Monthly Archives: April 2011

Public indifferent to nanotechnology risks?

1 Reply

According to a recent study the public isn’t concerned about nanotechnology risks, from the April 12, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

A new study (“Comparing nanoparticle risk perceptions to other known EHS risks” [published online in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, DOI: 10.1007/s11051-011-0325, behind a paywall]) finds that the general public thinks getting a suntan poses a greater public health risk than nanotechnology or other nanoparticle applications. The study, from North Carolina State University, compared survey respondents’ perceived risk of nanoparticles with 23 other public-health risks.
…

“For example, 19 of the other public-health risks were perceived as more hazardous, including suntanning and drinking alcohol,” says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the study. “The only things viewed as less risky were cell-phone use, blood transfusions, commercial air travel and medical X-rays.”

In fact, 60 percent of respondents felt that nanoparticles posed either no health risk or only a slight health risk.

In reading this news item I noticed that they mentioned suntans as being perceived as more high risk than nanoparticles. It seems to me that there’s been a great deal more work done to convince people that getting a suntan is a risky proposition compared to warning people about nanoparticles. Huge, huge amounts of money have been spent on public education and publicity about the risks posed by exposure to sunlight. Of course, it took a lot of work and money to determine that exposure to sunlight can pose risks in the first place. At this point, we don’t know very much about nanoparticles at all.

Blood, memristors, cyborgs plus brain-controlled computers, prosthetics, and art

3 Replies

The memristor, a circuit element that quite interests me [April 7, 2010 posting], seems to be moving from being a purely electrical engineering term to one that’s used metaphorically to describe biological processes in a way that is transforming my understanding of machine/human (and other animal) interfaces from a science fiction concept to reality.

March 2, 2011 Kate McAlpine wrote an article for the New Scientist which suggested that skin has memristive properties while noting that the same has been said of the brain. From Sweat ducts make skin a memristor,

Synapses, junctions between neurons in the brain, display electrical behaviour that depends on past activity and are said to behave like memristors. This has raised the prospect of using memristors as the basis of an artificial brain.

Now, by re-examining data from the early 1980s on the electrical conductivity of human skin in response to various voltages, Gorm Johnsen and his colleagues at the University of Oslo in Norway have uncovered a more prosaic example of memristive behaviour in nature.

They found that when a negative electrical potential is applied to skin on various parts of the arm, creating a current, that stretch of skin exhibits a low resistance to a subsequent current flowing through the skin. But if the first potential is positive relative to the skin, then a subsequent potential produces a current that meets with a much higher resistance. In other words, the skin has a memory of previous currents. The finding is due to be published in Physical Review E.
The researchers attribute skin’s memristor behaviour to sweat pores.

More recently, there’s been some excitement about a research team in India that’s working with blood so they can eventually create a ‘liquid memristor’. Rachel Courtland wrote a brief item on the ‘blood memristor’ on April 1, 2011 for the IEEE Tech Talk blog,

S.P. Kosta of the Education Campus Changa in Gujarat, India and colleagues have published a paper in the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics showing that human blood changes its electrical resistance depending on how much voltage is applied. It also seems to retain memory of this resistance for at least five minutes.

The team says that makes human blood a memristor: the fourth in the family of fundamental circuit elements that includes the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor. Proposed in 1971, the memristor’s existence wasn’t proven until 2008, when HP senior fellow Stanley Williams and colleagues demonstrated a memristor device made of doped titanium dioxide.

There was also a March 30, 2011 news item about the Indian research titled, Blood simple circuitry for cyborgs, on Nanowerk, which provided this information,

They [the research team] constructed the laboratory-based biological memristor using a 10 ml test tube filled with human blood held at 37 Celsius into which two electrodes are inserted; appropriate measuring instrumentation was attached. The experimental memristor shows that resistance varies with applied voltage polarity and magnitude and this memory effect is sustained for at least five minutes in the device.

Having demonstrated memristor behavior in blood, the next step was to test that the same behavior would be observed in a device through which blood is flowing. This step was also successful. The next stage will be to develop a micro-channel version of the flow memristor device and to integrate several to carry out particular logic functions. This research is still a long way from an electronic to biological interface, but bodes well for the development of such devices in the future.

Kit Eaton in an April 4, 2011 article (Electronics Made from Human Blood Cells Suggest Cyborg Interfaces, Spark Nightmares) on the Fast Company website gives more details about possible future applications,

Ultimately, the fact that a biological system could be used to interact with a hard semiconductor system could revolutionize biomechanics. That’s because wiring devices like cochlear implants, nerve-triggered artificial limbs and artificial eyeballs into the body at the moment involves a terribly difficult integration of metal wiring–with all the associated risk of infection and rejection. Plus it’s really a very promising first step toward making a cyborg. Countdown to military interest in this tech in 5…4…3…

It should be noted that the team in India is working towards applications in neuroprosthetics. As for the Norwegian team with their ‘sweat duct/skin memristor’, the article did not specify what types of applications, if any, their work might lead to.

As evidenced by the research covered in these news items, the memristor seems to be drifting or, more accurately, developing a second identity/ghost identity as the term is applied to biological processes.

The body as a machine is a notion that’s been around for a while as has the notion of combining the two. The first notion is a metaphor while the second is a staple in science fiction which, in a minor way, has found a home in the real life practice of body hacking where someone implants a magnetic or computer chip into their body (my May 27, 2010 posting). So the memristor becoming a metaphor for certain biological processes doesn’t seem something new but rather the next step in a process that’s well on its way.

