I took a few days off from posting due to traveling for the holidays, but I’m back and ready for action. Here’s a few good links that eluded my all-seeing eye while I was away: FuturePundit writes about tiny photovoltaic cells – described as “glitter-sized” – that could be embedded in clothing and other places [...]
Posts under ‘Nanotechnology’
Humanpl.us Linkstravaganza – 12/22/09
Lots of good stuff appearing over the last couple of days: Singularity Hub has a roundup of the “best robots of 2009” which includes a ton of video. You’ll see robots that build, robots that run, and even a robot that looks like a real, live human woman that got lost wandering the uncanny valley. [...]
Just in time for winter: a nano-snowman
Dr. David Cox of Britain’s National Physical Laboratory created this tiny snowman that is just 0.01 mm across. Beautiful! Made of two tiny tin beads usually used to calibrate electron microscope lenses, the snowman was built by the National Physical Laboratory. It was assembled using tools designed to manipulate nano-particles, and welded together with tiny [...]
In time for Thanksgiving: Human health continues to improve
Here in the United States, we’re getting ready to celebrate the beginning of what’s regarded as the “holiday season” with Thanksgiving, a time to reflect on the things we’re thankful for. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I spend a lot of time looking forward to scientific advances yet to come, which sometimes [...]
Your next surgeon may be a robot
Employing nanobots to patrol the blood vessels of the human body and repair damage along the way is still a couple decades away, at least, but doctors are already employing small robots that patients can swallow to perform remote surgeries. Some of these robots are even capable of being swallowed as separate components and then [...]
A visual journey through the micro and nanoscale
The tip of this atomic force microscope is only a “few atoms wide.” A feature at NewScientist takes readers on a “joyride through the nanoscale” with ultra-magnified images of relatively exotic instruments like the atomic force microscope pictured above, to more pedestrian shots like grooves of a record. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s difficult for [...]
Gadget site highlights “enhanced human future”
This week, popular gadget site Gizmodo is highlighting how humans will integrate technology into their bodies in a series they’re calling “This Cyborg Life.” It’s about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature’s ultimate machine. So far, posts have ranged from the practical [...]
“Gray goo” and hostile AI low on potential threat scale
If you’re like me, you are looking forward to the predicted singularity and the inevitable major advances in technology that will occur this century. However, there’s always the thought that things could go horribly wrong – self-replicating nanomachines could create “gray goo,” AI could turn against its creators, and so on. According to Mike Treder [...]
Nice primer on “How Nanotechnology Works”
Most transhuman thinkers, speakers and writers recognize the great promise that nanotechnology holds for one day allowing us to enhance our bodies and our environment. Nanotech may allow for the creation of super-strong materials, tiny machines that can repair damage in the body, and even devices that can build anything out of the building blocks [...]
Inside Singularity University
For those of us who would love to attend Singularity University but are unable, Ted Greenwald at Wired is reporting on presentations taking place at the Singularity University Executive program, and it sounds like there has been some fascinating discussion. On the first day, attendees were treated to a presentation on the singularity by none [...]