QuoteBot

"How can we begin to expect them to analyse ethical issues such as stem cell research or nanotechnology or euthanasia or gay marriage when we cannot even get them to understand that they should be polite to others and that they should meet their obligations?"

Professor Steven Schwartz, vice chancellor, Brunel University, U.K.,
quoted in the Guardian, arguing that universities should teach morality to students

Overachieving undergrads

NNIN Research Experience for Undergraduates (National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network)

NNIN conducts one of the largest and most sucessful Research Experience for Undergraduates programs. Over 100 positions will be available in 2005 at the 13 NNIN research sites. Due to the high level of interest in nanotechnology, over 550 applications were received for our program last year.

Students are assigned to a specific research project and will make a meaningful research contribution to their research group. Each project involves hands-on nanotechnology research with state-of-the-art equipment. Each student will be working on an individual research project, with support from faculty, student mentors, and facility staff.

Further information as well as past REU program reports are available here. Extensive additional information is available here. The online application is available here.

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Kent wants to become supernano center

International Nanobiotechnology Project Launch at The University of Kent (Azonano.com)

An international project in nanobiotechnology is being launched at the University of Kent 30-31 January 2005. The project’s primary objectives are the establishment and maintenance of a European centre of excellence in the area and it is funded for five-years in the first instance.

Novel and Improved Nanomaterials, Chemistries and Apparatus for Nano-Biotechnology (NACBO) is co-ordinated by the University of Kent and is funded with a total of 15.6m Euro, of which 8m Euro is granted from the European Union, 0.5m from China and 7.1m from European industry.

Nanotechnology is still being explored by researchers as a science and has been described as an ‘enabling technology’ rather than a technology in its own right. Ian Bruce, Professor of Nanobiotechnology at the University of Kent, is one of many European researchers for whom it is essential that Europe is recognised for its scientific skills and excellence in this area as well as providing competition and a direct challenge to the US, which currently dominates the development of this emerging science.

NACBO brings together key European industries and governmental agencies with world class research institutes. Its objectives are broad but focused and include the creation of novel drug treatments using structured nanocomposite particles coated or loaded with useful substances to improved medical diagnostic systems, materials and methodologies for use in forensic science, public health and welfare. It also includes activities directly related to the toxicological and safety issues surrounding nanomaterials the results of which will be available to the world through the project’s website. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
Europe fires its nano-engines, aims at America
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Charles vs. 'scientific materialism'

Smalley plays with 'Rage'

I just watched part of "Rage Against the Machines" on the SciFi channel. It's a "documentary" that highlights everything we should all be very afraid of -- including, of course, nanotechnology.

In the world of this documentary, it's a foregone conclusion that out-of-control nanobots will destroy the world outside either before or after they consume our flesh from the inside.

What I found particularly amusing was an interview with nanotech scientist Rick Smalley in which he describes what a self-replicating nanobot would do. I can only guess that this interview snippet was taken out of context since, as many nanotech followers know, Smalley believes such a self-replicating nanobot is the stuff of dreams and nightmares.

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It's only a paper nano

Nanotechnology opens growth options in paper industry (The Post-Crescent)

Paper industry is a mature industry. Its survival is based upon innovating value-added products for the 21st century. Nanotechnology may be the light we have been waiting for. It can reduce production costs by increasing process efficiencies and product quality. In addition, it can also minimize excessive use of specialty chemicals and other raw materials including energy. For example, nanotechnology can be used in making nanofillers, coatings, glues and adhesives, and improve paper surface properties such as surface topography and surface functionality.

In particular, nanotechnology can help in increasing production speeds, improving paper properties such as sharper colors, nanosizing, nanocoating that can lead to high-gloss papers without high-pressure calendering, barrier properties, adsorption/separation/absorption functionality, purification of materials, nanolithography and the use of digital electronics into paper. More here

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Converging on clean energy

Nanoparticles clobber cancer with sneak attack

First Nanotechnology Drug Approved for Breast Cancer (WNEP)

If you or a loved one suffer from breast cancer, listen up. The government has just approved the first ever chemotherapy drug that uses nanotechnology to fight metastatic breast cancer. It's called Abraxane. It replaces toxic chemical treatment, with tiny packages of the drug paclitaxel and the natural protein albumin.

