanotechnology bill The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce is trying to "cultivate newer industries like wireless, digital media, and nanotechnology." Good discussion thread here on "Prey," nanofact and nanofiction. The National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network is looking for a few good undergrads for its summer research program. Discuss

DoE, EPA in MOU

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency recently signed a "Memorandum of understanding (PDF, 70KB) on cooperation in research to protect human health and the environment." Here are some excerpts that might be of interest: The purpose of this MOU is to expand the research collaboration of both agencies in the conduct of basic and applied research related to: (1) environmental protection, environment and energy technology, sustainable energy use, ecological monitoring, material flows, and environmental and facilities clean-up; (2) high-performance computing and modeling; and (3) emerging scientific opportunities in genomics, nanotechnology, remote sensing, bioinformatics, land restoration, material sciences, molecular profiling, and information technology, as well as other areas providing promising opportunities for future joint efforts by EPA’s and DOE’s research communities. Another goal: Explore the use of new technology sensors, nanotechnology, visualization, etc. to provide better understanding of human health and the environment. Discuss

Educating the Regulators

"Regulatory Opportunities" from the NanoBusiness Alliance and Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP: The federal government is beginning to address the regulatory issues raised by nanotechnology. The EPA is turning its attention to the potential environmental and public health effects of nanoparticles in the environment. The FDA is preparing to deal with nanoparticles in medical and cosmetic products. As these agencies begin to focus on nanotechnology, Alliance members will find it helpful to be involved from the outset-working with regulators to alert them to special issues, educating them about the field, and meeting with them early in the product development process in order to avoid costly course-shifting later. For assistance with regulatory matters, please contact Daniel Ritter at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP. Discuss

Nanotech Meetup

Here's a new one to me: Nanotech Meetup -- Calling all Nanotech Enthusiasts Apparently it's the third Thursday of every month. Is this a Friendster-style networking thing? Discuss

Nano Goulash

Robin Green went to a public seminar on nanotech in the U.K. and filed this thought-provoking report on nano-ethics, Drexlerian nanotech, public perception and a frustratingly "low level of understanding of nanotechnology amongst the audience." Interesting stuff, how fact, fiction, politics and perception are tossed into the nanopot, producing a sour soup indeed. Discuss

News in a NanoSecond

• Multiple choice question. Nanotech: threat or menace?
• World's largest scientific society launches kid-friendly chemistry Web site
• More nano in space

Discuss

Rockin' Iranian Nanobots

I think James Joyner is on to something here. I’d probably read a good blog on Iranian nanobots that cover local restaurant bands. Well, here are a couple of places you can go to see if there's any interest. Related Posts Drawing a nano-sized line in the sand Israel and Iran going nano Discuss Music of Iran I Music of Iran II Classical Music Of Iran

Nano Snake Oil?

Syntrax Methoxylon "with Nano Dissolution Technology. ... Potent for gaining muscle, losing fat, and increasing vitality, well-being and endurance. Also useful in supporing strong, healthy bones, and maintaining low cholesterol levels."

Discuss

Nano work, if you can get it

Lockheed Martin is looking for a college student intern who "should be pursuing a Chemical Engineering degree and have knowledge of carbon nanotubes and polymer materials." And Millipore needs a technology manager for "nanoscale processing solutions."

News in a NanoSecond

Thank you again, Glenn Reynolds: So if I were starting out from scratch, with the goal of having maximum blog-impact, I think I'd give that subject [warblogs] a pass. Instead, I'd look around to see what's going on that's potentially very interesting, but that isn't getting enough attention. That can be a subject-matter area (Howard Lovy's Nanobot blog on nanotechnology is a good example), or it can be a geographic area (just look at all the attention that Iraqi bloggers have gotten, by virtue of being close to the action). More on the new "Century City" series: In the Century City world you can be accused of robbery for "stealing back" their personalities and nanotechnology has led to the crime of virtual rape. Congratulations to Shawn Anthony, a Northwestern University undergrad in the Stupp research group who made the All-USA College Academic Third Team. Shawn is a biomedical engineering major with a GPA of 3.87 who is using nanotechnology to develop biomaterials that mimic natural bone. European journalists will want to check out this event (registered journalists only) in Brussels: "Nanotechnology - fear or fiction? Explaining the science - identifying the issues" "A hearing at the European Parliament (EP), Brussels, organised by the EPP-ED Group(European People's Party (Christian Democrats)and European Democrats in the European Parliament), in association with the Institute of Physics. "The hearing aims to: Discuss what nanotechnology is really about using examples from research in electronics, materials and biology Look at perceived risk areas and separate those that might be happening now from those which are, at present, science fiction Examine ways to widen discussion about the application of nanotechnology in society." Discuss Green Ink: An Introduction to Environmental Journalism

