Emergency Filtration to Donate NanoMasks to International Committee of the Red Cross and CARE for Tsunami Relief Effort

 

HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-Emergency Filtration Products Inc. (EFP) (OTCBB: EMFP) today announced that it is making an initial donation of 1,000 of its NanoMasks to the international relief agencies International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and CARE. This donation is being made to assist with the emergency response under way in countries affected by the recent disaster caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia, which sent massive tsunamis across the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, and, which is resulting in a death toll that is estimated to reach more than 100,000.
..read the wave

 

The incredible nanoworld

 

Measuring things is an important aspect of all disciplines because that is the only way we can compare the physical qualities of all, real world, objects.

The metric system is the normally used international standard for weights and measures. But, in the measurement of objects that are either very large or very small, it is an inadequate scale.

The Universe is the largest we know of, in terms of size. The distances involved are so vast that our earthly measurements dwindle into insignificance when applied to it. For instance, if the distance between the earth and a star were to be...read the wave

 

Hydrogen Infrastructure Catches-up to New York Commitment

 

Albany, New York [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Two Honda FCX fuel cell vehicles are being tested in the cold weather of up-state New York, but the technology is simply a novelty without the infrastructure to support it. Governor George E. Pataki has announced that the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is giving $1.4 million in State funding for two hydrogen-powered vehicle demonstration projects in Buffalo and Albany.
..read the wave

 

How Nanotechnology Will Work

 

In the early 20th century, Henry Ford built a car manufacturing plant on a 2,000-acre tract of land along the Rouge River in Michigan. Built to mass-produce automobiles more efficiently, the Rouge housed the equipment for developing each phase of a car, including blast furnaces, a steel mill and a glass plant. More than 90 miles of railroad track and conveyor belts kept Ford's car assembly line running. The Rouge model was lauded as the most efficient method of production at a time when bigger meant better.

The size of Ford's assembly plant would look strange to those born and raised in the 21st century. In the next 50 years, machines will get increasingly smaller -- so small that thousands of these tiny machines would fit into the period at the end of this sentence...read the wave

 

 

 

...read the wave

NanoHealth alliance gets federal funds

 

The Alliance for NanoHealth, a Houston-based nanotechnology research initiative, has been awarded $2.8 million in U.S. Department of Defense funding to develop interdisciplinary research projects on various aspects of nanotechnology.

The $388 billion spending bill recently passed by Congress includes $7.4 million designated for the Alliance for NanoHealth, a coalition of six Houston-area research institutions

NASA funding in the spending bill includes $2 million earmarked for additional collaborative research projects among the...read the wave

 

Chip-Scale Magnetic Sensor Draws on Mini Clock Design

 

A low-power, magnetic sensor about the size of a grain of rice that can detect magnetic field changes as small as 50 picoteslas—a million times weaker than the Earth's magnetic field—has been demonstrated by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Described in the Dec. 27 issue of Applied Physics Letters,* the device can be powered with batteries and is about 100 times smaller than current atom-based sensors with similar sensitivities, which typically weigh several kilograms (about 6 pounds).

The new magnetic sensor is based on the principles of...read the wave

 

Small wonders

 

ATOMS are the fundamental building blocks of matter, which means they are very small indeed. The world at the scale of atoms and molecules is difficult to describe and hard to imagine. It is so odd that it even has its own special branch of physics, called quantum mechanics, to explain the strange things that happen there. If you were to throw a tennis ball against a brick wall, you might be surprised if the ball passed cleanly through the wall and sailed out on the other side. Yet this is the kind of thing that happens at the quantum scale. At very small scales, the properties of a material, such as colour, magnetism and the ability to conduct electricity, also change in unexpected ways...read the wave

 

Tegal moves European headquarters to Dresden

 

Tegal Corp. has moved its European headquarters to Thiendorf, near Dresden, from Munich, Germany. The company is a designer and manufacturer of plasma etch and deposition systems used in the production of ICs and nanotechnology devices. According to Tegal, all European sales, service and support will be directed out of this new location. In addition, Tegal intends to expand its infrastructure there to support some assembly and test operations.

"Moving our European headquarters to Dresden and enhancing our technical capability there will allow us to provide the needed support for several nearby tier one manufacturers, said Michael Parodi, Tegal's chairman, president, CEO. In addition, the combination of outstanding technical resources, high-quality labor pool and investment incentives present in the state of Saxony make it a suitable location from which to serve all of Europe," Parodi added.

 

TSMC Ramping 90nm Volume Production

 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said today its Nexsys 90nm process has ramped to several thousand 300mm wafers per month with volumes planned to accelerate throughout 2005.

