Tag: nanotech

Researchers Create Low-Power Nanowire Artificial Synapses

ONW synaptic transistor

South Korean scientists from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology appear to have cleared the largest obstacle to the feasibility of building brain-like computers: power consumption. In their paper “Organic core-sheath nanowire artificial synapses with femtojoule energy consumption,” published in the June 17th edition of Science Advances, …

Continue reading

FedEx Institute Launches Robotics Research Center

FedEx Institute of Technology

The FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis announced today that they will be launching a new robotics research center focused on developing robot technology with everyday uses. The new research center, the first since the FedEx Institute opened in 2003, will be initially funded by FedEx Corporation with corporate and government sponsorships …

Continue reading

Nanoscale Spring Thermometer

NewScientist.com has a brief article today about the work done by Nicholas Kotov at the University of Michigan in developing a nanoscale spring thermometer. Traditional spring thermometers, also known as bimetal thermometers, consist of two thin metallic layers, usually iron and copper joined together to make a strip that is often formed into a coil. …

Continue reading

Nanotech Pioneer Richard Smalley Dies

Richard Smalley

Nobel prize winner Richard Smalley, co-discoverer of fullerene and one of the most prominent and well-respected nanotechnology researchers in the world, passed away today after a six year battle with cancer. He was 62 years old. Dr. Smalley shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene with Robert Curl, another Rice …

Continue reading

UC Riverside’s Nano-Walker

UC Riverside 9,10-dithioanthracene Walker

Only last week we learned about a nanoscale car developed by researchers at Rice University. Today BoingBoing points us to this news release from the University of California at Riverside about a molecule that scientists there have developed that can move in a straight line in a manner that mimics human walking. The research team, …

Continue reading

Clay Nanotubes

Halloysite

CNET News.com published an article today about NaturalNano, a New York nanotech company that has taken the unique approach of using clay as a carrier in it’s nanotube applications. Halloysite is a naturally occurring clay mineral made up of primarily aluminum, silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Historically used for making porcelain, bone and fine china, researchers …

Continue reading

The World’s Smallest Car

Nanocar

LiveScience.com is reporting that scientists at Rice University have invented the world’s smallest car. At a mere 4 nanometers wide, the car is able to roll on its buckyball wheels. While other teams have been able to make vehicle-shaped nano machines, this car is the first to actually roll versus sliding along the surface as …

Continue reading

Minature Self-Assembling Robots

LiveScience.com has published an article regarding the research work done by Joseph Jacobson of the Molecular Machines group at MIT in developing minature robots that mimic the way living cells replicate DNA. In order for a cell to replicate it’s DNA, enzymes known as polymerases in the nucleus read the structure of the DNA and …

Continue reading

Kurzweil: Singularity by 2045

Ray Kurzweil

CNET posted an interview with one of my favorite authors, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil to promote his new book “The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.” Kurzweil, whose previous books include “The Age of Intelligent Machines” and “The Age of Spiritual Machines,” predicts that we will reach the Singularity, a time when changes to …

Continue reading