Researchers say the cancer cells believe they're taking in nutrients to help them grow, when they're really taking in the cancer fighting drug. Annice O'Brien took part in the study, "It made me once again feel like i'm going to beat this."

Dr. William Gradishar, Northwestern University, "Abraxane is a new effective chemotherarpy drug for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer that can be administered over a very short period of time, and is well tolerated by patients." More here

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The nanothin green line

The U.S. Department of Defense is soliciting some interesting- and frightening-sounding grant proposals under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant program. But don't wait, act now, this round of proposals ends Jan. 14 at 6 a.m.

Here are just a couple examples of what nano can do for Uncle Sam:

Decontaminating Protective Skin Cream Effective Against Chemical Warfare Agents

The development of a pre-or post-exposure decontaminating protective skin cream that that will protect exposed skin from the toxic effects of chemical warfare agents. More here

Novel Energetic Materials

Develop innovative new energetic materials and/or energy release processes that will lead to significant enhancements in destructive energy delivered on targets, and/or significant improvement in munitions effectiveness for weapons designed to defeat hard and deeply buried targets (HDBT), for use in military operations in urban terrain (MOUT), or to defeat weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Energetic materials and/or energy release processes that reduce risk of collateral damage while increasing energy delivered on these targets of interest are also sought. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
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NanoBot Soup

Hello Howard,

Been a fan of your blog (and your work at Small Times) for some while now.

We saw your piece about our study. The general consensus here was that it was pretty funny - especially for those of us who are familiar with your blog. Although I didn't write the press release, I did write the study and am therefore the one primarily responsible for its first sentence, which mentioned "'killer nanobot' alarmism".

I have to confess that I liked the phrase when I'd seen it before, as in a late-2003 article in the Guardian, so I concede that I appropriated it to refer to some of the grey goo-based distress that appeared in print over the past couple of years - from the ETC Group, Prince Charles and elsewhere. I'm pretty sure that neither the Prince nor ETC has ever really said anything about "killer nanobots" in any public forum, but I thought the phrase was an amusing example of some of the overstated wariness (and hysterical overreaction to some of Drexler's statements) about "the next big thing" - in the hope of suggesting that our study focused on the area between both of those sides.

Anyhow, thanks for mentioning us. Having our URL in the piece would have been helpful, but being mentioned in what has to be the foremost nanotech blog is a big compliment to us.

Regards,
Mike Richardson

Mike,

Thank you very much for your note. I'm glad you and the rest of the Freedonia folks saw the humor in it (shocking as it may seem, not everybody always does).

I used your press release to try to make, I hope, a larger point about the difficulty in even pinning down the source of nanotech fears. The "killer nanobot" specter can be brought out by anybody at anytime to either spread fear or mock those who spread fear. Yet when you truly try to hunt this Frankenstein, and back it into a corner, it leaps back over the wall of fiction. What remains are more-legitimate fears of the unknown as espoused by the ETC Group, Prince Charles and other groups or individuals. You can deal with their arguments on the merits -- whether nanotech is a potential threat to the environment and living organisms -- and you're back in the nonfiction world, having a discussion over potentially real scenarios.

But, at any time, lurking just over that wall, is the "killer nanobot" that can be brandished by either side. Yet, so far, the only things it has shown a tendency to kill are conversations.

Howard

Hi Howard,

In our study, we really try to skip the "overspeak" on both sides of that particular coin, and focus on the market outlook for nanoscale products and related markets. In press releases and the like, I confess that we sometimes use the same kind of attention-seeking phrasing that many nanotech firms have used. But that's sort of the point of press releases, isn't it?

I think you are essentially correct - the "scary scary nanotech" argument has been used to self-defeating effect by nanotech proponents and opponents alike. Whether it's the nanotech supporter who boasts of the amazing and heretofore unseen properties of these materials (who doesn't acknowledge that there could be unintended risks associated with them) or the environmental activist who plays the grey goo card (without acknowledging that nanomaterials hold great promise for such things as water purification and other beneficial applications), what we're seeing is a profound lack of respect for an opposing viewpoint. But, well, that's hardly unique to the nanotech discourse, right?

An unfortunate result of all this hollering, however, has been - as you stated in your note - a drowning out of legitimate concerns about the possible effects of these materials. But I suppose stuff that sounds like it came from the Crichton novel (which I thought was a pretty decent read) garners more attention than stuff that sounds like press releases from the EPA or OSHA. I read those all the time in this line of work, and they aren't too sexy.

