| Bibliography |
Social Context |
Method |
Theory Agent |
Data Statistics |
Related Research |
Relevance |
| 1986-01. Petit, Charles. 6/15/86. Movies of Atoms/ With Special Effects by Quantum Physics. SFC. P. 15 | Calvin Quate- professor of applied physics at Stanford,
IBM Research Center at Almaden
Richard Sonnenfield and Paul Hansma physicists at UC Santa Barbara- first to make microscope work under water. | works by feeling with tiny needles the texture of the electron clouds around the object and maps out a detailed image with an automatic sensor called "piezoelectric" ceramics. | "Direct observations on surface atoms should lead to better electronics, superior structural materials and, possibly, deeper understanding of how the chemistry of life works." (15) | "functional tunneling microscope created
-has glitches, and crashes
-research still being done on it" | medical | This ability to view microscopic objects could lead to being able to build structures and tiny electronic circuits at some point in the near future. |
| 1986-02. 10/16/86. UC Scientist Wins Nobel in Chemistry. San Francisco Chronicle. P. 1 | Ernst Ruska- Fritz Haber Institue in Berlin
Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer- IBM Research Lab in Zurich - Nobel Prize for Microscopy | works like a phonograph - a tiny needle the size of one atom passes over the object being viewed. The tunneling part is the control of keeping the "needle a precise distance from the surface of the object." (1)
| to be able to view smaller objects clearer | "An electron microscope uses a beam of electrons rather than light to illuminate the object being studied. Because the wavelength of electrons is much shorter than that of light, much smaller objects can be seen in an electron microscope." (1) | synthesis of drugs, plastics, and industrial chemicals | primary use- viewing circuits on silicon chips |
| 1986-03 Saltus, Richard. 12/29/86. Progress in Genetics, Exploration. Boston Globe. P. 55 | Robert Weinburg- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT | N/A | "-scanning tunneling microscopy made it possible for scientists to view individual atoms, and their bonds.
-beginning of powerful microcomputers" | Swiss inventors won 1986 Nobel Prize for scanning tunneling microscopy. | Human genetics, space exploration, structure of the universe, earth science, astronomy and cosmology, anthropology and paleontology, biology, technology, computers, mathematics, medicine | "Although technological disaster and environmental concerns dominated the picture in 1986, science proceeded productively along many paths and yielded significant advances in areas such as human genetics, space exploration and the structure of the universe." (55) |
| 1987-01. Richards, M. 1/5/87. Scientists Optimistic about idea of atoms as building blocks. Houston Chronicle. P. 5 | Eric Drexler- research affiliate at MIT's Artificial Intelligence lab, founder of Nanotechnology study group | talking more about ideas of what is to come, not referring to actual work in this article | goal of nanotech is to make our lives easier so we can be lazier, have more free time, work less, and live more luxuriously | "-precise movement of atoms will allow us to construct bits of the universe
-scale of billionth of a meter
-trillion times faster computers" | medicine, computers, culture - social lifestyle | broad idea that nanotechnology will solve all of our problems by giving us a luxurious lifestyle of fine dining, fancy clothes, and no working. Much of nanotechnology is still quite unknown and seen as this magical science that will change all of our lives |
| 1987-02. Thompson, L. 2/24/87. The tedious process of sequencing a gene. WP. P. z14 | Dr. Leroy Hood, chairman of the division of biology at California Institute of Technology; Dr. George Church, an assistant professor of genetics at the Harvard Medical School; Cambridge, England | Process for mapping and sequencing the human genome:
1) Many cells of one type are ground up and their DNA extracted
2) DNA fragments are packaged into the head of a virus that can smuggle the human DNA into a bacteria cell in such a way that it will reproduce with each new generation of bacteria
3) At this point the scientists will have a living library of human DNA stored in bacterial cells.
4) Next steps are to figure out about individual pieces. | to learn more about individual pieces of DNA fragments. | N/A | medical | Dr. Leroy Hood's machine could sequence as much DNA in 3 days as it took Chen and four technicians to do in two years. With devices such as scanning tunneling microscope (STM) will make sequencing of human genome easier and less costly. |
| 1987.03. Sussman, V. 7/5/87. Just say nano. WP p. w.35 | Eric Drexler, founder of Nanotech study group at MIT includes biologists, chemists, physicists, computer scientists. | viewing molecules; scanning tunneling microscope; atomic force microscope; molecular scale parts; all enable researchers to move atoms around to build new materials. | Nanotechnologists believe it will be possible one day to build robots with molecular-scale parts, “nanoassemblers” Drexler claims are “inevitable” | future research: bacterium can replicate itself in 15 minutes. Replicating assemblers operating at same speed, each replicating itself, would multiply from one assembler to one trillion in 10 hours. In less than one day – ton of new material. | materials, structures, computing, chemistry, fuel, matter conversion, (CO2 into coal & oil); also human benefits – end poverty, starvation. Also notes potential risks, vats of chemicals & terrorism. | “our wost mistake would be to dismiss this as science fiction” (w.35) -- able to make anything, cells, multiply, feed the world, create rocket fuel, building materials, supercomputers. |
| 1987-04. 11/4/87. Giving Birth to Artificial Life Software Evolves into reality. Albany Times Union. P. 1B. | Los Alamos National Laboratory, Stanford U. | only speculative | nanotech will make computers 1000 times faster than today's computers | N/A | computers | "a speculative science called 'nanotechnology' that may permit a future generation of engineers to build a new class of molecular machines" (1B) |
| 1988-01. Quinones, R. 1/19/88 “How nano-seconds became the modern enemy” WP p. z.20 | an analysis of time through
classical thinkers to present
including Rifkin, Boorstin,
Kipling, Shakespeare,
Petrarch, w/ reference to
Renaissance | interpretation of date and time as agent of reality | We are entering a new
temporal world where time is segmented into
nanoseconds – future is programmed in advance, nature is re-conceived as bits of coded information and paradise is an artificial
simulated, environment | literature and theory | criticism and analysis of time | to counteract sense of dispersion and distraction, encourage capacity to engage in fruitful labor for long un-interrupted periods of time. To counteract historical isolation, encourage history – not of past – but of connectedness of things. Nano used as agent of dispersion (nanosecond displaces time)
|
| 1988-02. Trausch, S. 1/24/88. Cool customers believers in the relatively new science of cryonics are banking on the idea that there could be life after death. Boston Globe p.16. | Eric Drexler, began research at MIT science library and is visiting scholar at Stanford University's computer science department. | Researching field of molecular machines and studying the possibility of creating microscopic computers – connected molecular manufacturing with cell repair, “Robert Ettinger's book...there was no technology that would have even remotely backed him up” (16) assumed that molecular manufacturing could be that technology. | Theory is that molecular manufacturing provides method for cell repair | hypothetical – data is that “40 years ago chemotherapy treatments for cancer, genetic engineering, test-tube babies, artificial hearts, and even CPR would have been considered science fiction,” (16) so the development of molecular machines is not too far out of reach. | Reference to Ettinger, R. (1962). The prospect of immortality. But notes that there was no appropriate technology then to accomplish cryonics. | Microscopic computers might be programmed to repair damaged cells in the body. Coins term “nanotechnology”. Drexler, “science makes a mistake by judging the future by the present.” (16)Article demonstrates early persuasive narrative of nanotech. |
| 1988-03. Hilts, P. 1/25/88
Molecular Ruler WP p. a03 | University Minnesota,
Brookhaven National Lab
Published in J. American
Chemical Society | Miller and group developed method of measuring to level of nanometer size of an atom. They use iridium atoms. | astonishment – measuring
individual atoms. Doing it because it is possible | clusters of iridium atoms, scanning transmission electronic microscope. Already measured on scale
of micrometers | “To step into a future in which
supercomputers are the size of sugar
cubes – it is necessary to
measure and manipulate objects
the size of individual molecules” (a.03) | iridium might be chemically
attached to ends of lines or wires
on a tiny electronic device to see
if they are the right length (need
measuring devices for small
machines) |
| 1988-04. Weiss, R. 3/7/88. “Welcome to the space age pharmacy (Biomedicine)” WP. p. c.03
| Biomedical engineers | drug development – primary studies on rats; nanocapsules microscopic spheres made from biodegradable polymer development from tissue glue from surgery- spheres are ingested and later dissolve
| getting chemicals into patients is difficult – some chemicals are rapidly broken down and others are expensive and not convenient. Goal is more precise drug administration
| mostly hypothetical- some advanced clinical trials
| included w/ projects on insulin; contraception
| drugs easier to administer to patients – nano seen as solution to drug resistance problems; little detail on specifics of process/materials
|
| 1988.05. Burgess, J. 4/26/88. The struggle for speedier computers. WP p. c.01 | Cray Research Inc., ETA Systems, competition to create faster computers | Make a machine faster by: making it smaller – less physical space to traverse; by making faster switches; by creating parallel and independent processors. | Engineers “racing” to build next generation of supercomputer; overcoming Einstein's constraint – speed of light. Assumption that speed is necessary and “advances” are inevitable. | nanosecond is used as target measurement: 1 calculation every 6 nanoseconds; believe that a 1 nanosecond machine will be built. | example of tech transfer: Minnesota supercomputer center; one of largest university-affiliated facilities. Includes biographical info on Seymour Cray founder of Cray Research: folksy reclusive, uncomfortable with adulation his work has spawned. | progress in computer design; economic development; technological competition; nanosecond as target; inevitability of technological development |
| 1988-06. Krier, A. 10/27/88. How Nylon Changes the World 50 years ago Today, it Reshaped the Way we Live-and Think. LA.P. 1 | Eric Drexler, Stanford U's computer science dept. | Nylon is heat set so that it coils and can be stretched | the technology used to make nylon, stringing sub-units of polymers together in certain order, is the same as nanotech which folds up the polymers to create molecular objects | Nylon led to recombinant DNA because both Nylon and DNA are polymers, and recombinant DNA will lead to curing diseases | Social separation (rich look down on poor for wearing an unnatural material as nylon), World War II (Nylon was banned from stores; it all had to go to the war cause) | interesting that a synthetic material (that has changed our lifestyle by making clothes more of a second skin and creating safety nets for space shuttles) leads to curing diseases |
| 1988-07. Schudel, M. 12/11/88. Putting fate on ice costs a cool $100,000, but cyonicists say you'll be forever grateful. Chicago Tribune p. 1. | E. Drexler's Engines of Creation which provides hypothetical method for cyonics. Claims are contradicted by Dr. J. Baust director of the Center for Cryobilogical Research at the University of New York at Binghamton. Baust is president of the society for cryobiology. Cryobiology is different from cyonics (biology-living material at cold temperatures vs. restoring life to dead tissue) | Drexler's book provides theoretical method for cyonics – restructuring body molecule by molecule. Claims are refuted by Baust who doesn't want cyronics confused with his research area which studies how animal and plant tissues respond to very low temperatures | “Aging is natural but so were smallpox and our efforts to prevent it” (1) writes Drexler. “We have conquered smallpox and it seems that we will conquer aging...the technology underlying cell-repair systems will allow people to change their bodies in ways that range from the trivial to the amazing to the bizarre.” (1) | hypothetical. "We're just going too far with some of these claims" (1) says Dr. John Baust...."it's almost too far for science fiction." (1) | Cryonicists regard Drexler's book “with almost religious fervor.” (1) Interesting confusion with “legitimate science” in Cryobiological research. “One of the fundamental differences” (1) Baust says, “is that the cryonics practitioners are starting out with dead tissue and building science fiction on top of it. To say you can go and bring somebody back to life, that's a big jump. We might as well have a biochemist with all the chemicals on the shelf to form human life and send a flash of lightning through it to create a person.” (1) | The big hope is that the aging process can be reversed: Not only will you live again but you'll be able to go back to your past and choose the age you want to be. Fatal diseases will be cured after the fact. |
| 1988-08. Rensberger, B. 12/18/88. Discovering New Worlds in the Realm of the Cell Series. The Washington Post. P. a01 | Linda Thomas, cell biologist at University of California @ San Fransisco | manipulate cells at molecular level to help cure diseases- e.g. t-PA drug acts as catalyst to convert natural blood into clot dissolver; blood cells near the clot product natural t-PA | the purpose of studying cells at molecular level is to help with curing of diseases | "-using molecular cell biology, t-PA drug helps with heart attacks
-self assembly explains how snow flakes are made and other scientific phenomena" | biomedical | viewing cells at molecular level could lead to cure of cancer, common cold, aids, and heart disease because they all deal with cell mechanism failure. |
| 1989-01. Burgess, J. Richards, E. & Hamilton, M. 1/1/89. Full-service phone lines. WP p. h.01 | AT&T, Bell Labs, Eric
Drexler; FAA; Defense
Dept. NASA, Apple | -Attempting to store 1 billion years of compact disc quality sound in a device the size of 1 cubic cm.