The company said it would perform a major capacity expansion to aggressively ramp 90nm technology at two of its fabs, Fab 12 and Fab 14, for the process, which includes copper interconnect, low-k dielectrics and 300mm wafer capabilities...read the wave

 

Nano-Proprietary, Inc. and KRI, Inc. to Collaborate on Automotive Fuel Cell Hydrogen Sensor

 

AUSTIN, Texas, (PRIMEZONE) -- Austin, Texas-based Nano-Proprietary, Inc. (OTC BB:NNPP.OB - News), through its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech, Inc. (ANI), today announced that it has entered into a research and development agreement with KRI, Inc. (KRI) to develop a hydrogen sensor for automotive fuel cell applications. KRI, Inc. is the research and development subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., the second largest gas utility company in Japan.

This subcontract is the result of a joint proposal submitted by KRI and ANI to NEDO, the New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization established by the Japanese Government in 1980. NEDO launched a new...read the wave

 

Building Golden Nanobridges

 

Professor Ron Naaman and his research team in the Chemical Physics Department of the Weizmann Institute in Rechovot have developed a way to create nanotransistors that is the most suitable to date for large scale production and the development of a variety of industrial applications.

Their system involves the construction of carbon nanotube "bridges" spanning a silicon surface between two gold contacts. Tiny spoonfuls of phosphates, sugars and nucleotides were used to create unique strands of DNA programmed to form attachments with carbon nanotubes. Next, they used the same method to create another set of...read the wave

 

Q Chip seals deal with biotech firm

 

WELSH nanotechnology company Q Chip has signed a new research deal with one of the UK's biggest biotechnology firms.

Cardiff-based Q Chip has agreed the joint venture with FTSE techMark 100-listed Biocompatibles International, a medical device company which is focused on the treatment of cardiovascular disease, cancer and benign tumours.

The Welsh company possesses technology which enables the production of uniform particles at a molecular level.

It uses tiny capillaries etched in wafers to precisely create micro and nanoparticles...read the wave

 

Mega fear over something nano

 

If you believe the hype, the nanotechnology revolution will deliver a future of unprecedented material abundance for everyone, limitless energy, ecological sustainability, improved human health and performance, and smarter, cheaper and more efficient materials and products.

But there is another nanotechnological future that we are beginning to hear more about. This is one of toxic nanoparticle pollution, powerful new military equipment and weapons, ubiquitous surveillance devices, widening global inequities and the further concentration of corporate ownership and control across all industrial sectors.

Nanotechnology refers to a new range of...read the wave

 

Grey Goo's Sticky Mess

 

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: Grey Goo's Sticky Mess, will be broadcast on Thursday, 30 December, 2004 at 20:30 GMT.

The programme transcript will be available in the New Year.

What could happen when we tinker with matter at the tiniest level - nanotechnology - has got royalty and even eminent scientists worried.

But the technology that some fear could bring so-called "grey goo" also offers us huge opportunities in energy, electronics and biomedicine.

In this week's Analysis Natasha Loder asks if the potential of nanotechnology merits running risks with the unknown and how those exploiting it should be policed...read the wave

 

Hay fever remedies change tack

 

Well in advance of next spring's hay fever season, some interesting new additions have been made to the arsenal of weapons used to fight the allergic reaction.

Pills, masks and nasal sprays are the typical line of defense against the onslaught of cedar pollen. But now, thanks to Lion Corp. and Fumakilla Co., people have the option of spraying their coats instead of their noses and rubbing cream in their nostrils rather than popping pills...read the wave

 

Using Customized Nanoparticles,
UB Scientists Achieve Non-Viral Gene Delivery In Vitro and Track it in Real-Time

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A gene therapy method that doesn't rely on potentially toxic viruses as vectors may be growing closer as the result of in vitro research results reported by University at Buffalo scientists in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper, which describes the successful uptake of a fluorescent gene by cells using novel nanoparticles developed as DNA carriers at UB, demonstrates that the nanoparticles ultimately may prove an efficient and desirable alternative vector to viruses.

Using confocal microscopy and fluorescent spectroscopy, the UB scientists tracked optically in real-time the process known as transfection, including the delivery of genes into cells, the uptake of genes by the nucleus and their expression...read the wave

 

Protective glass coating for centre

 

VISITORS need not worry about being exposed to harmful rays from the sun when browsing the merchandise at Samsung Digital Media Plaza in Bintang Walk (in front of Lot 10 Shopping Centre). It has just been coated with KristalBond, a liquid protective glass coating.

The glass coating is boldly called the earth's new ozone layer as, according to KristalBond general manager Tan Chee Yuen, it shields off 99% of harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays and 90% of infrared (IR) rays, thus reducing the bleaching effect of sunlight in the dome-like structure...read the wave

 

Vers les nanotechnologies dans l'espace ?