Mike

NanoBot Backgrounder
Hail! Hail! Freedonia!
The Golems of our Era
NPR can't tell Crichton from cosmetics
2004 was blowin' in the wind
Stop worrying and learn to love nanobots

GE may put Israeli imagination to work

General Electric mulls Israeli R&D center
The center would be in addition to the company's present medical equipment development center in Haifa. (Globes)

General Electric (NYSE:GE), one of the world's largest corporations, is considering expanding its research activities in Israel.

Last week, Israel Ambassador to the US Daniel Ayalon met GE SVP law and public affairs Ben W. Heineman, who serves on GE management's strategy committee. Heineman asked Ayalon for a briefing on Israeli economic developments.

Heineman said GE was planning to establish a presence in nanotechnology, homeland security technology, and alternative fuels. He is prepared to send a delegation to Israel to study business opportunities, including setting up an R&D center, in addition to the company's present medical equipment development center in Haifa. GE will hold further meetings with the Ministries of Finance and Industry, Trade and Labor to coordinate the delegation's visit. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
A bright future ... in Europe
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The walls are watching

Nanotechnologists' new plastic can see in the dark (PhysOrg.com)

Imagine a home with "smart" walls responsive to the environment in the room, a digital camera sensitive enough to work in the dark, or clothing with the capacity to turn the sun's power into electrical energy. Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented an infrared-sensitive material that could shortly turn these possibilities into realities. In a paper to be published on the Nature Materials website Jan. 9, senior author Professor Ted Sargent, Nortel Networks – Canada Research Chair in Emerging Technologies at U of T's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his team report on their achievement in tailoring matter to harvest the sun's invisible rays.

"We made particles from semiconductor crystals which were exactly two, three or four nanometres in size. The nanoparticles were so small they remained dispersed in everyday solvents just like the particles in paint," explains Sargent. Then, they tuned the tiny nanocrystals to catch light at very short wavelengths. The result – a sprayable infrared detector.

Existing technology has given us solution-processible, light-sensitive materials that have made large, low-cost solar cells, displays, and sensors possible, but these materials have so far only worked in the visible light spectrum, says Sargent. "These same functions are needed in the infrared for many imaging applications in the medical field and for fibre optic communications," he says. More here

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Europe fires its nano-engines, aims at America

NANOSCIENCE, NANOTECHNOLOGY: State of play in the Union’s NMP priority (Europa)

The results of the Commission’s poll of European attitudes towards all aspects of nanosciences and nanotechnology are out! Some surprises, but the ‘consultation’ – for the most part – confirmed what many close to the subject already believed. Europe needs to fire the engines to compete with the USA in this cutting-edge field, but human resources and infrastructure will need bolstering to achieve this, the survey reveals.

It’s a mouthful but NMP stands for ‘Nanotechnology and nanosciences, knowledge-based multifunctional materials and new production processes and devices’. This is the third thematic priority in the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) for research. Nanotechnology, for instance, is a new approach to research and development controlling the fundamental structure and behaviour of matter at the atomic and molecular level, according to the NMP website.

Applications for this are emerging in many areas, including healthcare, information technologies, materials sciences, manufacturing, instrumentation, energy, security or space. Nanotech has huge potential for improving our quality of life, as well as European industrial competitiveness and sustainable development. And it has been touted as a possible linchpin for the next Industrial Revolution.

With a view to improving governance and information exchange, the Commission regularly launches public ‘consultations’ on its official policy-making mechanisms to help shape future initiatives. For example, following up on the release of its communication (on 12 May last year) entitled ‘Towards a European Strategy for Nanotechnology’ – in which it proposes integrated and responsible approaches to developing nanosciences and nanotechnologies (N&N) in Europe – the Commission asked stakeholders to take part in an open consultation on this important subject.

Between August and October 2004, the EU-funded thematic network ‘Nanoforum’ hosted an on-line survey, in co-operation with the Commission, to find out what citizens thought about developments in N&N. Over 700 people, mainly from 32 European countries, filled out the questionnaire. Responses were recorded from the R&D community, but also from journalists, lecturers and the business community. More here

Update: Over at The Foresight Institute's Nanodot, they're about talking world domination!

NanoBot Backgrounder
Sprechen sie nano?
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But did they run this one by their prince?