-harness photons, units of light | Need for better, more efficient technology; creating faster computers with the assumption that faster is better | ISDN lines; machines as small as molecules; building 100 atoms needed to construct small computer would take 1 minute. | Molecular assembly | Envision creating machines size of pin heads. Assemblers would have power to create food, shelter household objects, just about everything
|
| 1989-02. Andrews, E. 2/11/89. Patent File/ The latest in News Ideas and Inventions. SFC. P. A5 | Synaptics Inc. of San Jose; Stephen Grossberg and Ennio Mingolla, computer science professors at Boston University | computers can sense things as humans can using circuits and gates that act as neurons and pathways in the human brain. | studying the natural workings of the human body and using the same methods to create faster smaller circuits. | invention of thin film with holes one-hundred millionth of a meter with holes acting as plug-in board for tiny molecular switches (based on observation of self-assembly)…will lead to molecular memories and molecular circuits | mathematics, biology, TV | studying things at the molecular level (nanotechnology) helps in creating smaller more powerful objects, eventually using the idea of self-assembly, making our lives easier. |
| 1989-03. Booth, W. 5/22/89. Where Smaller is Better:: The Frontier of Microengineering. WP. P. A03 | National Science Foundation, Cornell U's School of Engineering and Applied Physics, U of CA@ Santa Barbara, U of TX@Austin, National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell. | Making wires so thin and lasers so small that thousands of them bundled together would still be invisible to the human eye.
Research use a technique called molecular beam epitaxy | This steady march toward the infinitely small is largely driven by the microelectronics industry, which craves ever smaller and therefore faster switches and circuits | transistors and wires
microchips packed with millions of switches and thousands of tiny laser sources that could beam info across the landscape of the chip | engineers and scientists are working on different yet similar projects throughout the country | better, more efficient and faster switches, circuits, transistors, etc. |
| 1989-04. Clark, D. 7/6/89. Mondo 2000: A Trip to the World of Cyberpunks. SFC. P. C3 | New magazine called Mondo 2000 has audience of computer hackers, novelists, and futurists. The article cynically refers to these people as 'cyberpunks' | N/A | Article starts off saying that a new, almost 'science fiction' magazine, called Mondo 2000 recently came out, containing crazy ideas - for example nanotechnology | Mondo 2000 is a new magazine for people interested in futuristic ideas, and turning them into realities | technology, TV's, computers, chatlines | nanotechnology seen almost as a joke at this point to the popular culture - science fiction, not taken seriously, too unrealistic. Obviously it is not a joke to scientists who are using it to change the world, one molecule at a time. |
| 1989-05. Turner, F. 10/29/89. Life on Mars/ A professor's otherworldly dream. SFC. P. 12.Z.5 | Frederick Turner, Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at UT @ Dallas | recombinant DNA | using molecular technology we can recreate objects from Mars here on earth in process referred to as gardening | -Marsian canals first viewed in 1876 thought to have been created by intelligent life forms
-author does not want to prove life on mars, but rather talks about how we are trying to create Martian life | science fiction | creating plants, then insects to pollinate the plants, then animals, and eventually a "new nation of human kind" that takes Martian traits to adapt to earth, and terrestrial traits to adapt to Mars |
| 1990 - 01. 1/1/90. Looking to the Millenium. Boston Globe. P. 51 | The experts in different fields conducted the research; Marvin Minsky, MIT Computer Science and Engineering professor; Arthur Caplan, director for Biomedical Ethics at University of Minnesota | Did not give method, just listed findings | Society, aging, disease | Society abuses things, tremendous inequities in wealth | "This means there should be less focus and funding for the 'just say no' campaigns and more funding for research into the process and causes of addiction and for the treatment of addicted people." (51) | "The other very exciting area is that there's a new science called nanotchnology, which is making machines out of atoms…That's going to take a couple of decades, but a lot of people are beginning to work on it now. That means getting computers and other kinds of machines that are very small- motors that you can't see, like muscle fibers. That will change the world also in many ways" (51) |
| 1990 - 02. 1/1/90. 90 People to Watch in the 90's. San Francisco Chronicle. No page.
| Eric Drexler, president of Foresight Institure in Palo Alto
Massachussetts Institute of Technology | "...Foresight Institute, a Palo Alto think tank he formed in 1986…" | "…can destroy viruses, or a machine with molecule-sized parts that can extract pollutants from the environment" | "…nanotechnology will be a breakthrough for medicine, computers, manufacturing and the environment." | "It's the difference between coal and diamonds, cancerous tissue and healthy tissue."
broad range of fields covered in nanotechnology: biomedical, environmental studies, computers, manufacturing | "Nanotechnology will give us thorough control of the structure of matter." |
| 1990-03. Schrage, M. 1/7/90. Where Technology is taking us Innovation: Consumers were offered looads of new gadgets and choices in the 1980's. LA. P.1 | Georgetown University Humanities professor- O.B. Hardison Jr., Stanford University scientist Eric Drexler, Harvard's sociologist Daniel Bell, Xerox PARC, Bell Labs, MIT's Media Lab | "The questions have shifted from 'How?' and 'Why?' to 'Why not?' and 'How much?'" (1) | idea behind nanotech: "Archimides once said, 'Give me a lever long enough and I can move the earth,' nanotechnologists now say, 'Give us a lever small enough, and we can move a single molecule.'" (1)
"to engineer machines that can be injected into the human bloodstream to clean out clogged arteries." (1) | 6/10 top ten grossing movies were about technology
In 1980's Fax machines, cell phones, test tube babies, CD's, VCR's and MTV transformed our perceptions of technology | telecommunications, computers, pharmaceuticals, materials science | "In the 1980's, technology became personal, portable, accessible and pervasive." (1) It was popular in movies, and people were interested Then in the 1990's, it was not a matter of choosing from options, but designing and customizing your own (e.g. computer interface). People had increased expectations and technology was focused on engineering, creating products |
| 1990-04. Kelley, P. 3/13/90. Zap! It’s atomic tiddlywinks. Charlotte Observer. P. 1A | James A. Spudich, a cell biologist at Stanford Medical School; Donal Eigler and Erhard Schweitser of IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA; Jack Preses, a physical chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island; James Kaufman, manager at the Almaden center at IBM; Ahmed Zewail, a physical chemist at Caltech | By studying the movement of, and force that atoms have on each other, their behavior and their size | High demand of the field of research; no longer micro or mini, but molecular - everything getting smaller, faster, better | Atoms and ATP | other research (biomedical, computers) does similar study | try to store data at the level of individual atoms
"In the not-so-long term, the nanotechnology boom will mean fuels that burn with ferocious power but leave only the faintest puff of pollution, computers smaller than shirt buttons and such complex molecular re-engineering of body tissues that mutant human forklifts and 90-mph hamsters are by no means unthinkable." (1A) |
| 1990-05. Van, J. 4/9/90. Downsizing set for Quantum Leap- Literally. CT. p 1 | IBM's Almaden Research Center, Richard Siegel - Argonne materials scientist, AT&T Bell Labs, MIT researchers - Henry Smith and Dimitri Antoniadis | scanning tunneling microscope (STM) - "uses the quantum behavior of electrons to suspend the tip of a tungsten wire about an atom's width above a material to be studied" (1) | nanoprocessed materials are much stronger and malleable | -at the point in technology where we can put 4 million transistors onto a fingernail-sized memory chip
-able to manipulate clusters of a dozen atoms now, rather than 100 or 1,000
-transistors have gotten as small as .75 micrometers (100x smaller than huma | marketing, auto parts, metal processing, | nanotech is finally being introduced into the marketplace, and used commercially rather than just research (e.g. ceramic automobile engine parts) |
| 1990-06. 4/14/90. The hope of celestial and atomic eyes. CT. P. 8 | NASA, Hubble Space Telescope, International Business Machines | comparing the two forms of technology - one viewing the big picture, the other viewing the extremely small picture | the scanning tunneling microscope invented in 1981 is compared with the Hubble Telescope because they will both show us things we have never seen and never imagined. | -Hubble $1.5 billion- size of railroad car, orbits around earth and sends back images, has 94 1/2 inch mirror
-able to arrange 'IBM' on a nickel plate with atoms xenon gas, using tunneling microscope | space technology | nanotechnology (manipulating things at atomic level) is just as important as being able to see the huge picture with the Hubble telescope. Nanotech has for more practical applications that will lead to fuel efficient auto engines with new ceramic materials, and tiny electronic circuits to make computers super-fast and super-smart. |
| 1990-07. Schrage, M. 7/19/90. How Prizes can Help Spur New Technology. LA. P. 1 | Nobel Prize, MacArthur Foundation grant, physicist Richard Feynman | studying the things in the past that came about because of motivation from prizes…comparing them to current day awards. | The Nobel Prize has stopped encouraging creativity, and rather just picks a big name who did something important. Prizes should challenge people to be innovative, think of something new - a solution to a problem. | -Charles Lindbergh made his flight across the Atlantic to win $25,000 prize
-Napoleon awarded prize to person who could invent way to spin linen into fabric
-Feynman presented with many prizes for manipulating very small particles | N/A | "These challenges [in the form of prizes] helped launch the discipline of 'nanotechnology' - the technology of engineering machines and processes billionths of an inch in size." (1) |
| 1990-08. Nicholls, P. 7/29/90. Goodbye to the Gutter. WP. P. x.06 | Greg Bear - Sci Fi author of Queen of Angels | book review | criticizing science fiction | "while simultaneously giving us an in-depth future (transformed by the same nanotechnology Feeley uses…)" (x.06) | Science fiction | nanotechnology is seen as something futuristic that will 'transform' the world |
| 1990 -09. 9/24/90. Greater Expectations. Newsweek. P. 58. | Michael Chrichton, M.D. - author | discusses findings | Throughout the 20th century, medicine has advanced primarily by improving curative care: intensive-care units, bypass and transplant surgery, antibiotics and chemotherapy. | Microtechnology will revolutionize medicine with futuristic devices, ranging from biosensors that dispense drugs from under the skin to nanomachines, hardly larger than red blood cells, that course through our bloodstream scrubbing the insides of our arteries. | As patients, we will expect more procedures to be done quickly, painlessly (and inexpensively) on an outpatient basis. | Our present concepts of medicine will disappear. Medicine will change its focus from treatment to enhancement, from repair to improvement, from diminished sickness to increased performance. |
| 1990-10. Thomas, L. 11/14/90. Etymology and Immortality. Wall Street Journal. P. A14 | Science fiction authors Lewis Thomas and Ed Regis | Jim Holt reviews books "Et Cetera, Et Cetera: Notes of a World Watcher" and "Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition" | Holt is extremely critical of the books. He makes fun of their futuristic ideas, such as nanotech | Ed Regis talks about attaining immortality, abolishing scarcity, transcending our biological nature and overhauling space - all within 50 years.
