Blog @ NanoVic - Nanotechnology Blog

The space elevator sounds like a simple and elegant idea on paper. Tether a (very long and strong) cable to earth, and then vehicles can use it as a ‘ladder’ to space. Although the idea has been around for a while, it was only thought that it might be possible after the discovery of nanotubes in the 90s, which would provide the material strong enough to act as the tether. For a bit of further background reading you can read a NASA paper on Space Elevators here.

New research from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Republic, shows that the cable might well be a lot more wobbly than initially predicted. There are lots of things that could effect the stability of the tether, including gravitational forces from the sun and moon, and solar wind. Disturbances would place extra strain on the tether or possibly knock it into the path of space debris. The authors of this most recent study say that thrusters to stabilise the cable might be needed, making the prospect of seeing this project get off the ground (so to speak) even more costly and technically difficult.

In this video, from the New Scientist site, shows how a wobble might travel up a space elevator cable in a simulation. They note that the horizontal scale of the wave has been exaggerated for clarity, it looks like a mighty whip crack on a massive scale to me! (Animation: David Lang, Software: Paul Snow)

Nanotechnology: The Power of Small, the first major television series to look at the implications of advances in nanotechnology, will begin airing on local US public broadcasting stations in April.

The series’ three programs explore critical questions about nanotechnology’s potential impact on privacy, the environment and human health: Will nanotechnology make you safer, or will it be used to track your every move? Will nanotechnology keep you young, and what happens if you live to be 150? Will nanotechnology help clean up the earth, or will it be the next asbestos?

The programme is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and involves the host asking policymakers, scientists, journalists and community leaders to wrestle with difficult but essential issues about nanotechnology’s potential to impact people’s privacy and security, health and environment. Featured experts include Harvard University researcher George M. Whitesides, PEN chief scientist Andrew Maynard, and author Joel Garreau, among others.

To view the series click here

I have been reading with interest about a wiperless windshield.  Designed by Italian car designer, Leonardo Fioravanti of Pininfarina the ”Hidra” is a working prototype concept car.  The Hidra has an aerodynamic design and uses four layers to achieve this effect.

The top layer repels water and protects from the sun.  The second layer features “nano-dust” which pushes the dirt to the outer edges of the windshield.  This layer is activated by the third layer which senses the dust in the first place.  The last layer conducts electricity which keeps it all up and running.

Sounds like a great idea - although it mentions it will take around five years before it finds its way to the family car.  Would be good if they could create a completely self cleaning car, especially as here in Melbourne at the moment, we have plenty of dust gathering on our cars due to lack of rain and restrictions on washing them! 

Predicting the future is never easy, but a team of scientists, journalists and policy makers was asked to do just that, looking at new and novel threats to biodiversity in the UK in the next 40 years. 

The results, published in Journal of Applied Ecology (original article), predictably included issues to do with the looming energy crises, potentially toxic nanomaterials, as well as some more out-there predictions like the threat of biomimetic robots that could become ‘invasive species’, a modern day equivalent of the devastation the cane-toad continues to cause across Australia. 

The effect of nanomaterials on biodiversity is a complex issue that definitely does require more research.  It’s not known, for example, how long various nanomaterials may persist or how easily they can be dispersed in different environments. 

Science writer Matt walker spoke to New Scientist about the project, saying that:

“The purpose of the exercise was to raise awareness. The more into the future you try to look, the more uncertain it gets, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take such threats seriously.  It’s important to look beyond the immediate well-known threats and try to predict the next great challenge to biodiversity.”

It is hoped that the paper will stimulate further research into the areas identified by the group.

As readers of the Nanovic website, you may be aware of our role in developing nanotechnology-enabled transdermal patches for vaccination.  But have you ever wondered about what sort of research and development needs to go into developing a new vaccine? Of course the material to be injected should undergo rigorous testing from a health and safety point of view. But what about the actual mechanism - how do we know that the stuff being injected actually (1) gets to where we want it to go (i.e. is delivered through and released into the skin), (2) reaches the appropriate cellular components of our immune system, and (3) results in the kind of immune response that we want (i.e. leads to protective immunity).  Several presentations at ICONN2008 by researchers from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), University of Queensland focussed on these exact issues with respect to nanopatches. Nanopatches developed by the AIBN have a micro-nanoprojection array structure which can be successfully coated with biomolecules such as DNA and proteins. When applied to the skin, the patch design results in accurate, efficient and safe delivery of biomolecules to skin Langerhans cells (immune activating cells).  Associated immunological analysis shows that while the patches don’t create an overt and uncomfortable inflammatory reaction in the user, at the microscopic level immune changes are occurring. Sounds like highly promising vaccine technology to me. The AIBN research group is led by Professor Mark Kendall. 

Yesterday I got to go scout around Cambridge Science Festival for ideas for our upcoming Summer programme of Family events at the Royal Institution.  Cambridge Science Festival has been running since 1993, and is the UKs biggest free science festival.   