University of Swansea launches £50m life sciences centre
Wants to emulate Cambridge's success in developing a fertile start-up environment (vnunet.com)

The launch of a £50m specialist life sciences research centre at the University of Swansea was announced yesterday.

The university hopes to emulate Cambridge's success in establishing a community for supporting technology start-ups.

The project, which will include investment from both the public and private sector, will create a medical school that doesn't just produce doctors, but also world-class research

Andrew Davies, minister for economic development and transport for the Welsh Assembly Government, says the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) will represent a 'quantum leap' in the development of Wales' knowledge economy.

'The facility will be home to internationally acclaimed scientists, working at the intersections of bio and nanotechnology, deep computing and informatics. In addition, the ILS will provide dedicated incubator support for micro-companies, translating knowledge into commercial opportunities, enhancing our culture of entrepreneurship and innovation,' he said. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
Prince Charles called to the Commons
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Albany to feast on nanochips

Catchphrase Cop

The Brainerd (Minn.) Dispatch manages to get two nanotech cliches in one headline:

"Nano, nano
Tiny technology could be big deal

There's even a "width of a human hair" analogy in the story to complete the trilogy. I'll always have Cientifica's Tim Harper to thank for showing me how useless that comparison is, since humankind, in all its splendid diversity, does not come with one-size-fits-all strands of hair.

But what bothers me most about these local-newspaper nanotech stories (and, yes, I'm feeling especially cranky this evening) is something that does not involve humankind at all. It's that "Nano, nano" thing. Actually, not only in newspapers, but people I meet who find out that I write about nano often tug at their ears and do what they remember as the "Mork" catchphrase.

So, OK, yeah, this is a small (nano) annoyance, but I'm a child of the '70s who wasted part of his misspent youth glued in front of the TV. So, listen everybody. I'm only going to say this once. Mork, a space alien played by Robin Williams, would sign off every show (after his report to his leader, Orson) with two twists of his ears and the phrase that replaced "Dyn-o-mite!" in the TV lexicon: "Nanoo Nanoo."

Not "Nano Nano"

"Nanoo Nanoo"

Thank you berry much

Update: This critic had bigger problems with the Brainerd Dispatch piece.

Nanotechnology (willful, unnatural recombinations of sub-atomic particles) holds the same devious "promise" as biotechnology or nuclear energy through the law of unintended consequences. "Business as usual" will eventually bury us with toxic waste and global warming as we fiddle around. More here

Hail! Hail! Freedonia!

Market research firm The Freedonia Group says in a news release:

Despite "next big thing" hype on one side and "killer nanobot" alarmism on the other, nanomaterials are beginning to establish a commercial presence in the U.S. market. The development of nanomaterials (i.e., substances with particle size between 1 and 100 nanometers in at least one dimension) is a key step in the eventual production of more sophisticated machines, electronics and health care products.

So, I know who is hyping nanotech as the "next big thing:" Well, practically everybody who calls what they do "nano." But who, exactly are the "killer nanobot alarmists?" Well, I guess there's Michael Crichton, but he writes fiction. Nope, can't think of who exactly is raising that alarm. I'll go check out Freedonia's Marxist magazine for clues and get back to you.

NanoBot Backgrounder
Why a duck?

Dendrimer patch could stick it to the syringe

New Patch May Replace Medical Injections (Associated Press)

Those who dread hypodermic needles may someday be able to apply their medicine on their skin instead, a couple of researchers believe.

Two University of Toronto chemists, Dr. Geoffrey Ozin and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Kai Landskron, announced recently they had created an unusual material using man-made molecules called dendrimers. They believe it can store drugs, and, when spread on the skin as a film, allow them to dissipate into a patient's bloodstream like a new type of patch.

However, the material is far from being on the market and must still undergo a lot more testing before researchers know whether it's safe or effective for humans. More here

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Learning a living with Luna

Luna offers students a glimpse of the future (Danville, Va., Register & Bee)

Sixteen-year-old Carrie Crews feels confident that when her education is completed, she will be able to remain in Danville and find work.

A student at the Piedmont Governor’s School for Mathematics, Science and Technology and an 11th-grader at Langston Global Village, Crews was one of the 132 Governor’s School students from the Danville and Henry County sites and a dozen instructors and school administrators who attended Luna Innovation’s nanotechnology presentation at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research on Wednesday.