"A few decades down the line your brain will be thawed out, fixed up by an army of molecule-sized robots, and lodged in a newly cloned anatomy." (A14) | sci fi, futurists | makes fun of nanotech, adding sarcasm "The little robots, by the way, will be only one of the fruits of nanotechnology…By exploiting the principle behind DNA,…we will be able to alter the structure of matter atom by atom and fabricate literally anything in unlimited quantities. Imagine,...endless foie gras without torturing geese." (A14) |
| 1990-11. Van, J. 11/23/90. Nothing to sneeze at These gears work, but they're smaller than pepper grains. CT. P. 1 | Henry Guckel - University of Wisconsin engineering professor | "silicon micromachines [smaller than these gears] are created with the same etching technology that produces integrated computer chips, the workhorses of modern electronics." (1) | Guckel created first metal micromachine (a gear), smaller than grain of pepper. These gears will eventually be put together to make tiny medical tools that will repair tissues | gears are 50 microns thick, human hair 75, silicon microdevices 4 micron | engineering | "It opens a new vista for nanotechnology, a hot research field that promises to revolutionize a broad range of human enterprises, from medicine to automobile manufacture." (1)
"Wisconsin researchers praise silicon as a nanotechnology material" (1) -anything nanotech must be good |
| 1990-12. Sladek, J. 11/25/90. Some California Dreaming. WP. P. x.08 | Science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke | author's opinion | nanotechnology is listed as one of the many wonders in a sci fi book called The Ghost From the Grand Banks forecasting the future. | the book lectures on many theories in optical cables, nanotechnology, personal phones, elaborate undersea robots and diving suits, a new refrigeration principle, self-cleaning windows | sci fi | nanotechnology is presented as a wonder, and compared to undersea robots - something unrealistic, almost humorous |
| 1990-13. Brotman, B. 12/2/90. 1000 Years of Progress A Preview of coming attractions. Chicago Tribune.P. 15 | Joseph Coates - futurist and President of a research firm in Washington, D.C.
Gregg Maryniak, Executive VP of the Space Studies Institute in Princeton, NJ
World Future Society magazine | author's opinion | Little factual evidence. Article was written as speculative entertainment - to imagine what the future could possibly (though not likely) be like | "Nanotechnology is a theoretical process by which we could build food, houses, computers and anything else out of individual atoms of such substances as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen." (15) | science fiction, virtual reality, space exploration and colonization | Basically the author says that nanotechnology will revolutionize our world because we can have anything just by saying the word. By 3000 Earth dwellers will be rare and lunar vacations will be common…all because of nanotechnology |
| 1990 - 14. Suplee, C. 12/9/90. Technology; Mini, Micro and Fempto: The least is yet to come. The Washington Post. P. k.03 | James A. Spudich, a cell biologist at Stanford Medical School; Donal Eigler and Erhard Schweitser of IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA; Jack Preses, a physical chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island; James Kaufman, manager at the Almaden center at IBM; Ahmed Zewail, a physical chemist at Caltech | By studying the movement of, and force that atoms have on each other, their behavior and their size | High demand of the field of research; no longer micro or mini, but molecular – everything getting smaller, faster, better | Atoms and ATP | other research (biomedical, computers) does similar study | try to store data at the level of individual atoms
"In the not-so-long term, the nanotechnology boom will mean fuels that burn with ferocious power but leave only the faintest puff of pollution, computers smaller than shirt buttons and such complex molecular re-engineering of body tissues that mutant human forklifts and 90-mph hamsters are by no means unthinkable." (k.03) |
| 1990 - 15. Suplee, C. 12/9/90. Getting ourselves in nanogear. The Washington Post. P. K03 | Samuel L. Miller, Sandia National Laboratories supervisor of advanced concepts; Paul McWhorter, Sandia National Laboratories deputy director for microsystems | Electromagnetic rays are projected through a patterned mask onto a surface covered with a "photoresist." Where the beams strike the surface, they alter the chemistry of the resist, making it easy to wash away the solvent. The shadowed sections remain, leaving the mask pattern etched in the surface | Finding another use for synchrotron rays | The project employed the same kind of lithography used to etch the super-thin circuit lines on a computer chip. | Another research project had to be done with the use of synchotron rays and the same kind of lithography. | These results of the study could be relevant to the strengths of different metals for many expected applications, including tiny "roto-rooters" for blood vessel surgery, miniature pressure sensors and accelometers, "microknives" designed to cut as single fertilized egg in half and ultra-precise gear clusters for satellites. |
| 1991-01. Chandler, D. 4/1/91. Images Reveal Shape of Thin Film Crystals. Boston Globe. No page | Los Alamos National laboratories, IBM | used techniques like scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy | wanted to be able to see the microscopic structure of crystalline | "crystals form corkscrew-shaped pyramids, rather like the ancient ziggurats that were the basis of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel."
"The resulting pictures show that the crystals form as small islands and then grow upwards and outwards in columns following a corkscrew pattern." | computers- computer chips, electronic devices | scanning tunneling technology, a product of nanotechnology is now seen as a useful and practical method of viewing objects microscopically |
| 1991-02. O'Connell, L. 4/11/91. Your PC may become a source of sexual ecstasy. ATU. P. T23 | sci-fi author Joe Haldeman, researchers of MIT, Milton Wolf, sci-fi and sociology professor at U of Nevada | N/A | nanotech is used in aiding with virtual reality, specifically sexually satisfying VR. | "the equipment includes the traditional joystick or mouse, plus more sophisticated gizmos such as 'data gloves' and 'data suits.'" (T23) | virtual reality, science fiction, entertainment | "The only people who really have a grasp of this stuff are the technocultists who speak a language no one else understands. It includes lingo such as 'nanotechnology' and 'tweaking the equations.'" (T23) |
| 1991-03. Carroll, J. 4/24/91. Where Everybody Knows your "Nom." SFC. p. E12 | Dave Vohaska, owner of intellectual sports bar in Oakbrook, Ill. Called Sidd Finch's | N/A | this is an educational sports bar for academics, scholars, Harvard graduates, and scientists to discuss things such as nanotech | baseball players: Nolan Ryan, Oil Can Boyd, Rickey Henderson, musician John Cage, writers Alice Miller and Oscar Wilde | science, literature, art, music, all academic fields are encouraged at this bar | in a comedian show, a joke was made about nanotech "And Oil Can Boyd. Ever see that guy play? I think they're beta-testing nanotechnology there. Every time he gets shelled, three guys at Cal Tech lose their grant money." (E12) |
| 1991-04. Kelley, P. 5/28/91. Lucrative award to boost scholar's magnetic levitation study at UNCC. Charlotte Observer. P. 5B | David Trumper, MIT doctorate; UNCC precision engineering professor Robert Hocken | "his work concerns precision motion control, which deals with movements and measurements of microscopic proportions. A magnetically suspended spindle might be used, for instance, when a precision lathe requires very precise rotary motion." (5B) | "magnetic levitation has many potential engineering uses, ranging from high-speed trains that float above their tracks to high-powered microscopes." (5B) | "A nanometer equals one-billionth of a meter. One human cell averages about 10,000 nanometers in diameter. It takes 100,000 to equal the diameter of a strand of hair." (5B) | physics | "...a reasearch team working in nanotechnology, which has been hailed as the next technological revolution." (5B) |
| 1991-05. Saffo, P. 6/26/91. Good things to come in tiny packages. LA. P 3 | Eric Drexler, nanotechnology researcher | Drexler's idea: "memory device made up of a millimeter-square cube of folded protein crystal that has been 'grown' onto a more conventional silicon substrate in such a way that its memory structure matches up with micrometer-scale circuitry." (3) | silicon is reaching its limit of what it can do for electronic devices, need something more efficient, like nanotech | "The result would be a thumbnail-sized chip with a storage capacity exceeding that of several thousand of today's floppy disks." (3)
currently (1991) they can fit 1 million transistors on a die, in 10 years 100 million | computers, memory devices | looking at nanotech more realistically and practically saying nanotech will not be seen in every workstation by 2000, but it will help fill in some of the gaps of silicon and be used in specialized devices. Does not say nanotech is all powerful but rather refers to it as "infant nanotechnology" |
| 1991-06. 8/16/91. World's Tiniest Device: Just an Atom. The Miami Herald. P. 1A | team of US scientists, physicists at IBM's Almaden Research Center. | using most sophisticated electron microscopes | "an electrical switch consisting of one atom." (1A) | "the prefix nano- means one billionth" (1A) | electronics, medical | "The tiny device could be an important first step in developing microscopic machines used to maintain microprocessors or to repair damaged arteries inside the body, a field of emerging science known as nanotechnology." (1A) |
| 1991-07. Brotman, B. 9/2/91. Universe of the mind Sci-fi convention a party for the misfits who run the world. CT. P. 1 | Glenn Chambers - a computer programmer, 49th World Science Fiction Convention, Erica Van Dommelen, assistant editor of BioScience magazine | Journalistic report on the conference by the author | nanotechnology is seen as something confusing, something that only scientists understand, and need to explain to non-scientists: "Happily, there are fans willing to explain planet-building and terraforming and nanotechnology" (1) | N/A | sci fi | Nanotechnology is seen as a term that only scientists understand, and is often associated with science fiction. |
| 1991-08. Kening, D. 9/2/91. Hugo Awards Honor Science Fiction's Finest. CT. P 10 | science fiction writers- lois McMaster Mujold, Joe Haldemon, Mike Resnick, Terry Bisson
Tim Burton- Sci Fi director | N/A | Worldcon Conference, known as Chicon V- one seminar discussed nanotech | 6100 attendees, from 20 countries, 80 seminars in many fiels - literary, scientific, academic, etc. | sci fi | In the debate about nanotech, the article did not make it sound positive, quoting scientist/novelist James Killius "I don't know about you, but I don't want a hardware crash to take place in my pancreas." (10) |
| 1991-09. DeGregori, T. 9/22/91. A glimpse of the future: books to be read with caution as well as interest. Houston Chronicle. p. 15 | Eric Drexler and Chris Peterson | Unbounding the Future book reviw | critic not convinced that nanotech is such a big part of our future that we should decrease spending on other sciences to spend more on nanotech | -the author is a big proponents of nanotech and uses the book to convince people of its importance
-"'Nano' is a prefix meaning 'one-billionth,' so they are talking about very small machines that do big things." (15) | sci fi, foreign competition- beating Japanese in technology race. | "No problem, be it pollution, disease or restoring species, seems unsolvable or beyond the amazing powers of this technology." (15) -the critic says sarcastically about nanotech |
| 1991 - 10. Raymo, Chet. 9/23/1991. The incredible shrinking technology. Boston Globe. P. 38 | Engineers and scientists | Scanning tunnel microscopes. "Another Japanese research group etch out 'Peace 91' on a surface by blasting out atoms one by one" (38) | Discovered what they might be capable of | "little tricks demonstrate what can be done. By the end of the current decade we may have nanoprocessors, computer-on-a-chip that are a thousand times smaller and faster than any existing today" (38) | "Some visionary scientists foresee tiny smart robots on the nanometer scale, roaming around like vast invisible clouds of nanognats, building houses atom by atom, decomposing trash, or clearing fatty deposits from the bloodstream." (38)
| The idea that the discovery of nanotechnology did for a decade what the development of micro-technology did for the 80's |
| 1992 - 01. Raymo, Chet. 1/20/92. Carbon is no Joe Schmoe. Boston Globe. P. 28 | Scientists, chemists, American Association for the Advancements of Science. | "Scientists have learned how to produce these molecules in substantial quantities. Buckyballs have chemical electronic and magnetic properties that promise myriad useful applications." (28) | "Now scientists have discovered a whole new class of three-dimensional carbon molecules, of which buckyballs were the first. Already we are hearing about inflated buckyballs, buckybabies, buckytubes, bunnyballs, and buckycages." (28) | "…carbon atoms cycle from place to place, stirring and animating the surface of the planet." (28) | "Most importantly, carbon is the element of life. Every living thing is composed of carbon compounds." (28) | "…scientists discover new ways of arranging familiar atoms into substances that will change our lives." (28) |
| 1992 - 02. Raymo, Chet 3/9/92
"In a world of smart 'things,' why not self-sorting socks?" Boston Globe p. 28 | "A new alliance of engineers, chemists, physicists and computer experts is working to endow materials such as concrete and metal with 'nervous systems' and 'intelligence.'" (28) | Speculation of smart materials of the future | "Electronic circuits built into the skin will process information on the spot from the fiber-optic network. Millions of tiny pressure-sensitive actuators will respond by stiffening the skin or damping out vibrations." (28) | "Smart structures. Intelligent materials…They are the future." | electronics | More convenient and less complicated lifestyle in most cases. Example: Tidy Table Dinnerware Dishes that can be activated - say by a loud clap - to clean themselves. |
| 1992 - 03. Raymo. Chet. 5/4/1992. Could the Martians have taken it? Boston Globe. P. 30 | Scientists and the author. | Research on where the carbon that is released into the air settles. | Study of how the carbon gets released into the air and where it goes from there is still not absolutely known | Carbon | Scientists found a giant mushroom growing in Michigan, that weighs 22,000 lbs. People in Nauru are storing carbon to use it later for their economic activities. | Each year several billion tons of carbon is vanishing into the blue and no one knows where to find it, or how to research it. |