It certainly felt like it too, and I got to participate in that most British of pastimes, queuing, to get into quite a few venues.  Highlights of the day for me included getting to make my own rocket car (mine came complete with rear spoiler and red flames along the side), and learning that my recently acquired UK drivers license contains the royal crest stamped all over it which you can only see under UV light.  Quite cool.

The Cambridge Dept of Materials Science and Metallurgy runs a project called NanoFen, and they had a great display set up highlighting nanotechnology at the festival.   There were some nice displays of superconductors and nanotechnology in nature, showing how the nanostructures on butterfly wings alter their light reflecting properties and hence colour (you can see in the picture how the colour changes when the wings are wet). 

They managed to make nanotechnology ‘hands-on’ by giving people the opportunity to make their own buckyball models, try and wet a shirt made of nanotex material and see how not even honey sticks to a spoon with a special nanocoating.  My favourite display though was a demonstration of just how difficult it is to work on the nanoscale, by trying to move Jenga puzzle blocks while wearing oven gloves!   

There was also a bank of computers set up by SEEK running a series of games based around engineering principles. I couldn’t get on as they were so popular and I thought I really should get out of the way for the children they were designed for, although I did see a Space Elevator in one of the games, which can be found online free here.   

COSMOS magazine run an ‘un-scientific poll’ in every issue, and I have been keeping my eye on the recent question they asked about what people thought the biggest impact of nanotechnology would be. Most people (45%) thought that ‘It will spawn amazing new materials’, and I would have agreed that this will be the biggest immediate impact.  Nanomaterials are already here.  The next biggest impact was ‘It will revolutionise drugs and medicine’at 37%.   Clearly the most of the readers of COSMOS are optimistic about the future, as only 10% thought it will end up turning us all into grey-goo! (for those of you who have realised that those percentages don’t add up to 100, the remaining 8% thought it would significantly increase our life-span, whether that’s through looking good with dubious sounding “nano” skincare products, or actually living longer and healthier, I’m not sure!) 

In 2002, the The Da Vinci Institute set its sights on creating a Museum of Future Inventions designed around the pursuit of inventions that will create a spot in the history books for those people who develop them.  It was anticipated the museum would consist of multiple pavilions, each with its own scientific concentration, sponsored by businesses from around the world.

As one might expect, nanotechnology is one pavilion to be featured along side Robotics, Energy and Smart Technologies, to name a few of the others.  The exhibits in the nanotechnology pavilion would explain ”how we will be able to control the structure of matter based on molecule-by-molecule control of products and byproducts; the products and processes of molecular manufacturing, including molecular machinery.  Electron and scanning tunneling microscopes will be used to make the nano world come to life”.

No indication of when it might become a reality but if it does end up “as the full day experience” then a visit at the end of the tour to the ”Taste of the Future Café - to dine on tomorrow’s food” will be an absolute must!

A few weeks ago I was helping my housemate mend her punctured tyre on her bike.  We had to dismantle the wheel, remove the inner tube, figure out where the leak was using sophisticated technology like sticking it in a bucket of water looking for the bubbles and then basically stick a rubber bandaid over the hole.  It wasn’t difficult, but imagine what it would be like if you never had to fix a puncture again.  If the rubber just melded itself back together and off you went.   

It could happen!  In normal rubber compounds the forces that hold the molecules together are covalent cross-links, ionic bonds and hydrogen bonds.   Researchers at ESPCI in Paris have created a rubber like material from fatty acids and urea where molecules are linked only by hydrogen bonds.  This makes the material less strong, but imparts a remarkable ability for the material to repair itself when it is compressed at room temperature.  It can be cut, and it heals itself.  It loses no strength in the process, which can be repeated over and over. 

 So, if I would like a self repairing tyre, what would you make with your self-repairing ‘smart’ rubber?!

Sarah recently posted on the Bridge8 blog about meeting Don Eigler, IBM fellow from IBM Almaden Research Center (USA) at ICONN08. (Pictured are Mrs Francesca Calati of La Trobe University, Don Eigler, Prof Chennupati Jagadish from ARCNN and Assoc Prof Joe Shapter from Flinders University)

So who is Don? You might remember some excitement amongst physicists and molecular scientists in the late 1990s when some IBM guy managed to manipulate individual xenon atoms to spell out the word “I-B-M”.   

That guy was Don Eigler. Don then and now works on extending human understanding of the physics of atomic-scale structures and exploring the potential of atomic-scale logic and data storage technologies. Don is remarkable not only for his capacity to dream big and make things happen for IBM, but also for his willingness to participate in the scientific process at many levels.

In addition to delivering a plenary lecture at ICONN2008, Don inspired a whole new generation of scientists by chatting to teenagers and their supervisors attending the conference student and teacher nanotechnology teaching sessions. He provided simple and yet unpatronising explanations of atoms, electron microscopy and data storage amongst other topics, and willingly answered questions and posed for photos (we are such atomic celebrity junkies!).