“Yes, this would entice people to stay here and make a life in Danville,” Crews said. The Governor School sites usually meet twice a year, allowing the community to showcase what it can offer the students after they complete their education, according to Brian Pace, director of the Piedmont Governor’s School for Mathematics, Science and Technology.

“This was a practical application for something going on at your own front door,” Pace said. “We want to encourage the students to do great things right here in this community.” Since Luna Innovations has decided to locate its nanomanufacturing facility in Danville, the area’s students will face new technological education and employment opportunities. Luna Innovations is investing over $6.4 million to renovate an area of the Danville Tobacco Warehouse District to produce carbonaceous nanomaterials for research to use in health care for cancer tumor therapy and in telecommunications by having faster computers. Luna also researches the use of nanomaterials in biotechnology and military defense.

“There is a huge initiative in biotechnical areas of cancer, therapeutics and imagery,” said Charles Gause, vice president of Luna Innovations’ Danville Division. “There is a lot of chemistry involved, but it is a different way of thinking.” Gause said Danville’s strong manufacturing capabilities and technological initiatives lured the company to the area. Luna hopes to begin operations by first quarter and Gause said he expects 54 jobs for local people within the year, then increasing to 150 jobs within the next two or three years. Job qualifications include a minimum of an associate’s degree in manufacturing or a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, he said. More here

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Poplar protein proves perfect for pushing prescriptions (sorry)

Hebrew Univ scientists discover new protein, could be used for medicine and nanoscience (Medical News Today)

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have succeeded in discovering and isolating a new protein from the poplar tree with special structural and qualitative characteristics that could have consequences for development of future nanocapsules for drug delivery to cancer cells.

In addition to being obtained from plant tissue, the protein can now also be produced in large quantities as a recombinant protein in bacteria, making it highly available for medicinal or other applications.

Called SP-1, the protein has a nanometric, "bagel-shaped," circular form and is extremely stable. It has been found to be capable of surviving contact with enzymes that break down proteins or exposure to extreme conditions such as boiling, excessive acidity, salinity, organic solvents or detergent solutions. More here

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Albany to feast on nanochips

Pataki makes big announcement during address (capitalnews9)

It's being called the hub of future development. UAlbany's Nanotechnology Center is ushering in a new way of doing business. And now, with major backing from Governor Pataki and some heavy-hitter microchip businesses, it's becoming a destination spot for nanotech companies around the world.

Alain Kaloyeros of the UAlbany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering said, "It puts the university, for the first time in history, right smack in the path of a consortium of companies for technology development."

... Governor George Pataki said, "IBM -- along with six global giants that include Sony, Toshiba and Samsung -- will invest $1.9 billion to build the next generation chip plant."

The governor made the big announcement in his State of the State address, saying those big names, and others, will be pumping $2.7 billion into Tech Valley, bringing lots of jobs to UAlbany's NanoTech complex and the entire Capital Region. More here

Related News
Jobs won't come right away (Gannett News Service)
UAlbany project raises hopes (timesunion.com)
IBM leads consortium investing $2.5B (The Journal News)
IBM leads $2.7bn fab investment (Electronic News)
IBM-Led Group to Invest $2.5 Billion in Upstate N.Y. (Reuters)
Governor's Initiatives Would Benefit Region (Washington Post, registration required)

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Texas ropes young nano herd

TSTC Waco gets nano-grant (AP, via The Miami Herald)

Texas State Technical College in Waco is getting a 500,000 dollar grant to encourage students to pursue careers in nanotechnology.

Gov. Rick Perry today announced the federal funds will be used to launch the Nanotechnology Workforce Development Initiative.

T-S-T-C will partner with Baylor University, Del Mar College of Corpus Christi and Zyvex Corporation of Richardson.

The grant will provide internships and apprenticeships for engineering students at T-S-T-C and Del Mar College to work in advanced nanoscale manufacturing environments at Zyvex. More here

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Iran hard-liner: Nano a key to regional power

Prominent hardliner, reformist run for president (IranMania)

Top Iranian hardliner Ali Larijani announced Monday that he was joining the presidential race to become Iran's next president, while a report said top pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi would also be standing.

... Larijani told reporters he believed Iran "has the potential to be the region's superior power", and he pledged that even if conservatives won the presidential elections -- scheduled for June 17 -- the new government would display a "synthesis" of ideas including those pushed by the incumbent reformists, ISNA added.