| 1992-04. Fall 92 Vol.140 Iss.27. Is Anybody Out There? Time. P. 78-80 | Freeman Dyson- Institute for Advanced Stdy in Princeton, NJ
K. Eric Drexler, author of Engines of Creation
Konstantin Feoktistov, a former Soviet cosmonaut
Eric Jones, physicist at Los Alamos labs | mostly speculation and imagination | nanotech will be used to create tiny robots that will create devices, including radiostransmitters to send messages to earth, when we try to colonize Mars | predicted that in 500 years humans will be exploring many planets, and population will be 1 trillion | space exploration | nanotech is used in a futuristic sense to be sent into space to create radio transmitters to send messages back to earth |
| 1992 - 05. Clarke, Don. 11/13/1992. World's Tiniest Devices. SF Chronicle. B2 | Eric Drexler, Marvin Minsky; Henry Guskel, Ralph Merkle Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of California at Berkley | Microscopes | "…to set up molecular manufacturing machines that could isolate individual atoms of an element and use them to rapidly churn out structurally perfect tools, machines and even buildings." (B2) | "…a computer simulation of various gears that could be constructed by making rings and cylinders out of diamond molecules, chosen for their unmatched hardness?" (B2) | chemistry, computers | "devices made with nanotechnology would use only the atoms they need, requiring only a tiny amount of material to give them tremendous strength. Where today's computers require about 1 billion atoms to store a single bit of computer data, a nanocomputer in 2010 might require only one atom per bit." (B2) |
| 1992 - 06. Clark, Don. 11/23/1992. Nanotechnology May Radically Alter Industry. San Francisco Chronicle. P. B3 | Eric Drexler, Market Intelligence Research Corp., Marvin Minsky, University of California at Berkeley, Henry Guckel, Ralph Merkle, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center | by creating mechanical structures out of tools and techniques used in making computer chips. | Micromachines - gear, motors and other devices the size of dust particles - are beginning to move out of the laboratory | Studying of molecules and atoms to know how they work. | "…researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and other institutions started creating mechanical structures out of tools and techniques used in making computer chips." (B3) related research to health, medicine | Eventually, there could be a procession of tiny robots small enough to swim in a human bloodstream to clean out arteries. Tiny medical robots that could deliver mini-doses of anti-cancer medicine to specific parts of the body. |
| 1992-07. Hooper, L. 12/29/92. In the Lab: It Doesn't Get Much Smaller Than This. Wall Street Journal. P. B2 | International Business Machines Corp.- Phaidon Avouris, Whan Lyo
IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center | scanning tunneling microscope | "the once-blurry honeycomb jumps into glorious focus…from the tip of his viewing instrument, a scanning tunneling microscope" (B2) | new STM's can be as small as a pencil eraser and cost more than $500,000 | science | "it's at this never-before-seen scale [nanometers] that 21st-century circuitry will likely be built" (B2) |
| 1993-01. Apr 93 Vol 242 Iss 4. Why Scientists are Thinking Small. PS. P 71-77 | physicist Mark Reed from Yale University, Richard Feynman- California Institute of Technology physicist, Eric Drexler, James Murday - chemist at Naval Research Laboratory, Don Eigler- Physicist at IBM's Almaden research center, Richard Smalley | "to date, the most intense research efforts in nanotechnology have been focused on devising atomic and molecular-scale computers or computer components." (71-77) | biggest nanotech accomplishment is STM (Scanning Tunelling Microscope)
Build-time issue: even though they were able to create the IBM icon with atoms, it took 35 hours to do that "But because positioning the STM is a painfully slow process, as Eigler admitted at a recent nanotechnology conference in Tokyo, doing something like this 'would take the age of the universe'" (71-77) -referring to creating a copy of an encyclopedia | buckyball- most important chemical find in years, 64-atom molecule could be useful for capacitors and other electronic components | computers, air pollution, stronger thinner materials | "the field that Feynman proposed - trying to devise computers and other machines with components not bigger than atoms or molecules - has become one of the hottest frontiers of scientific research. IBM and virtually every other major computer company are pursuing the subject" regardless of whether this is true or not, it sounds like the author is trying to hype up this 'product,' nanotechnology." (71-77)
|
| 1993-02. May 93 Vol 242 Iss 5. Molecular Marvels. PS. P. 91-96 | Eric Drexler - Stanford University researcher, Palo Alto think tank- Foresight Institute, AT&T chemist Louis Brus, Fraser Stoddart at the University of Birmingham in England, Research Institute of Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, CA, Ralph Merkle of Xerox's Palo Alto Research center | "To do this, many researchers are looking to proteins. Why proteins? Just imagine the incredible range of functions proteins perform in the body... If we could tailor these marvelous nanomachines to our needs, they could be ideal for a score of applications especially microscopic devices for repairing damaged organs or environmental cleanup." (91-96) | using proteins to help in creating nanodevices. | -use diamond (hard tough and conducts heat well ) as material f to make mechanical structures stronger (protein is soft and mushy)
-Merkle 'planning' for nanotech - created computer model of circular bearing five nanometers wide containing 2808 atoms | global wealth, environment, industry (molecular manufacturing) | "Nanotech [promises] a replacement for industry as we know it; a sustainable basis for global wealth; and an opportunity to roll back environmental crises." (91-96) - Eric Drexler "Many researchers - even some working in fields related to nanotechnoloy - say Drexler's predictions are too speculative to be scientifically meaning[ful]" (91-96) |
| 1993-03. Goodman, H. 7/4/93. A sanctuary lit by brainpower string theory? This is not your father's think tank. Philadelphia Inquirer. P. B01. | Edward Witten, a theoretical physicist at Institute for Advanced Study; Institute for Scientific Information. | there are no computers in the institute, they all just think up ideas and use blackboards | Witten's goal is to find a theory that explains all the forces of nature from subatomic particles to galaxies. | 200 of world's smartest people work at the institute | string theory, quantum mechanics | "In the 1920's…no one quite saw the value of quantum mechanics…But that gave us semiconductors, the laser, magnetic resonance imagery, nanotechnology" (B01) |
| 1993-04. Aug 93 Vol 243 Iss 2. The Elecrtric Eye. PS. P 60-64. | Duke U's Eye Center, Dr. Eugene de Jaun of Duke U, Dr. Mark Humayun-resident opthalmology at Duke, Dr. Roy Propst-professor of biomedical engineering at UNC@Chapel Hill, Dr. Howard Phillips of Semiconductor Research Corp. in Research Triangle Park. | does not say exactly how nanotech will work into it, just that it will be used to insert the visual array into the eye | nanotech is used to insert a folded up 14x14 pixel visual array into the patient's eye through a tube, and then it is unfolded once in place | -0 pixels = total blindness, 1 pixel = light or dark visual field, 4 px = light, dark, motion, orientation, 64 px = identify letters, 256 px = able to read, 1024 = to form a low-grade fuzzy image, 1 million = perfect vision | biotech, opthalmology, medical research | nanotech is seen as a solution to the problem even though they do not specify how it will work, or how nanotech really applies. It is almost as if they just say that the solution is nanotech and expect people to accept that because it is an elite science. |
| 1993-05 Chandler, D. 9/6/93. Buckyball Family is Growing. Boston Globe. P. 33 | Scientists and researchers, Chemist Fred Wudl Harold Kroto of the University of Sussex in England
Yi-Han Kao-chemist at the University of Buffalo
Martin Saunders-chemist at Yale University
Chemist Martin Jarrold | test tubes | buckyballs "may make the strongest fibers ever discovered,high-tech composites…" (33)
"..discovered a buckyball-based superconductor that works at a much higher temperature than any previous carbon-based material.." (33) | "The tiny atomic balls fit perfectly inside a natural basket in the HIV virus that causes AIDS. They fit so snugly that they effectively clog up a part of the virus that is essential to its reproduction." (33)
| other researchers are concentrating on putting things inside buckyballs, using them as atom-sized containers - the world's tiniest bottles | "The tiny fibers, a billionth of a meter across, could eventually form the basis for ultrastrong and ultrahard materials that are increasingly sought after for high-tech applications." (33) |
| 1994-01. Apr 94 Vol 244 Iss 4. A Home to Suit Everyone. Popular Science.P. 48. | designer Charles Owen at Illinois Institute of Technology | only speculation | "Walls would contain special honeycomb-like layers that, upon request, would reshape to pipe accessible drinking water into rooms. Wall tiles would switch patterns at the touch of a button. And a simple tug would stretch tabletops into new shapes." (33) | no evidence to back it up, only speculation | household items and appliances | Speculative ideas that nanotechnology is supposed to create |
| 1994-02. Achenbach, J. 5/29/94. Wire me up, Scotty. We have seen the future, but we still can't tell you what it means. The Washington Post. P. W10
| Author conducted a research of the future technological advances and their implications and affects on our lives. ARPA, Pentagon, Military Industrial Complex- Futuristic Gadgets Division, Stephen Squires- Commander of the Enterprise, Greg Simon, President Clinton, George Mason University, Professor of Public Affairs Huge Heclo, Vice President Gore, John Battelle, Howard Rheingold, Steve Krause, Oracle Corp., Dave Lockton, Xerox PARC | Compared to the changes the techno-logical advances had on society in the past, such as the telephone and TV. Researched the potential changes the future technology can bring to the people through interviews and observations. | New technological innovations coming out before we are ready for them, replacing the existing ones, in such a speed that people cannot adopt to it yet. DVD players are out before people have learned how to record one TV show while watching another one on their VCRs
| Technological changes and their affects on society | Social implications / aspects of nanotechnology | Final interpretation whether the technology is good or not to the reader, guiding them with the series of questions to lead them towards their own process of thinking |
| 1994-03. Ehrman, M. 6/9/1994. Character Sketches Computer Users are Depeloping an Art Form All their Own. LA. P. 1 | Steven Sullivan, computer programmer Mike Jittlov - independent filmmaker, Rob Harley-computer science | N/A | nanotech compared to ASCII art work | N/A | ASCII, computer programming | negative - "Harley sees the march of nanotechnology as the death knell for character-based creativity." (1) |
| 1994-04. Van, J. 7/3/94. Hearbreak Relief Vitamin D Found Effective in Treating Psoriasis. CT. p 2. | Purdue University, Dor Ben-Amotz, a chemistry professor at Purdue | "These devices, known as molecular optical probes, use molecules as microscopic spies that relay information about their environment through the light they emit." (2) - Dor Ben-Amotz | "to monitor the properties of lubricating oil between ball bearings, and they say the process could be used to monitor tiny circuit elements in computer chips and activity within living cells." (2) | "molecules of dye injected into liquid and then illuminated with visible light are working as spies for scientists who want to measure such things as temperature in spaces smaller than a human hair." (2) | manufacturing, medicine | ideas are being developed into tools for nanotechnology |
| 1995-01 Carroll, J. 2/1/95. Tapping Dickens for Clues to the Future; New sci-fi master Neal Stephenson pens a follow-up to cu. San Francisco Chronicle. P E1
| fictional book | N/A – book review | "His new book is based in a time when, once again, national boundaries have been made archaic by technology." (E1)
| ",,nanotechnology that allows bacteria-size gadgets to do the scut work" (E1)
| buildings that float – vision of future in which basic materials include nanotech | shows technology advancements |
| 1995-02 Boyle, A. 3/7/95. Writing career takes off in cyberspace; 'diamond age' gives author access to fame. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. P. C1
| Neal Stephenson, his home, book | N/A – book review | "..society had rediscovered the benefits of shared cultural values, with the result that one of the world's dominant cultures is neo-Victorian in dress and attitudes." (C1) | "…microscopic machines can build anything ranging from a passable breakfast to whole synthetic islands." (C1)
| "The Diamond Age"-dominant technological thread has to do with nanotechnology | Sci-fiction prediction: "Nanotech is so widespread that computers and sensors, time-bombs and bomb defusers float in the air like motes of dust, finding their way onto skin and into the bloodstream" (C1)
|
| 1995-03. 4/12/95. Nanotechnology: At Cornell, A little discovery could mean big things. ATU. P. C8 | researchers at Cornell University , Noel MacDonald TMS Technologies in Ithaca, NY, U of Chicago | No information provided | "a thumbnail-sized device capable of holding the information contained on 10,000 standard hard drives." (C8) | scientists want microelectomechanical scanning tunneling microscope to store millions of bits of information on tiny head of pin | computers | "This is potentially a major breakthrough for the computer industry. Right now we are capable of moving the device, scanning two dimensions, and getting images. By lining up eight of them it could read one byte at a time. We are talking about a size-scale of an individual atom at a time." (C8) - Cornell spokesperson |
| 1995-04. Chandler. D. 5/15/95. Atom by atom; Can we build computer chips and machines from the bottom up? Boston Globe. P. 37
| Cornell University's National Nanofabrication Facility, K.Eric Drexler, Noel McDonald, David E.H. Jones of the University of New Castle, Nabil Amer-IBM's Watson Research Center, Forsight Insitute.
