Blog @ NanoVic - Nanotechnology Blog

As promised NanoVic and AZoNano have announced the official release of the first in a series of Nanotechnology Reviews in a Podcast format.

Read our press release and listen to the Podcast.

Update (01/03/2007): The second podcast has been released, investigating the potential health, safety and environmental implications of nanotechnology.

I must admit that like millions of children around the world I have a fondness for LEGO building blocks. Playing with LEGO blocks is fun, requires creativity and fosters problem-solving skills. Playing with individual atoms is just as fun and demands similar creativity and problem-solving abilities. There seems to be a logical progression here that the International FIRST LEGO League has recognised with the NANO Quest Challenge. Teams of students, have to complete a series of challenging missions including “Individual Atom Manipulation”, “Stain-Resistant Fabric”, “Smart Medicine” and “Nanotube Strength”. These involve designing and using fully autonomous robots to manipulate blocks that represent atoms, materials and biological tissue. For example, one mission is to “target medicine to reach only a specific problem spot. The robot must release the Buckyball containing medicine into the person’s arm.”

Many of us are fascinated by the tv show CSI and the processes they use to catch criminals. Unfortunately, we are often told by those who work in the forensic industry, that the reality is very different to what happens on the show. Well, not for long!

For the past year, we have been working with the University of Sunderland in the UK and the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department (VPFSD) to get some new fingerprint nanopowders that have recently been developed. These fingerprint powders, developed by Professor Fred Rowell of Sunderland University have been altered using nanoparticles in such a way that they produce fingerprints with much higher resolution and detail than normal fingerprint powders currently in use.

The new powders are coated with specially engineered molecules, which are repelled by water and attracted to oil. So they will actually seek out and fix tightly to the fingerprint.

However, this is only the beginning of this new forensic technology. The producers of the powders intend for it to go much further than existing technology; not only will the powders define fingerprints in greater detail, they can also detect the presence of products such as cocaine, nicotine, antidepressants, sleeping tablets etc, define gender and even harvest tiny amounts of skin tissue for DNA analysis.

Finally, real life catches up with CSI!

The National Nanotechnology Strategy Taskforce has just released its “Report on Options for a National Nanotechnology Strategy” paper.  While this has been a long time coming, I think they have delivered a good result.  They have identified the critical role of government in addressing immediate issues of OH&S, community awareness, metrology and standards, and international cooperation.  They also identified an opportunity for new national mechanisms – a Federal/State coordination function, and a major national centre of excellence – to optimise the uptake of nanotechnology in Australia.  While there are pros and cons to these ideas, I hope these mechanisms receive full consideration by the Minister.

The other aspect of the Taskforce paper that impressed was that they outlined the alternative “do nothing” scenario, in which the Commonwealth takes new action and current State and industry initiatives continue to drive Australian nanotechnology.  The Taskforce is clearly stating that this is a critical time for Australian nanotechnology, and that failure by the Federal Government to play a role leaves Australia falling behind in technology and industry development, ability to handle HSE impact and public concerns, and international engagement with its main trading partners.

What do you think of the paper?

Update: the Podcast is now available! Read our press release and listen to the Podcast.

Here’s a scoop - NanoVic and AZoNano will soon be releasing our first podcast on nanotechnology. This initial podcast explains the history and and development of nanotechnology and features interviews with CEOs and researchers (including Gavin Rezos, Dr Jackie Fairley and Dr Sarah Morgan) to highlight nanotechnology advancements in medicine and the environment. I also talk briefly about the importance of public awareness and nanotechnology innovation. Keep an eye on our News page for more information and a link to the podcast.

We were fortunate to have Mike Treder, co-founder of the New York-based Centre for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), visiting Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra last week. Mike spoke to public audiences and small groups, and presented a challenging view of the disruption potentially caused by a revolutionary manufacturing advance such as Molecular Manufacturing.

Whether or not Molecular Manufacturing is feasible is very much open to debate. However, technical feasibility of Molecular Manufacturing is not the important issue. The real message from CRN is that we need to consider the impact of these shifts as we develop the technology – not let technology development and uptake outstrip society’s ability to handle the changes.

The topic of the gap between technology and social capability has been raised before, and everyone typically nods in agreement. The element that CRN adds is a proposal for how policymakers should move to address this gap. Their proposal is summarised in their paper “Three Systems of Action”. Basically it says (1) ensure the product/innovation is safe and not misused, (2) prevent monopolistic control by making it freely available, and (3) allow and encourage further development by all. This makes a lot of sense – but is different from how technologies are typically fostered and developed.

In my view this is the most important message from CRN – and we shouldn’t get distracted by trying to work out if molecular manufacturing is really feasible. That is the wrong question.

Having tackled the pressing problems of dirty fish tanks and vibrating fishing rods, nanotech is now making a splash in the fishing tackle industry with the “Strom” fishing lure, jointly developed by ULVAC and Tigold Co. The high-tech lure is coated with a polyimide film formed by vapour deposition polymerisation with a thickness of several hundred nanometres. The coating allows high light transmission and creates a thin film interference effect. Unsuspecting fish must find the coating highly appealing, as tests by ULVAC have shown it to attract four times more fish than standard lures.

The Leonardo Journal (MIT) recently featured discussion on nanotechnology, nanoscale science and art. Over the next 5 years they will continue to publish special sections that explore art and nanotechnolgy as a way of exploring the art/science connection and encouraging artists’ interest in a field where opinion is perhaps dominated by scientists and engineers.

I find this exicting and heartening as one of my interests is how to communicate nanotechnology. Art is a special medium for conceptualising and explaining nanotechnologies and NanoVic already has a website topic on art and nano as part of our efforts on raising public awareness. This page also features work by our graphic designer, Mark Seggie including this dendrimer image.

Artists and authors who are interested in the Leonardo project are invited to send proposals, queries and/or manuscripts to the Leonardo editorial office. We at NanoVic would also be interested in discovering nano art projects or proposals in Australia.

Part of my role at Nanotechnology Victoria is to look at creative ways of explaining and showing nanotechnologies for educational purposes.  Pictures, demonstrations and experiments are far more compelling in a learning environment than straight discussion.  The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson Center has recenlty reported on a nanotechnology project conducted by sixth-grader Bethany Maynard. She assembled the project by devising an experiment, conducting interviews and making a movie.  I have not watched her movie, but I think this process of discovering nanotechnology is very useful.

Dr Sarah Morgan and I have just written a brief news bulletin outlining some of the issues facing the Australian water industry, including supply and quality. Sarah has been active in discussing nanotechnology solutions with water industry players. She has also been working on the commercial development of ultra-sensitive and reliable biosensors that can monitor phosphate and nitrate in water to provide early detection of algal blooms and other environmental issues. This started me thinking about the most crucial water issue for the world – would it be availability, cleanliness, supply or something else? And what would be the best water application for nanotechnology materials and diagnostics?