He said a priority in the economy was investment in four fields: nanotechnology, biotechnology, nuclear technology for non-military purposes and information and communications technologies. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
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NanoDoctors hold online office hours

Nanotechnology & Medicine
An Online Chat with Nanotechnology Experts Dr. Richard Siegel and Dr. James Baker (EurekAlert!)

     
From left, Richard Siegel, James Baker and Phillip Szuromi

Join us for an online chat with scientists Richard Siegel and James Baker, who will answer questions about the medical implications of nanotechnology.

When: January 12, 2005, 10 a.m. - 12 noon ET, You may ask your question now, to be included in the January 12th chat.

Where: Online at http://www.eurekalert.org/nanotalk

The chat will be moderated by Dr. Phillip Szuromi, Supervisory Senior Editor at Science. More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
Serious side effects may result from ignoring nano
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India pledges irreverence to science past

Sibal announces new schemes for scientists (New Kerala)

Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal Monday promised to set up a national mission for nano-technology and to promote efforts to dicover preventive medicines for malaria and tuberculosis.

Sibal, who was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary award by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 92nd Indian Science Congress here, said: "While the scientific community will make efforts to provide solutions in resolving issues. I hope to provide the necessary enabling environment for you.

"For the scientific community I pledge to do the following. Bring autonomy in their functioning, for only those who are irreverent of the past in the scientific sense, will guide the future." More here

Related News
India: Nanotech, Leapfrogging, and Irreverent Science (worldchanging)
Tsunami shadows over Indian science meet (New Kerala)
Indo-US tech forum seeks public-pvt partnerships (The Navhind Times)
City Beautiful to be nano-bio-tiful soon (The Times of India)
Nano-biotechnology it is: Sibal (expressindia.com)
Nano-technology to improve quality of life in future: K.G.Satyanarayana (Kerala Online)

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Hot nano action

Man, I'll need to check out the Yahoo nanotech group more often:

Hi,

I have read the book The Selfish Gene from Richard Dawkins, the book gave me the idea to do children so I am searching a wife, are you interested ? Do you know someone? The girl must be a cryonicist too.

Am I your style? My photos are there: www.nanoaging.com/jonathan

Any girl here for me ? I want to reproduce myself, I am faithful.
-- Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

This sounds funny .. I dont think am your type though but I guess we share similar ideas.. I am not a cryonicist. I am a geochemist. Anyways, I am looking for a sperm donor. would you like to be?
dadadodo6

A note from the moderator: Please take relationship posts offlist as it is off topic. Also the nanotech list is Yahoo approved for all ages including children and I do not want that to change. This is the last approved post on this topic, feel free to email eachother offlist. Thank you for understanding.
The Nanotech Moderator.

A future filled with fullerenes?

Mitsubishi: Out Front in Nanotech (By Stephen Herrera, Technology Review)

Fullerenes, those soccer ball–shaped carbon molecules also known as “buckyballs,” have generated outsized expectations ever since their discovery in 1985. Scientists think they could eventually be used in chemical sensors, fuel cells, drug delivery, cancer medicines, and smart materials. Yet while commercial demand for fullerenes is gradually emerging, so are fears that these molecules, which measure only a few billionths of a meter across, pose serious health and environmental hazards.

To some, however, fullerenes’ potential is too great to ignore. Mitsubishi Corporation, which holds a number of key patents and licenses on fullerenes, began laying the groundwork for their commercialization in 1993, and company executives say they realized from the beginning that they would need to do voluntarily what many companies won’t do until forced: consider the concerns of stakeholders in academia, government, the environmental community, and the public.

In 2001, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Chemical, one of its sister firms in the Mitsubishi group, created Frontier Carbon to manufacture fullerenes. Today Frontier produces only a small amount of fullerenes for its 350 Japanese customers. But already it can make 40 metric tons of fullerenes a year and will eventually expand that capacity to 1,500 metric tons per year. No other producer comes close to these volumes. In fact, nanotechnology industry observers say the two Mitsubishis are taking a big risk by powering up fullerene capacity before there’s a market. They are, in one nanotechnology pundit’s words, “putting the cart, the barn, and the farm before the horse.” More here

NanoBot Backgrounder
Radicals find no freedom from fullerenes
A little story about drugs, bass and balls
'Bad bucky's' blog bounce