| "They have built the world's smallest 'scanning tunneling microscope,' a
device the width of two human hairs
that can be used to manipulate indivi-
dual atoms thousands of times more
rapidly than any existing device." (37)
| "…but it took the researchers hours just to move those 35 atoms." (37) | "Most scientists would now agree that atomic-level manipulations may indeed lead to amazing advances in computers and biotechnology, and perhaps some other fields, but many still discount the more grandiose predictions as science fiction." (37)
| "…the replacement of sticks and stones by metals and cements, and the harnessing of electricity." (37)
| "Molecular machines will permit the assembly in short order of virtually any device or material out of the most basic of raw materials. By just punching in the right instructions on a little console, the notion goes, gazillions of tiny, invisible machines would swing into action and produce anything from a VCR to a diamond ring to a T-bone steak to a moon rocket, at virtually no cost.." (37) |
| 1995-05. Lovejoy, T. 5/28/95. Bugs, Plants, and Progress. NYT. P. 4.11 | Nitto Company in Japan | "Using an enzyme from a bacterium called Themus aquaticus found in a Yellowstone hot spring, this polymerase chain reaction can make possible a quick diagnosis of a strep throat." (4.11) | "vast as the spill is, a solution may lie in the microscopic world of bacteria and other microorganisms." (4.11) | 1994 oil spill near Usinsk, 1000 miles northeast of Moscow
"Japan is investing $25 million to search for promising heat-resistant enzymes from organisms that live around the thermal rifts at the bottom of the sea" (4.11) | science, medicine, environment, industrial processes | "Furthest out on the horizon is nanotechnology - the ultimate in miniarization." (4.11) |
| 1995-06. Day, K. 6/22/95. Laboring Toward Lilliput; Md. Firm's goal: A chip-sized Biotech Lab. WP. P. D8 | Bayview Research Campus of Johns Hopkins University, Philip Goelet - Molecular Tool's co-founder and president | "In the same way that a computer chip manipulates electrons through microscopic wires, biotech chips would manipulate fluids along microscopic channels." (D8) | "trying to compress most of the functions of a biotechnology laboratory that is, say, 0 feet by 15 feet, into a one-inch square chip." (D8) | condensing a test device 3'x5'x1/2' to 2'x3' with almost no thickness | medical, biotechnology | biotech deals with objects visible to the naked eye - not quite at the nanotech level yet |
| 1995-07. Langreth, R. Aug 95 Vol 247 Iss 2. Scoping for Data. PS. P 34. | Cornell Engineers - Yang Xu, Scott Miller, Noel MacDonald | "ultra-fine metal tip powered by several small motors. When the tip is passed closely over a metal surface, the STM [Scanning tunneling microscope] can observe the properties of individual atoms and even push atoms along the surface." (34) | prediction about what STM's will do: "…work in concert to create computer storage systems that are the size of a fingernail yet can hold as much data as several thousand of today's hard disk drives." (34) | -researchers took 9 years to make STM smaller and faster
-estimate that 10,000 STM's will fit on a single chip
-STM invented in 1980 | computers | nanotech's applications, such as the STM, will help make computer storage smaller. |
| 1995-08. Maslin, J. 8/4/95. Film Review; Villian by Computer. NYT. P. C14 | Brett Leonard - film director of Virtuosity | N/A – film review | virtual reality thriller in which Russel Crowe is known as "the prototype of future humanoid nanotechnology" (C14) and regenerates body parts with silicon cells through nanotech | Leonard directed The Lawnmower Man and Hideawayalso
| film, virtual reality | nanotech is used as a means of entertainment - sci fi in a movie |
| 1995-09. Gabriel, T. 9/3/95. Earning It; Peering Into the Murky Jobs Crystal Ball for 2015. NYT. P. 3.9 | Paul Saffo, computer industry analyst at the Institute for the Future | N/A | "the jobs picture 15 to 20 years out will be shaped by the evolution of technology" (3.9) | -government predicts hot jobs 10 years into the future, but after that, do not know
-baby boomers will turn 65 in 2010 and increased need for medical fields | biotech, jobs | "Future technologies that could become big include biotechnology…and nanotechnology." (3.9)
seen as a futuristic application |
| 1995-10. Carreau, M. 10/29/95. Thinking Big about Small/ Scientists champion emerging nanotechnology. HC. P. 1 | NASA's Johnson Space Center, Robert Stroud project engineer - Aerospace Corp think tank, Rice University Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Richard Feynman | N/A | using tiny components for computing, navigational and communications in space travel | hope to have 20 lb satellites with nanotech's help
| integrated circuitry, medicine, automotives, cell phones | turning point: "It's real. We are not talking about science fiction anymore." (1) - Robert Stroud |
| 1996-01. Schultz, P. Jan 96 Vol 17 Iss 1. One Molecule at a Time. Discover.P. 72. | chemist Peter Schultz and physicist Paul McEuenof University of CA @ Berkeley | "The key to the technique is to put a dab of platinum on the microscopic tip of an atomic force microscope. The scientists then prepared a surface of azide, a compound containing three nitrogen atoms, and bathed it in alcohol that had been spiked with hydrogen..." (72) | found a way of triggering chemical reactions molecule by molecule using atomic force microscope | refining the methods of manipulating chemical reactions with nanotech | materials science | "This breakthrough opens new possibilities for nanoengineering and materials science…the technique lets researchers see what happens as they go about changing the world, one molecule at a time." (72) |
| 1996-02. Kadaba, L. 1/4/96. Nano Age to Supplant Information Highway, Futurists Predicting. HC. P 1 | Arthur Shostak, professor of sociology at Drexel University; Robert Riley, president of product design business in Scottsdale, AZ; Andy Hines- staff futurist for consulting group Coates & Jarrett in Washington, DC; Clem Bezold - executive director of the Institute of Alternative Futures | Predictions about future technology | nanotech cars will become safer, everything will be custom tailored, nanomedicine will use tiny machines to clear out cholesterol from arteries | at Robodoc, surgeon uses computer workstation to view 3-D images of patient's femur, and makes prosthetics from it | medicine, automobile, manufacturing | "Nano is the third great revolution - agriculture, industrial and nano." (1) - eveyone expects nano to be the next big thing
"The information age will pale next to the nano age, where tiny tiny machines will revolutionize fields such as health care" (1) |
| 1996-03. Johnson, Steve. 1/21/96. Boomers with longevity fever seek magic pill. Charlotte Observer. P. 1A | Institute of HeartMath; John Renner, runs Comsumer Health Information Research Institute; Life Extension Foundation; Dr. Wallace Sampson, chairman of National Council Against Health Fraud; Frances Koavarik, executive director of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine | Nanotech method for anti-aging:
"Still others put their faith in nanotechnology, which foresees the day when molecule-sized machines will prowl the human body, wiping out diseases and rejuvenating damaged cells." (1A) | "Many of those who use such [anti-aging] products believe they have multiple benefits. Some of them in hopes of making themselves smarter. Others hope to improve their sex lives." (1A) | "About $2 billion is spent each year on anti-aging products." (1A) | anti-aging - medical | nanotechnology is viewed as an aid to this negative "cult" of anti-aging proponents |
| 1996-04. Uehling, M. Feb 96 Vo 248 Iss 2. Light Touch for Cells. PS. P. 24 | Paul Kopelman, a chemist at University of Michigan | "shines light down one end of an optical fiber, the other is heated by a laser and stretched to a tapered tip. Then the tip is bathed in coatings selected to react with the biological compounds…Afterward, when light is pumped through the open end of the fiber, the fused tip glows." (24) | "probe could test the effects of drugs on individual cells, or check embryos for birth defects." (24) | a fiber-optic probe that is 1000th the width of a human hair | medical | nanotech is creating practical and useful devices |
| 1996-05. Ackerman, T. 4/28/96. Small Science-Big Promises/ Rice University Researches on Cusp of Nanotechnology. HC. P 33 | James Haw-Texas A&M chemistry professor, Michael Carroll, dean of Rice's school of engineering, Eric Drexler, Rice president Malcolm Gillis | research being conducted at Rice's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology | "try to produce artificial blood…work to make power cables so tiny they are impossible to see yet 100 times stronger than steel…look for ways to collect and store sunlight so solar power actually can meet future energy needs." (33) | the Nanoscale Science center took $32 million fund raising, $23 million contributions, 85,000 sq. ft, 12 new faculty positions. | medicine | applications in fields such as more powerful computers |
| 1996-06. Bhargava, R. 4/28/96. Taking Fear Out of High Tech's Future. NYT. P 13WC.3 | Dr. Rameshwar Bhargava, physicist at Pace U. and president of Nanocrystals Technology | referring to the use of nanocrystals in flat screen tv's: "materials can absorb a lot of ultra-violet light from the sun, which is non-useful light for a solar cell. But we can take this UV light and convert it into useful visible light if we provide a thin coating of nanocrystal particles." (13WC.3) | nanocrystals will help in flat screen TV's, condensing electronic storage, making solar energy more efficient, less radiation in mammography, and new weapons to attack cancer cells | "if we use a magnetic particle of this size in magnetic tape, one can record information in very high density - 10,000 times smaller than today." (13WC.3) | electronics, medicine, solar energy - environment | nanotech has a wide variety of applications that are starting to become more practical, specific and plausible |
| 1996-07. Harmon, A. 9/2/96. Cyberculture; A Weird and Warped Look Into the Future. LA. P 3 | World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim | N/A | science fiction fans discuss nanotech as a topic of casual conversation | -6000 attendees
-$150/ person | science fiction | nanotech is seen as a topic associated with sci fi, though it is also respected by scientists. |
| 1996-08. Carr, J. 9/20/96. Synthetic Pleasure, few Principles. Boston Globe. P. D5
| Movie review | N/A | "interesting developments in brain mapping and nanotechnology" (D5) | "On the whole, virtual reality and controlled environments are amusingly seen as progressive.." (D5)
| N/A | "…really interesting developments in brain mapping and nanotechnology, giving equal time to characters who have little but narcissism to add to the mosaic" (D5)
"If we can't eliminate aging and death, it's not exactly cheering to realize that we may eliminate travel and over sensory experience." (D5)
|
| 1996-09. Makeig, J. 10/10/96. Bring on the Glory/ Rice Already Knew Pair Were Special. HC. P 1 | Robert Curl and Richard Smalley of Rice U., Harvard, AT&T Bell Labs, Stanford and the University of Chicago, Rice chemistry professor Bruce Johnson | N/A | invention of buckyballs | -buckminsterfullerenes = buckyballs
-Rice's Center for Nanoscaled Science & Technology is a four-floor, 83,000-sq-ft structure | biomedical engineering, computer technology | Rice is using nanoscience as a way to promote school – linking educational leadership with nanoscience |
| 1996-10. Cole, K. 10/10/96. 6 US, British Scientists Win Chemistry, Physics Nobels. LA. P 1 | Stanford U.'s Douglas Osheroff, Cornell U.'s David Lee, Robert Richardson, UCLA physicist Steve Kivelson, physicist David Goodstein at Caltech, MIT's Mildred Dresselhaus | Smalley and Curl stumbled upon discovery of buckyballs | discovered third form of carbon, buckyballs (icosahedron shaped sphere of 60 carbon atoms) - there were originally only 2 - graphite and diamond | "helium comes in several versions, or isotopes. Helium-4, which has four nuclear particles, was known to be a superfluid. But helium-3, with only three particles in its nucleus, shouldn't have been able to behave in the same way." (1) | medicine | potential applications such as drug delivery systems for cancer treatment |