 

La NASA dépense chaque année environ 40 millions de dollars pour la recherche en nanotechnologies. Le Ames Research Center de la NASA, situé en Californie, travaille depuis plusieurs années sur d'éventuelles applications spatiales. Des éléments de démonstration utilisant des nanotubes de carbone ont déjà été mis au point, tels un capteur pouvant servir lors de missions de cosmochimie, ou un spectromètre à rayons X, susceptible de servir à l'exploration du sol martien à l'horizon 2010.

Lors d'un congrès sur les nanotechnologies sponsorisé par la NASA en 2004 avaient été identifiées six champs potentiels d'applications spatiales...read the wave

 

Climpse Into Tomorrow: Nanotech Metrology

 

The future of nanotech metrology is being shaped in advanced laboratories such as NIST's (Gaithersburg, Md.) Nanoelectronic Device Metrology Project, headed by Curt Richter. The project team is developing metrology to enable new nanotechnologies (such as silicon-based quantum devices, molecular electronics and organic thin-film transistors) to supplement or supplant conventional CMOS devices. Richter makes the point that by "metrology" NIST means measurement as opposed to industry, which views it as online process monitoring. Thus, much of NIST's "metrology" industry would call "analytical characterization," which is what is needed today to meet future device needs...read the wave

 

Rebuilding Things "Atom by Atom"

Nanoscience expert Chad Mirkin discusses the promise of supersmall materials, what breakthroughs are likely, and what's just hype

 

Chad Mirkin is a world leader in a field with potential that's near limitless: Nanotechnology. Governments, venture funds, and angel investors are pouring billions of dollars into the area, hoping that the ability to manipulate materials at the atomic level will produce revolutionary medicines, metals, and fuels.

Mirkin is director of Northwestern University's Institute for Nanotechnology, one of the field's research hot spots. He says while certain aspects of nano...read the wave

 

Nanotechnology boost for medical diagnosis

 

Don't tell Prince Charles, but scientists in the US have turned to nanotechnology in the fight against cancer. While HRH's worries over the science of the very small sparked headlines last year about the world being consumed by "grey goo", doctors at Harvard medical school have been injecting magnetic nanoparticles to track tumours.

The millions of miniature metal balls flood the body and concentrate in healthy lymph nodes. Using medical imaging equipment, the scientists then scan cancer patients for the particles to see if their nodes are normal or malignant, which show a different pattern. This tells the doctors how far the disease has spread and influences how it is treated...read the wave

 

Mega fear over something nano

 

If you believe the hype, the nanotechnology revolution will deliver a future of unprecedented material abundance for everyone, limitless energy, ecological sustainability, improved human health and performance, and smarter, cheaper and more efficient materials and products.

But there is another nanotechnological future that we are beginning to hear more about. This is one of toxic nanoparticle pollution, powerful new military equipment and weapons, ubiquitous surveillance devices, widening global inequities and the further concentration of corporate ownership and control across all industrial sectors.

Nanotechnology refers to a new range of...read the wave

 

Grey Goo's Sticky Mess

 

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: Grey Goo's Sticky Mess, will be broadcast on Thursday, 30 December, 2004 at 20:30 GMT.

The programme transcript will be available in the New Year.

What could happen when we tinker with matter at the tiniest level - nanotechnology - has got royalty and even eminent scientists worried.

But the technology that some fear could bring so-called "grey goo" also offers us huge opportunities in energy, electronics and biomedicine.

In this week's Analysis Natasha Loder asks if the potential of nanotechnology merits running risks with the unknown and how those exploiting it should be policed...read the wave

 

Hay fever remedies change tack

 

Well in advance of next spring's hay fever season, some interesting new additions have been made to the arsenal of weapons used to fight the allergic reaction.

Pills, masks and nasal sprays are the typical line of defense against the onslaught of cedar pollen. But now, thanks to Lion Corp. and Fumakilla Co., people have the option of spraying their coats instead of their noses and rubbing cream in their nostrils rather than popping pills...read the wave

 

Using Customized Nanoparticles,
UB Scientists Achieve Non-Viral Gene Delivery In Vitro and Track it in Real-Time

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A gene therapy method that doesn't rely on potentially toxic viruses as vectors may be growing closer as the result of in vitro research results reported by University at Buffalo scientists in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper, which describes the successful uptake of a fluorescent gene by cells using novel nanoparticles developed as DNA carriers at UB, demonstrates that the nanoparticles ultimately may prove an efficient and desirable alternative vector to viruses.

Using confocal microscopy and fluorescent spectroscopy, the UB scientists tracked optically in real-time the process known as transfection, including the delivery of genes into cells, the uptake of genes by the nucleus and their expression...read the wave

 

Protective glass coating for centre

 

VISITORS need not worry about being exposed to harmful rays from the sun when browsing the merchandise at Samsung Digital Media Plaza in Bintang Walk (in front of Lot 10 Shopping Centre). It has just been coated with KristalBond, a liquid protective glass coating.