Feynman was not for first-timers

In response to my request for former students of Richard Feynman, Sydney Smith (aka medpundit), writes: I didn't go to Cal Tech, and I'm not a physicist, but my husband did his graduate work in physics at Cornell, where Feynman also once taught. He never had any close contact with him, but he attended some of Feynman's lectures which he says were the best physics lectures he's ever heard. They always provided a fresh angle and new way of thinking about things. The problem was that you had to already have a good grasp of the subject to get anything from Feynman's lectures. The consensus among students who were new to physics (i.e. "physics-for-poets" students) was that it was hard to learn anything from him for the first time. Which backs up Feynman's own observation about his teaching. Discuss Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Audible.com) Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character (eCampus.com)

Do no harm: Don't forget Freitas

Hello, Howard, I'm Robert Freitas, author of the Nanomedicine book series (along with many other works relevant to molecular nanotechnology). I think you do a great job with your "NanoBot" column, which I check out regularly. But I was wondering why you hadn't ever mentioned either of my nanomedicine books? I see that you DO mention technical books from time to time. My recent book "Nanomedicine, Vol. IIA: Biocompatibility" ( ) is the first technical book ever written on the subject of the biocompatibility of nanomaterials and nanostructures in the human body. This scholarly work includes over 6,000 literature citations. Admittedly, the focus is primarily on the biocompatibility of diamondoid materials such as might be employed in medical nanorobots (e.g., diamond, graphene, fluorocarbon, sapphire, etc.), and on various other de novo issues related to a future medical nanorobotics technology (that nobody has ever thought about before) such as motile particle mechanocompatibility. But I also included in the book several sections on the biocompatibility of more conventional materials such as carbon nanotubes, dendrimers, DNA (such as might be used in devices built by Nad Seeman), along with discussions of more conventional biocompatibility issues. By the way, my first book in the Nanomedicine series -- "Nanomedicine, Vol. I: Basic Capabilities" or "NMI" ( ) -- which came out in October 1999, was the first technical book on medical nanorobotics ever written or published. It is still in print, available for purchase at Amazon.com, but only in softcover because the hardcover edition sold out its entire printing quickly, a couple of years ago. Please note: NMI is also freely available online in its entirety at my nanomedicine.com Website (which I own). I don't think you'll find any other nanotech technical books online. My book, and my publisher, are unique in this regard. I want to encourage dissemination and discussion of my vision of the future of medicine. In case your reviewer copy of NMIIA has somehow gotten lost, you can check out the entire Table of Contents of the book at http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMIIA.htm, and I anticipate the entire book will be up online (just like NMI) sometime in the next two months or so (just as soon as I can get to it). For future reference, later this year (probably around late summer or early fall), my next book, co-authored with Ralph Merkle and also published by Landes Bioscience, will hit the streets. The title is "Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines" (KSRM). (It will probably be online at my Website http://www.molecularassembler.com by year's end, if all goes as expected.) This book is the first general survey (and including new analysis) ever written of the theoretical and experimental progress to date in designing, building, and operating machines that are able to physically replicate themselves, updating the famous 1980 NASA study of self-replicating lunar factories, which I edited. As usual, in KSRM I provide literally thousands of relevant literature citations. Best wishes, Robert A. Freitas Jr. Author, Nanomedicine Robert, I'm very glad you wrote to me. I know you by your work and reputation. It's actually a reflection of how successful the site has become when a major researcher writes to me! Unfortunately, I write this blog in my spare time and have to place priority on the work that pays me a salary -- otherwise, I would be blogging a lot more often. I've been sticking with sources with whom I've had conversations, so I would very much like to speak with you to get your perspective on nanotech issues. There are a number of doctors in my family, by the way, and they all ask me about the medical applications to nanotechnology (I had to be the black sheep and go into journalism). I'd love to be able to give them an informed run-down without a lot of hemming and hawing. Howard Lovy Related Posts Nanotubes and the tale of the rats 'Old school' medicine meets the modern Playing God with Monsters Discuss