| 1996-11. Byars, C. 10/11/96. Future May Belong to Bucky Tubes. HC. P 31 | Richard Smalley; Rice University, Robert Curl, Professor Lon Wilson - Rice, Ohio State University, Jason Hafnew-graduate student at Trinity U., Rice U. junior Terry Iverson | discussing findings | trying to use bucky tubes as the tip of the sensor in a special kind of microscope that feels the forces of atoms on a surface in order to build up a picture | -bundles of tubes about a millimeter in length
-the material is strongest stuff ever made or that can be made
-buckyballs are tiny spheres invisible to the naked eye made of 60 carbon atoms | biomedical | bucky tubes are replacing buckyballs because they are more useful and practical |
| 1997-01. Nash, Eric. 2/2/97. Is it Going to be a Smaller World, After All? NYT. P. 4.6 | Xerox Corporation engineers | MEMS are still in the modeling stage. | "A society's technology always reveals its deepest desires."; "MEMS [micro-electromechanical systems] are all about doing more with less, about being lean, mean and next to invisible." (4.6) | None listed | social stratification, aviation, electronic systems, societal impacts of nanotechnology | Nanotechnology may not stratify the culture of the future, but may amalgamate it into something new and unrecognizable. |
| 1997-02. Belluck, P. 2/16/97. A Fine Hour for Squishy Sciences. NYT. P. 14 | Westinghouse Science Talent Search | Scientific award | The Talent Search is moving from 'hard' sciences like "near-field photolithography and nanotechnology" (14) to social sciences | Report on different awards | photolithography | nanotech is seen as a 'hard' science |
| 1997-03. Crenson, M. 2/16/97. There's Something in the Way that Nothing Behaves. LA. P. 13 | Steve Lamoreaux, Los Alamos National Laboratory | "Lamoreaux incrementally moved a pair of metal plates closer and closer to one another, to distances a hundredth the thickness of a human hair…" (13) - test of the Casimir effect | "so-called virtual photons, which spontaneously burst into existence like kernels of popping corn and then disappear almost instantly, ought to push two narrowly separated metal plates together." (13) | quantum electrodynamics - describes how particles behave in electromagnetic fields | quantum electrodynamics | "…in the future, nanotechnology will rely on understanding the Casimir force and similar effects." (13) |
| 1997-04. Kanaley, R. 2/20/97. Teeny-Tiny technology/researchers expect big things from little nanomachines they're hoping to build. PI. P. F01 | Ralph Merkle, nanotechnologist at Xerox Corp.'s research center in Palo Alto; Richard Smalley, heads Nanotechnology Institute at Rice U; Paul Green, chairman of Nanothinc-nanotech info clearinghouse in San Fransisco; Chris Peterson, executive director of Foresight Institute in Palo Alto; Al Globus, a computational nanotechnologist for NASA; Drexel U. futurist Arthur Shostak, Nadrian Seeman, NYU chemist | Seeman uses "small lengths of DNA - the natural genetic material for all life - to make nano-scale geometric structures." (F01) | "nanotechnology, whose aim is to build computerized machines - nanomachines - as small as a few atoms that could be put to almost any use." (F01) | 400 US companies are involved in searching for ways to make money with nanotech, "nanorevenues" | engineering, biotechnology, computer science, medicine, environment | "solar collectors designed with nanotechnology might mimic photosynthesis to capture the sun's energy so efficiently and economically" (F01)
"from self-building and self-mending materials for making skyscrapers or space shuttles, to medical devices that travel through the bloodstream to bulldoze cholesterol from clogged arteries, repair damaged tissue, or reverse the aging process." (F01) |
| 1997-05. Glaser, M. 2/27/97. Obsidian Lives up to the Hype. LA. P. 37 | Obsidian - computer video game | Video game review | Plot - nanotechnology is used to restore the ozone layer | Plot - the molecular nanobots disperse through the atmosphere, repairing the damage caused by pollution and fluorocarbons | environmentalism | This gives the picture of a future where nanotechnology is used for environmental means to rectify the damage caused by humans. |
| 1997-06. Romenesko, J. 4/28/97. Visionaries Ponder effect of their innovations predictions vary from doom to joy. Miami Herald. P 17BM | MIT professor Michael Dertouzos; Robert Seidel, director of Charles Babbage Institute at U of Minnesota; virtual reality guru Jaron Lanier; Bill Gates | Predictions about future technology | mostly speculation about the future and what we can do with speech-understanding software, nanotechnology, computers, etc. | prediction in 1930's said that we would all be flying around in individual mini planes by now, but that obviously did not happen | computers, future, sci-fi, virtual reality | in 500 years maybe nanotech will solve the unrealistic dreams of Lanier, whose mind is "overdosed on imagination" |
| 1997-07. Yemma, J. 5/4/97. Plastic Makes perfect. Boston Globe. P. 10
| Thomas Russel- University of Massachussetts @ Amherst | "..Russell's research is not on the industrial properties of plastics but
on the surface qualities of polymers." (10)
| What he has discovered, along with his colleages, is that things built out of polymers can be fine tuned. As he puts it: "We can change the composition of a surface with the precision of turning a knob." (10) | "..it turns out that you can attach two blocks of polymers that are incompatible and they fight each other like two dogs with their tails tied together…That tension causes the polymers to organize themselves in different patterns when they are heated and laid on a foundation, or substrate." (10)
| "…polymers are big enough to manipulate without the aid of expensive and cumbersome devices such as electron microscopes." (10) | "..you can fundamentally alter the structure of an object if you can get it small enough. This can give you a new material with valuable new properties- a substance that can alternately absorb and repel water…" (10) |
| 1997-08 Schwartz, J. 6/28/97. Nanotechnology: Great things in tiny packages. Washington Post. P. A02 | Scientists at the Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University- Dustin W. Carr, Harold G. Craighead | Carved a guitar out of crystalline silicon by using a fine high-voltage beam of
elections to etch patterns | Use of electrical charges | Crystalline silicon | One recent creation looks like a paddle suspended at the end of a wire; the researchers send it aflutter with electrical charges and use it to modulate the intensity of a laser beam. | Microelectromechanical wonder might one day be used to pass information along fiberoptic lines, in display or sensors, or in other uses yet unimagined. |
| 1997-09. Jul 97 Vol 18 Iss 7. The Lure of the Very Small. Discover. P. 56 | James Gimzewski, physicist at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory; Nadrian Seeman, chemist | Gimzewski - built a microscopic abacus by using a scanning-tunneling microscope to push atoms to form grooves for 'buckyballs' to follow; Seeman - "Working with DNA… he has constructed objects so tiny it would take several million of them to stretch across a dime." (56) | IBM researchers theorized that a scanning-tunneling microscope tip can be made to "scrape up globs of atoms like a plow and leave behind microscopic furrows." (56); | theoretically, the abacus could store "a billion times more information than the memory in a conventional computer can." (56) | computers, medicine | "If scientists ever do realize their dream of building machines the size of molecules, then someday miniature robots could roam your bloodstream and heal injuries, fight off infections, or deliver medication directly to your liver or heart or other body part in need." (56) |
| 1997-10. Browne, M. 7/29/97. A Guitar the Size of a Cell. NYT. P. C4 | Dustin Carr, Cornell graduate student; Dr Harold G. Craighead, professor at Cornell University | "The nanoguitar… was etched from a solid block of crystalline silicon…" (C.4) | Electron-beam lithography "will be used to probe matter on a tiny scale." (C.4) | the nanoguitar could be plucked using an atomic force microscope, but the resulting notes would not be within the human-audible frequency range | communications, electronics | "The system could be adapted for improved communication over optical fibers." (C.4) |
| 1997-11. Flam, F. 8/4/97. Tiny Instrument, big implications. PI. P. D01 | Dustin Carr, Cornell student/rock musician | "drew the guitar on a computer, and it took just a fraction of a second for a machine to etch the layers of the pattern into the silicon chip. The machine uses a technology called electron-beam lithography, in which a beam of electrons works like a tiny etching tool, cutting into the chip. The beam makes a chemical change between the parts of the guitar and the areas surrounding them. Carr then uses a solvent to dissolve the silicon around and under the guitar pattern, leaving small columns of silicon underneath to hold up the guitar." (D01) | to rebuild diseased organs, to help bring back cryogenically frozen people, to aid in communication technology | guitar length about 10 micrometers, each string about 50 nanometers - 100 atoms across. | communication, medicine, music | making tiny guitar is a big breakthrough for nanotech, and broadens the use of applications from nanotech |
| 1997-14. Wolfe, G. 10/5/97. The Urth Man Cometh Where NASA Has Cautiously Explored. CT. P. 18 | Biographical article on science fiction author Gene Wolfe | Biographical | Nanotechnology will "do everything from building houses to creating fabrics that are a hundred times stronger than today's." (18) | nanotechnology - "miniaturized, self-replicating robots working on the molecular level" (18) | space exploration | Nanotechnology will broaden our scientific horizons and make manufacturing more reliable and efficient. |
| 1997-15. Palmer, V. 10/31/97. The Women of the Court; Female Refs in the NBA: It's the Principle of the Thing. LA. P. 8 | National Basketball Association | Nanotech used as cultural reference point to illustrate intellectual difficulty | With the introduction of female referees, the author says, "Amazing, isn't it, how jobs suddenly attain the complexity of nanotechnology or brain surgery when it's time to open up the ranks?" (8) This is the only mention of nanotechnology in the article. | Nanotech as cultural marker | N/A | seen as a complex science to be compared at the level of brain surgery |
| 1997-18. 12/3/97. Science presentation is available to schools. Allentown Morning Call. P. B09. | Lucent Technologies, National Science Teachers Association | No information provided | Science Screen Report is an educational system where 30 top schools in country receive video based learning in science | Science Screen Report has been around for 30 years and has won numerous awards | education - science, engineering, mathematics | nanotech will be used in the 1997-98 learning series, making nanotech a respectable science that children are expected to know about |
| 1997-20. .Dupree, J. 12/25/97. Researchers aiming to go where no one has gone before/'Star Trek' may be tame compared with nanotechnology. Philadelphia Inquirer. P. F01. | Jim Von Her, founder and financial backer of Zyvex; Al Globus, a NASA computer scientist; Rice U. chemist Richard Smalley; Alex Zettl, a physics professor at University of CA@Berkely; Ralph Merkle, a nanotech theorist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center; Nadrian Seeman, an NYU biochemist | "In 1991, researchers figured out how to get buckyballs to hook themselves together into long tubes that look like rolled chicken wire and appropriately are called bukytubes, or nanotubes." (F01)
| dust sized computers, lightweight spacecrafts, nanobots to be injected and kill cancer cells and unclog arteries | it costs $10,000/lb to launch a payload into orbit; with nanotech, they hope to be able to get that down to $200/lb, making spacecrafts about the cost of a nice Mercedes | space exploration, medical, TV's, computers | use the laws of nature to help drive nanotech research forward "We already have a nanotechnological system that works. We call it life. We can take the same principles that biology has already given us and go beyond that." (F03) - Seeman |