The glass coating is boldly called the earth's new ozone layer as, according to KristalBond general manager Tan Chee Yuen, it shields off 99% of harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays and 90% of infrared (IR) rays, thus reducing the bleaching effect of sunlight in the dome-like structure...read the wave

 

Vers les nanotechnologies dans l'espace ?

 

La NASA dépense chaque année environ 40 millions de dollars pour la recherche en nanotechnologies. Le Ames Research Center de la NASA, situé en Californie, travaille depuis plusieurs années sur d'éventuelles applications spatiales. Des éléments de démonstration utilisant des nanotubes de carbone ont déjà été mis au point, tels un capteur pouvant servir lors de missions de cosmochimie, ou un spectromètre à rayons X, susceptible de servir à l'exploration du sol martien à l'horizon 2010.

Lors d'un congrès sur les nanotechnologies sponsorisé par la NASA en 2004 avaient été identifiées six champs potentiels d'applications spatiales...read the wave

 

Climpse Into Tomorrow: Nanotech Metrology

 

The future of nanotech metrology is being shaped in advanced laboratories such as NIST's (Gaithersburg, Md.) Nanoelectronic Device Metrology Project, headed by Curt Richter. The project team is developing metrology to enable new nanotechnologies (such as silicon-based quantum devices, molecular electronics and organic thin-film transistors) to supplement or supplant conventional CMOS devices. Richter makes the point that by "metrology" NIST means measurement as opposed to industry, which views it as online process monitoring. Thus, much of NIST's "metrology" industry would call "analytical characterization," which is what is needed today to meet future device needs...read the wave

 

Rebuilding Things "Atom by Atom"

Nanoscience expert Chad Mirkin discusses the promise of supersmall materials, what breakthroughs are likely, and what's just hype

 

Chad Mirkin is a world leader in a field with potential that's near limitless: Nanotechnology. Governments, venture funds, and angel investors are pouring billions of dollars into the area, hoping that the ability to manipulate materials at the atomic level will produce revolutionary medicines, metals, and fuels.

Mirkin is director of Northwestern University's Institute for Nanotechnology, one of the field's research hot spots. He says while certain aspects of nano...read the wave

 

Nanotechnology boost for medical diagnosis

 

Don't tell Prince Charles, but scientists in the US have turned to nanotechnology in the fight against cancer. While HRH's worries over the science of the very small sparked headlines last year about the world being consumed by "grey goo", doctors at Harvard medical school have been injecting magnetic nanoparticles to track tumours.

The millions of miniature metal balls flood the body and concentrate in healthy lymph nodes. Using medical imaging equipment, the scientists then scan cancer patients for the particles to see if their nodes are normal or malignant, which show a different pattern. This tells the doctors how far the disease has spread and influences how it is treated...read the wave

 

Predicting your cancer risk & Creating
3-D pictures of cancer spread

 

Finding lymph node metastases in cancer

In a paper published in the premier open-access medical journal PloS Medicine this month, Mukesh Harisinghani and Ralph Weissleder describe a technique that could begin to make the staging of cancer both more accurate and less invasive. Correct staging of cancers is one of the most important parts of the work up of patients for both prediction of outcome and determination of the most appropriate treatment. But at the moment many staging techniques either require surgery or are not sufficiently accurate.

The authors used extremely small magnetic particles (called nanoparticles) that homed to lymph nodes, and then...read the wave

 

Israeli nano-lubricant could mean no more oil changes

 

Imagine buying a new car and driving it for 10 years without once taking it for an oil-and-lube job. The engine won't even have a dipstick to check the oil. That's what the future holds if Rehovot-based ApNano Materials succeeds in marketing NanoLub.

NanoLub is the world's first synthetic lubricant to be based on spherical inorganic nanoparticles. As with other lubricants, its job is to reduce wear and friction between moving objects (like engine parts), enabling longer operation and higher efficiency. NanoLub dramatically outperforms every known commercial solid lubricant marketed today...read the wave

 

Technion invests $750,000 in holographic storage co Matteris

Matteris is developing a holographic storage system that raises information storage capacity more than 1,000-fold.

 

Matteris is developing a holographic storage system for storing greater volumes of information than currently possible. The product is designed to save large and small enterprises money, and will later be adapted for home use.

Holographic storage is an innovative optical method for information storage, which exploits a material's volume and not just its surface, enabling the storage of 1,000 times more information than other storage systems. Matteris has developed an innovative material for holographic information storage, based on innovative nanotechnology materials know-how...read the wave

 

UK helps engineering students think small in nanotechnology

 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Some undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky are learning about nanotechnology in a new certificate program.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of particles that are as small as one-eighty-thousandth the width of a human hair. It's a field that is already having huge implications in science and engineering.

"So much research is going on around this field," said Pinar Menguc, a professor of mechanical engineering at UK, "but the concepts required to understand nanotechnology are not taught in the mainstream curriculum."

Menguc sa