Blog @ NanoVic - Nanotechnology Blog

In the search for interesting ways to communicate nanotechnology, we are constantly searching for fun and engagement.  Here are a few ideas:

The NanoQuest is a series of projects and games that investigate nanotechnology.  It is presented by the First Lego League who run programmes for middle school aged stuidents in robotics.  For more information see Adrian’s blog.  Apparently the Australian leg has kicked off with programs in Queesnand.  Let us know how you’re doing!

Another interesting idea is the NanoWars game developed by PlayGen.  Players are instructed to save the world from Dr Nevil and his nanomachines and learn about molecular building, nano-imaging, quantum behavior and nanomaterials in the process.

Finally, Sarah and I were both interested in the ‘Espoir - Desepoir’ or ‘Hope - Despair’ statue by Oliver Deschamps.  The statue uses a shape memory alloy to bend and straighten the body of a mother holding her baby as the temperature changes.  Education graduate from the Univeristy of Cornell, Cathy Jordan, has devised an activity for visitors at the museum to make their own statue using Nitinol.  If anyone has any photographs, video or more information on this statue, we’d love to hear from you!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and nanotechnology can sure look spectacular! Ghim Wei Ho, is a Ph.D. student working for Professor Mark Welland, at the University of Cambridge Nanoscale Science Laboratory and has produced some spectacular images of nano-flowers. They are three-dimensional Si composite nanostructures, taken with a scanning electron microscope. Ghim Wei Ho’s Ph.D. project in the Nanoscience Centre involves the fabrication and characterisation of novel nanostructures. In addition to ‘flowers’ Ghim Wei Ho can also grow nanowires, cones, rings etc.

With the recent launch of the NanoVic Prizes for Art and Nanotechnologies I hope this will inspire budding scientists and photographers alike.

Update: The winners of the NanoVic Art Prizes have been announced.

Naseema Sparks, Managing Director of M&C Saatchi Melbourne, spoke at a CEDA event today on ‘The Economics of Creativity’. She talked about creative industries including architecture, art and design and emphasised the importance of creativity in productive and profitable workplaces. Although in many cases, the creative effort of people in industries not considered to be creative was perhaps overlooked. She also talked about the value of creativity and stressed that its value is often ‘future’ value. This led me to consider the importance of intellectual property and copyright in research and development and other creative enterprises.

She also said that creative outputs have both economic and emotional impacts. I think that often the emotional impact of business products is underestimated. This is part of the reason that NanoVic finds interesting ways of engaging the broader community in nanotechnology. Examples include utility fog workshops, art prizes, television and podcasts. And this blog!

Researchers from Rice University’s Centre for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology have found an inexpensive method for removing hazardous levels of arsenic from drinking water, down to within international safety limits. The method uses magnetite nanocrystals as small as 12 nanometres (magnetite, also known as iron oxide is a rust-like material). When mixed with contaminated water these crystals become coated with arsenic. The coated particles can then be removed with a simple magnet. The nanocrystals have been found to be up to 100 times more effective than larger particles currently used in filters. Because the method used by the researchers is simple and inexpensive, people living in third world countries where arsenic poisoning is a problem could potentially use it to decontaminate their water.

More information on these prizes is now available.

Here’s another scoop. NanoVic are about to launch their inaugural ‘Art & Nanotechnologies’ Prizes. There will be two categories - one for nanotechnology images developed in research & commercial applications and one for public for artwork inspired by or representing nanotechnologies. We’ve talked about the potential for art and nanotechnology before, so it will exciting to see what sort of interest we can generate. More news should be available, including a link from our website, in about a week…..

Last night I attended a seminar hosted by the Globalism Insititute at RMIT and Friends of the Earth on ‘Nanotechnology and the public interest: what are the key issues raised by the science of the small?’.  It was a good forum to stimulate public debate - this seems to be essential for nanotechnology to progress both from innovation and public interest perspectives.

Steve Mullins from the ACTU talked about his engagement with Standards Australia and the work they are doing around toxicity and safety standards, so it was good to hear a different view on hazards and labelling.  Georgia Miller from Friends of the Earth stressed the importance of public involvement in decision-making and a need for government committment to the responsible development of nanotechnologies.

For me, the complexity of the debate was summed up by Rob Sparrow, ethicist at Monash University who spoke of the distinction between ‘nanotechnology’ and ‘nanotechnologies’.  Thinking about nanotechnology as a unique technology (by both supporters and opponents) is unsatisfactory .  There are so many different technologies, different applications and different safety risks.  Discussing the issue in its complexity allows us to make appropriate decisions about the sort of nanotechnologies we do want for our future.