| 1998-01. 2/11/98. Technology Brief-VEECO Instruments Inc.: Pact is Reached to Aquire Maker of Precision Devices. Wall Street Journal.P. 1 | Veeco Instruments, Inc. | Veeco has acquired Digital Instruments Inc. | nanotech is becoming commercial and we are actually seeing financial benefits from it | the market for atomic-force microscopy is about $150 mil and will triple within 5 years | business - financial | Veeco predicts that the atomic-force microscopy market will triple in the next five year. |
| 1998-02. Shulman, P. 3/98 Vol 19 Iss 3. The Best of Annals of Improbable Research. Discover. P. 118 | editors, Annals of Improbable Research | fanciful | A nanotoaster will have many advantages over a macrotoaster, specifically in reducing counter space used, and in the finding of the world's smallest slice of bread. | N/A | society - every day applications (kitchen appliances) | This is a satirical look at some of the more bizarre applications of nanotechnology. |
| 1998-03. Fisher, A. 4/98 Vol 252 Iss4 . Tiny Transmission. PS. P. 28 | Steve Rodgers and Jeff Sniegowsky, Sandia National Laboratories | No information provided | "Theoretically, the transmission can generate a force capable of moving a 1-pound object" (28) | The microtransmission (the size of a grain of sand) can multiply the power of a microengine 3 million times. | nuclear weaponry | Sandia sees such micromachines as significant in serving as near-invisible locks to nuclear devices. |
| 1998-04. Dye, L. 4/6/98. Counsel for Industry, Science's Awkward Relationship. LA. P. 5 | Michael M. Crow, Columbia University, vice provost | No information – speculation | Crow predicts that 30 years from now, nanotechnology, bioelectronics, artificial intelligence, information management, and protecting the environment will be on the forefront of scientific inquiry. | N/A | bioelectronics, artificial intelligence, information management | Crow sees sciences such as nanotechnology as a future driving force for industry. |
| 1998-05. Hafner, K. 4/9/98. Horse and Blender, Car and Crockpot. NYT. P. G1 | Neal Stephenson, science fiction writer | Interview and profile of SciFi writer | Nanotech in sci-fiction | Stephenson's futuristic books occasionally focus on nanotechnology. | N/A | nanotechnology is still being seen very much in science fiction, and not as a reality |
| 1998-06. 4/21/98. Widely Praised Architect will Design Art Museum.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. P. B2
| Antoine Predock-NanoTechnology Center at Rice University, University of California at Santa Cruz Music Facility
| No information provided | "…plan a 50,000 square foot building on the north side of historic Union Station and federal courthouse…" (B2) | Predock won the American Institute of Architects' National Honor Award | architecture | new building designed for technology |
| 1998-07. Ackerman, T. 4/27/98. A Symposium of Mini Proportions/ Meeting Marks Anniversary of UH Superconductivity Center. HC. P. 13 | University of Houston, Texas Center for Superconductivity; Carl Wieman, University of Colorado | Weiman achieved the coldest place in existence in the universe by chilling a vial to 492 degrees Fahrenheit below freezing. | Nanotechnology has nearly limitless potential, but is still in its early planning stages (where lasers were in the 1960's) | In 1990, a nanobot to travel in the bloodstream was briefly under development. | travel, space exploration, energy | Nanotechnology may lead to the creation of a limitless power source, super-strong space elevators, or medical nanobots. |
| 1998-08. 5/7/98. Mighty Small/ Science Takes Huge Strides When Great Minds Think Small. HC P. 44 | University of Houston, Texas Center for Superconductivity | Scientists "pondered ways that so-called nanotechnology research can be turned into commercially viable products." (44) | Report on symposium | N/A | medicine, energy | This symposium focused on discussion of how nanotechnology could be used to create limitless energy sources, and nanobots to police the human body. |
| 1998-09. Piller, C. 6/27/98. The Cutting Edge; Big Picture for Tiny Sensors. LA. P. D1 | Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) | "PARC has assembled a team of computer scientists, physicists, materials scientists, electrical engineers, and robot experts" to work on/with MEMS (D1) | Micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) will be able to intelligently solve more mundane, day-to-day problems. | Conceptualization of smart paint; "MEMS consist of computer sensors and actuators--moving parts--that range from about 10 microns to about a millimeter in length." (D1); "MEMS differ from nanotechnology…" (D1) | home decoration, electronics, automobile industry, military, architecture, computers, surveillance | MEMS provide the possibility of smart cars, smart paint, and other such consumer products. They will also revolutionize engineering and architectural projects, and military machinery (aircraft and surveillance equipment). |
| 1998-10. 7/98 Vol 19 Iss 7. Beams of Stuff. Discover. P. 76 | Wolfgang Ketterle, MIT physicist; Michael Heller, Nanogen | Ketterle cooled sodium atoms with lasers and magnetics, merged a bunch of atoms into a meta-wave, and generated two separate metawaves in order to take a photograph.; Heller "used synthetic DNA as a molecular support structure to hold light responsive molecules called chromophores..." (76) | Ketterle's 'atom laser' "might someday be used to build microscopic mechanical structures atom by atom" (76); Heller's DNA work will be a stepping-stone for self-assembly nanotech work | Heller's DNA work is being done to increase the storage capacity of CDs. | electronics | Ketterle's work lays the foundation for the tool necessary to begin building any nanotechnology. Heller's DNA work provides the basis for self-assembly necessary for creating nanotech computers and other nano devices. |
| 1998-13 Reucroft, S. 7/20/98. Ancient Rocks Artificial. Boston Globe. P. C5
| University of California at Berkeley, Alex Zettl | "..made a similar ball out of only 36 carbon atoms" (C5) | "…seems to have novel electrical properties that could lead to new electronic devices.." (C5) | "…superconductor at record-high temperatures." (C5) | "The new molecule, like its larger relatives made of 60, 74, and 80 carbon atoms, seems to have
novel electrical properties.." (C5)
| "…the private sector for cutting-edge research and teaching in such high-tech areas as computer graphics, animation and multimedia; advanced forestry technology; and nanotechnology." (C5)
|
| 1998-16. Hotz, R. 9/10/98. Science File: An Exploration of Issues and Trends Affecting Science. LA. P. 2 | Marvin Cohen, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Philip J. Keukes, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories; James R. Heath, UCLA | Currently, "scientists wielding electron beams like arc welders have built experimental structures thousands of times smaller than a human hair…" but lack the precision to create perfect nanomachines. (2); an experimental computer, Teramac, was built with flawed nanotechnology, but is 'smart' enough to "steer around any defect" (2) and is still 100 times faster than a normal PC | "They [nanotube computer circuits] would be a hundred times stronger than steel, as fast as a conventional supercomputer and, best of all, would assemble themselves." (2) | Some percentage of molecules constructed by self-assembly will always be defective; nanotubes form from a mist of heated carbon vapor | computing | The idea of nanotech computers 'fixing' themselves subverts the currently impossible task of building perfect nanotubes and nanochains. This means that nanotech supercomputers are closer to being realized than previously thought. |
| 1998-17. Feeley, G. 10/4/98. Science Fiction and Fantasy. WP. P. X11 | Wil McCarthy, novelist, "Bloom" | Book review - N/A | Review of fictional book | "The 'bloom' of the title is a berserk 'technogenic' virus, a piece of runaway nanotechnology that consumes virtually everything it touches." (X.11) | science fiction – and predicted social implications of nanotechnology | There is a nanotechnological warning, giving a highly fictionalized image of the dangerous path that nanotechnology could lead humanity down. |
| 1998-18. Ackerman, T. 10/27/98. Rice, NASA Team Up to Explore the Uses of Ultrasmall Technology. HC. P. 32 | Rice University (President Malcolm Gillis); NASA (Administrator Dan Goldin) | No information provided | "nanotechnology will fuel a revolution that will at once lower space costs and make space flight safer, help put a man on Mars and allow NASA to detect any existence of life within 600 trillion miles of Earth." (32) | nanotechnology - involves the manufacturing of one-billionth of a meter-scale materials and structures; practitioners move atoms one by one; buckytubes - "rolled-up concentric sheets of buckyballs are 30 to 100 times stronger than steel but about a billionth of a meter in diameter..." (32) | space exploration; power storage; electronics (semi-conductors) | Nanotechnology will "open up the space frontier and the American economy." (32) |
| 1998-20. Dye, L. 11/9/98. The Cutting Edge: Preparing Tiny Nanotubes for Big Role in TV. LA. P. 1 | Zhifeng Ren, University of Buffalo; Alex Zettl, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | "Nanotubes…are created by heating ordinary carbon until it vaporizes, then allowing it to condense in a vacuum or an inert gas." (1); Ren used ammonia as the inert gas, allowing the tubes to be formed below the melting temperature of glass. By coating the glass with varying thicknesses of nickel, Ren can control the diameter of the nanotubes. | If nanotubes that are perfectly aligned can be grown, their potential for use will increase, especially in electronics such as flat panel televisions. | nanotubes - "100 times stronger than steel, can conduct electricity without releasing heat and flawlessly transmit optical signals" (1); Zettl - "carbon nanotubes, depending on the diameter, can conduct an electrical current as if it were a metal…" (1) | electronics, communications | "Nanotubes of varying thickness could be used for everything from extremely strong cables to electrical or optical transmission devices." (1); nanotubes might eventually replace silicon |
| 1999-01. Flinn, E. 1/99 Vol 254 Iss 1. Want Hackers Out? Lock the Door. PS. P. 42 | Frank Peter, Sandia National Laboratories | Peter and his team developed a Recordable Locking Device using MEMS technology. It consists of gears that unlock only when the right code is given. | Theoretically, this device should be about 100 times more effective than a computer firewall. | The device is about the size of a dress-shirt button. | computer security | A practical application for MEMS technology. It is being used to enhance computers, rather than create computers (despite predictions for future nanotech). |
| 1999-02. Einstein, D. 1/4/99. Sci-Fi Writers May Have Envisioned Future of Technology. SFC. P. B1 | William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Greg Bear (sci-fi novelists) | No information provided – science fiction review | "In the not-too-distant future, nanotech could be used to repair a blocked artery or a damaged kidney without surgery." (B.1) | Nanotechnology is the hallmark of many recent science fiction novels | medicine, manufacturing, weaponry | Again, even in fiction nanotechnology's focus is on maintaining the human body, and quickly constructing anything from chairs to buildings. |
| 1999 - 03. Einstein, David. 1/4/99.Stranger than Fiction. The San Fransisco Chronicle. P. B1. | Science Fiction writers, such as Isaac Asimov and David Brin | Science fiction writers are predicting the future of technology in their novels. | Science fiction writers are captivated with the miraculous things nanotechnology can do. | using nanotechnology:
-Greg Bear wrote about self forming weapons
-William Gibson wrote about making buildings
-Neal Stephenson wrote about entire communities being created
What was once science fiction, nanotechnology is now, or soon will be making possible | Biomedical - nanotech in near future will be able to repair a kidney without intrusive surgery | Sci-fi has accurately predicted the future in many technological fields, such as the internet, and if they predict entire residential areas being created with nanotechnology, chances are, it is possible or will be within the near future. |
