Not Necessarily Relevant Quote of the Week: I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches. — Alice Roosevelt Longworth …
Blogs / Responsible Nanotechnology
View all »
Latest posts
-
Simple Philosophy
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2008/05/simple-philosop.html -
Media Warming Confusion
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2008/05/media-warming-c.htmlYou may already have seen some of these misleading headlines: The UK Telegraph says, “Global warming may 'stop', scientists predict” — “… Researchers studying long-term changes in sea temperatures said they now expect a ‘lull’ for up to a decade.” National Geographic News blares, “Cooler Climate May Hit N. …
-
Top-Bottom & Wet-Dry
http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2008/05/top-bottom-wet.htmlThe NIST press release that we wrote about on Tuesday contained this passage: In his 1986 book, The Engines of Creation, K. Eric Drexler set down the long-term aim of nanotechnology—to create an assembler, a microscopic device, a robot, that could construct yet smaller devices from individual atoms and molecules. …
View all »
589 blog reactions
-
Amy Winehouse Amassing Ever More Friends in High Places
http://www.hans.co.za/dot/hans-amy-winehouse-amassing-ever-h...raises a difficult moral question. Before considering it, let's review the scope of the devastation: Burma, already the poorest country in Southeast Asia, shows all the signs of total collapse. It's been four days since the killer cyclone ripped ..[next]. If you have a craving for south africa, then come and enjoy. (more…)
-
Climate Talk Sea Change
http://franshise.us/2008/05/climate-talk-sea-change/For the first time in a long time, we’re seeing some encouraging signs in the climate change debate — shifting from *whether* global warming is a problem, to how we might best *manage* the problem. read more | digg story
-
Will NIST's Proto-Prototype Nano Assembler Lead to Prototypical Mechanosynthesis?
http://blogs.spectrum.ieee.org/tech_talk/2008/05/will_nists_...research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) using MEMS devices to move atoms instead of employing atomic force microscopes (AFMs) as mentioned in the article has opened up the possibility for a new tool in nanomanipulation. Radical nanotechnology proponents are heralding it as an enabling technology for molecular manufacturing. One of the knocks on STM and AFM nanomanipulation, at least in terms of it being “protypical mechanosynthesis”, is that the manipulation does not involve
-
Fermi And Mike Treder Say We're Dead
http://creativepark.net/http://creativepark.net/blog/entry/i...Via Responsible Nanotechnology: CRN is running an article called The Fermi Death Sentence, which infers that there must be some barrier preventing advanced civilizations from forming. The Fermi Paradox, of course, concerns itself with the mathematical probability of life and finds
-
Fermi And Mike Treder Say We're Dead
http://creativepark.net/blog/entry/id/1113Via Responsible Nanotechnology: CRN is running an article called The Fermi Death Sentence, which infers that there must be some barrier preventing advanced civilizations from forming. The Fermi Paradox, of course, concerns itself with the mathematical probability of life and finds
-
Horizon Scanning
http://yournewssite.info/2008/04/28/news/horizon-scanning/24. Adoption of monetary value as the key criterion in conservation decision-making 25. Public antagonism towards wildlife due to perceived human health threat Of course, ‘nanotechnologies’ is a big category, which can include both current threats such as environmental and health risks from nanoparticle exposure, in addition to longer-term risks associated with advanced nanotechnology. Trevor Maynard, Manager of Emerging Risks at Lloyd’s, says:
-
Vertical Farming in NYC?
http://yournewssite.info/2008/04/26/news/vertical-farming-in...but they certainly are an intriguing concept. I'm especially enamored by this proposed project, just a few miles from where I live: You can read much more about vertical farming in this long entry at the TreeHugger blog, and also here on our blog. Mike Treder
-
Links for 2008-04-25 [del.icio.us]
http://sentientdevelopments.blogspot.com/2008/04/links-for-2...Geoengineering: Go slow! Carbon reduction: Hurry! (Mike Treder) We have a serious problem on our hands, and the cure might turn out worse than the disease.Degrees of Visibility (Centauri Dreams) The more we learn about how our activities might be detected elsewhere, the better, and I think that raising the issue
-
Geoengineering: Go slow! Carbon reduction: Hurry!
http://yournewssite.info/2008/04/25/news/geoengineering-go-s..., whereby algal blooms are stimulated to encourage the capture of CO2 from the atmosphere. None of these plans have been proven on a large scale, and most are infeasible due to high costs or potentially dangerous side effects. As we have stated before, CRN believes that some geoengineering approaches may have merit, but that they should be studied in great detail before being attempted, and that they should be modeled extensively and, if possible, trial tested. The risk of unanticipated consequences
-
The Dawn of the Molecular Age?
http://brittgillette.com/WordPress/?p=78occur in nature for the express purpose of enabling chemical reactions. This is a major stepping stone in the goal of human computational control of chemical reactions and eventual human control over all matter itself. Read more on the CRN blog: “Nanotechnology Milestone” Nanotechnology Milestone #2: (“Nano-Brain”) Essentially a molecular switch, scientists in Japan have created a molecular device which can be used to send messages to other molecular devices. This “chemical brain” is actually a single