| 1999-04. Callahan, R. 1/15/99. Scientists make 'machine' out of DNA. Miami Herald. P. 7A | Nadrian Seeman, lead researcher; Daniel Colbert of Rice U's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology | "The device was made by joining two double-stranded DNA spirals with a bridge of DNA. When it's exposed to a particular chemical solution, part of the structure bends." | "Scientists have made a moving part out of a few strands of DNA, a step toward building incredibly tiny 'machines' that could someday perform intricate jobs like building computer circuits and clearing clogged blood vessels in the brain." (7A) | "The DNA device, however, is particularly rigid and executes motions 10 times bigger." (7A) | computers, medical | "However…scientists are still decades away from creating any useful machines in nanotechnology" (7A) |
| 1999-05. Kanaley, R. 1/25/99. A merging of mind and microchip is forecast. PI. P. C01 | Ray Kurzweil, sci fi author | Predictions | Kurzweil speculates about the future, saying that AI will change the world so that the line between humans and computers is blurred with the help of:
"By 2019… nanotechnology will permit the production of transistors just a few atoms wide." (C01) | -Moore's law says that computing power doubles every 18 months
-Kurzweil made first print to speech machine in 1976
-Kurzweil says that computers doubled every three years in the beginning of the century but now they double every one year. | AI, computers, some negative implications | "threat of 'self-replicating nanobots'" (C01) |
| 1999-06. 1/31/99. 7 L.I. Students Reach Intel Competition Finals. NYT. P. 14.LI.4 | Alex Wissner-Gross, Great Neck South High School senior | Report on winners of science awards | Nanotechnology aligned with prizes and awards | Wissner-Gross' entry for the Intel Science Talent Search is based on nanotechnology research. | Prizes and awards | Emerging respect and legitmacy |
| 1999-07. 2/8/99. Science Notebook. WP. P. A09 | Chad A. Mirkin and colleagues, Northwestern University | Mirkin has turned a common 'bug' in the atomic force microscope into a feature, "harnessing the flow of water molecules between tip and substrate to pass the chemical 'ink' through a super-tiny capillary channel to the surface." (A.09) | "The research could have practical implications for nanotechnology… both in testing nanotech concepts and in creating linkages between the nano-sized objects and more conventional microscopic equipment." (A.09) | This discovery is described as "'a miniaturation of a 4,000-year-old technology, the dip pen.'" (A.09) | nanotechnology methods | As mentioned, this process could help further nanotech processes. |
| 1999-08. Ermann, L. 2/14/99. They Have Jobs on the Slide: Microscopic Art; Miniaturists Can Conceive Intricate Worlds on the Head of a Pin. WP. P. G.02 | Edward T. Meyer, VP for publishing at Ripley's Believe It or Not! | Nanotechnology as artwork – moving into new areas | "Nanotechnology can produce just about anything on a microscopic scale" (G.02) | N/A | art | Nanotechnology, here, is regarded as an artificial way to mimic obscure art forms such as rice-grain painting and miniature carvings. |
| 1999-09. Novak, L. 2/14/99. Bizarre Interviews Illegal Question of the Week: 'You Live at Home: Are You a Momma's Boy?' CT. P. 5 | Background and expertise in nanotech is cited as reason for authority | Nanotech as cultural phenomenon | No data cited | In this question-answer column, it is mentioned that one of the questioners is a chemical engineer with Ph.D. work in molecular nanotechnology. | N/A | Nanotech as cultural phenomenon – concept is “stand in” for expertise and authority |
| 1999 - 10. Kurzweil, Ray. 3/1/99. When machines think. Maclean's. P. 54. | Ted Berger - Hedco Neurosciences in LA, Carver Mead - MIT in Boston, Gordon Moore - an inventor of integrated circuits | Moore's Law
"One approach to designing intelligent computers will be to copy the human brain, so these machines will seem very human." (54)
"One approach is to scan a living brain." (54) | "…have built a variety of integrated circuits that emulate the digital - analog characteristics of mammalian neural circuits." (54) | "Once a computer achieves a level of intelligence comparable to human intelligence, it will necessarily soar past it." (54) | "A new pattern of exponential growth will take over from Moore's law, just as Moore's Law took over from discrete transistors, and vacuum tubes before that." (54) | "The next 20 years will see far more change than the previous hundred." (54) (referring to technology changes) – nanotech as essential to progress in computer technology |
| 1999-11. Burghardt, L. 3/14/99. 2 Island Students In Intel Top 10. NYT. P. 14LI.6 | Alex Wissner-Gross, Great Neck South High School senior | "He [Wissner-Gross] studied ionized molecules called fullerenes or 'buckyballs' in a granular medium in order to create tiny computer microchips that are one-billionth of a meter in size." (14LI.6) | to create tiny computer microchips | Nanotech associated with prizes and awards | computers | making computers smaller and faster |
| 1999-13. Sterling, B. 3/29/99. A Century of Science Fiction. TIME. P. 200 | Science Fiction | N/A - overview of sci-fi writing | "SF's saga of the techno-sublime is about power, speed and transcendence of human limit. Ray guns, starships, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, nanotechnology-all beloved of SF, and every last one of them a big Technicolor disruption of the mundane." (200) | Review of science fiction treatments of nanotech | N/A | By positioning nanotechnology within the context of science fiction writing, it gives the impression that it is a romanticized technology, which may turn out to be more interesting in fiction than in reality. |
| 1999-18. Wheeler, M. 7/99 Vol 20 Iss 7. Looking Back at the Future: Ten Years of Discover Awards. Discover. P. 110 | Michael Heller, Nanogen Corporation | "Heller built synthetic DNA containing chromophores, molecules that glow when a laser shines on them." (110) | Since the practical limit to CD-ROM data is related to the size of the laser used to etch the digital bits, only a smaller dot, such as one made by DNA will be able to push storage capacity to the limit. | "Chromophores respond to specific frequencies of laser, so many different dots could be packed into a single spot and be read individually by separate laser flashes." (110) | electronics | This is an example of using nanotechnological means to advance current technologies. |
| 1999-20. Browne, M. 7/5/99. Scientists See Time Chiping Away at Technology. HC. P. 10 | Dr. David Anthony Muller, Lucent Technologies | "The Lucent group discovered by experiment that the insulating silicon dioxide layers in a chip can block a flow of current only if they are thicker than about five silicon atoms deep; if less than this, current leaks through the insulating layer and the chip is rendered useless." (10) | "…at the present pace of chip improvement, technologists will hit a barrier in the year 2012, beyond which further progress with silicon-based chips may not be possible." (10) | Presently the best silicon dioxide insulators are 25 silicon atoms thick. | computers, electronics | Here is the idea that nanotechnology will not bring the revolution in electronics that everyone expects, but instead will fall prey to Nature, with the realization that there is a practical limit to how small things can be made, and the atomic level is beyond our reach. |
| 1999 - 30. Torvik, Solveig. 8/8/99. Is nothing sacred in dog days of August? Seattle Post-Intelligencer. P. G2 | Solveig Torvik - opinion columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer | observance, reading current news - examples | Torvik writes that tradition is a comforting thing, and that in a time where nanotechnology presents the idea of powerful invisible beings running our lives, we should cling to tradition. | -England recently banned fox hunting, a tradition tourists appreciate as being "Europe-esque"
-Women in the U.S. are having their rights taken away by being kicked out of public areas for breastfeeding, again stepping away from tradition | Social implications / aspects of nanotechnology | The author of this article uses nanotechnology as a step away from comfortable tradition, and a big bad scary new idea that soon we will be controlled by invisible nano-bots controlling our bodies. |
| 1999-31. Nicholson, L. 8/12/99. A Speck of Dust that could be the size of the computer of tomorrow. Philadelphia Inquirer. P. F01 | HP; UCLA; DARPA- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; UCLA professor Fraser Stoddart; Meyya Meyyapan- team manager for NASA's research center | creating a logic gate using synthetic molecules: "They took two perpendicular metal wires that were a few millionths of a meter thick, and at the point where the wires crossed, placed a single layer of synthetic molecules called redox-active rotaxanes. When they applied electricity, the molecules switched, changing in shape and in electrical conductivity." (F01) | "A single molecule switch only takes one electron to open or close. It is possible…for a molecular computer to perform a quintillion...operations per second on a single watt of power." (F01) | logic gates: a basic element of computers | computers | potential applications: clothing paint, micro-bot swarms, image data processing, war-gaming simulations |
| 1999-32. Hilkevitch, J. 8/29/99. Lose Weight, The NASA Way Students Gravitate to Houston For A Little Zero-G Action. CT. P. 10 | Scott MacLaren, technical advisor | Class trip to NASA Houston | N/A | One of the advisors for a team of students involved in NASA's college science competition is an expert in molecular nanotechnology. | Societal issues – education of STEM disciplines | If young people have qualified mentors with interests in nanotechnology, it is more likely that in the future we will have a good base of individuals working in the nanotech fields. |
| 1999-35. Riordon, J. 10/99 Vol 255 Iss 4. Tiny Tweezers. PS. P. 35 | Chris Keller, MEMS Precision Instruments | None detailed | Keller plans to market micro elecromechanical tweezers, designed to manipulate objects between 1 and 11 microns, within a year | "techniques borrowed from computer chip manufacturing have been used to build a variety of tiny machines with levers, gears, and springs measured in tens of microns." (35); the tweezers are MEMS devices mounted on computerized actuators | medicine, nanotechnology | The MEMS are a first step to begin building actual nanotech machines. There is also mention of a medical use of the tweezers, namely to operate on tiny surfaces such as retinas or embryos. |
| 1999-36. Sinha, G. 10/99 Vol 255 Iss 4. Tiny Test Tubes. PS. P. 36 | scientists at Stanford University | "Researchers build the vesicles by placing an artificial membrane on top of the chemical they want to study, which is dissolved in a liquid such as alcohol. Lowering the air pressure above the membrane causes the alcohol to evaporate, forming bubbles in the membrane that trap the target chemical." (36) | Nano as methodology in chemical and medical applications | Scientists have been able to study the inner portions of cells using manmade miniature containers called vesicles. | medicine | Here is a practical use of a tiny nano or MEM structure. |
| 1999 - 37. Gillmor, Dan. 10/15/99. San Jose Mercury News. No page | K. Eric Drexler-chairman of Foresight Institute, Physicist Richard Feynman, Ralph C. Merkle at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center | "…proposed building matter molecule by molecule, or even atom by atom." | Nanotechnology is moving squarely into the head of plain old science. | Nanotechnology…will surely revolutionize materials science and could effectively redefine much of our environment, if not our lives. | "…the conversations will also inevitably move into metaphysical planes as well because molecular engineering raises massive legal, economic, ethical and even moral questions." | "When we can manipulate individual molecules, even atoms, we can create new (or at least better) materials. But we will also be able to create the tiniest machines that could do all kinds |