Two students at Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada) recently announced that they had developed a brain-controlled prosthetic. From the March 30, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Two Ryerson University undergraduate biomedical engineering students are changing the world of medical prosthetics with a newly developed prosthetic arm that is controlled by brain signals. The Artificial Muscle-Operated (AMO) Arm not only enables amputees more range of movement as compared to other prosthetic arms but it allows amputees to avoid invasive surgeries and could potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars. The AMO Arm is controlled by the user’s brain signals and is powered by ‘artificial muscles’ – simple pneumatic pumps and valves – to create movements. In contrast, traditional prosthetic limbs – which typically offer more limited movements – rely on intricate and expensive electrical and mechanical components.

Developed by third-year student Thiago Caires and second-year student Michal Prywata, the AMO Arm is controlled by the brain and uses compressed air as the main source of power. The digital device makes use of signals in the brain that continue to fire even after a limb is amputated. Users wear a head-set that senses a signal – for example, the thought “up” – and sends it wirelessly to a miniature computer in the arm. The computer then compares the signal to others in a database. The resulting information is sent to the pneumatic system, which in turn, activates the arm to create the correct movement. Simulating the expansion and contraction of real muscles, the system makes use of compressed air from a small, refillable tank in the user’s pocket.

I think what they mean is that the components are not traditionally electrical and mechanical but in fact informed by emerging technologies and the science that supports them. After all, the computer must run on some kind of electricity and brain activity (wireless signals from the brain will be controlling the prosthetic) is often described as electrical. The result is that the human and the machine are effectively made one since the prosthetic arm is controlled as if it were ‘biological’ arm.

On another part of the spectrum, Iraqui artist Wafaa Bilal made headlines recently when he had a camera implanted into the back of his head creating a third eye. Designed to be a one year project, the artist had to remove the camera when he developed an infection at the site of one of the metal posts used to anchor the camera to his head. From the Feb. 11, 2011 BBC news item,

An artist who had a camera implanted into the back of his head has been forced to remove it after his body rejected part of the device.

Iraqi-born Wafaa Bilal had surgery last week to remove one of three posts holding the camera in place as it posed a risk of infection.

The camera had been taking a photo every minute as part of a year-long project.

Wafaa Bilal and camera (image downloaded from BBC website)

(The artist would like to try it again but, in the meantime, has slung the camera around his neck as a substitute.)

In Bilal’s case, the body is being significantly altered as the machine (camera) is implanted in a place (back of head) where no animal has them located.

What I’m getting at with all of this is that at the same time we seem to be expanding the memristor’s meaning from a term used to describe a concept in electrical engineering to include biological processes, we are exploring new ways of integrating machinery into our bodies. In effect our relationships to our bodies and machines are changing and that change can be traced in the language we use to describe ourselves.
 

NanoArt coming from Germany to New York

Leave a reply

The following image is part of a NanoArt show being held by the German Center for Research and Innovation at German House in New York (US) from April 13 – June 10, 2011.

NanoPearls (image provided by Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE); Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM); Center for NanoScience (CeNS) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr; Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS e.V.); or Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)

From the April 11, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

The German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI), in cooperation with the Consortium of the Ruhr Universities (ConRuhr) and the Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), is proud to announce the opening of the NanoArt New York exhibition. The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, April 13, at 8:00 p.m., at the German House New York (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48th & 49th Streets), where the exhibition can be viewed during office hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00 p.m., until June10. Nanoart is a new discipline where science and technology meet art. The NanoArt exhibition features art taken directly from the labs of German research institutions and brings it to the gallery. The 50 images on display show the ways in which materials have completely different and widely variable properties on the nano scale, where one nanometer equals one billionth of a meter. A kaleidoscope of textures and colors, NanoArt New York brings order and chaos, mountains and valleys, the heavens and hedgehogs, all invisible to the naked eye to life – in liquid, solid, luminescent, multi-colored atom arrangements and patterns.

There are more images on Nanowerk or you can go to the German Center for Research and Innovation’s NanoArt New York webpage. To whet your appetite, here’s one more,

NanoExpressionists (image provided by Center for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE); Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM); Center for NanoScience (CeNS) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr; Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS e.V.); or Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

NanoProfessor education programme comes to the University of Calgary

1 Reply

In what appears to be a Canadian first, the University of Calgary has purchased a nanotechnology curriculum, NanoProfessor, from a company that also sells nanofabrication products, NanoInk. From the April 11, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

NanoProfessor™, a division of NanoInk, Inc.® focused on nanotechnology education, announced today that the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada is the first school in Canada to implement the NanoProfessor Nanoscience Education Program. The University of Calgary’s Nanoscience program aims to provide participants with working knowledge of nanotechnology and valuable exposure to cutting-edge instrumentation used to fabricate nanomaterials. The NanoProfessor Program helps the University of Calgary meet this objective by providing instrumentation, curriculum, and hands-on labs to expand students’ understanding, skills, and real-world experience needed to succeed in the growing nanotechnology industry.

“We are proud to be the first school in Canada to implement the cutting-edge NanoProfessor Nanoscience Education Program. We are committed to providing our students with a meaningful education based on the principle of learning science by doing science,” said David Cramb, Director of the Nanoscience program at the University of Calgary. “Not only does the NanoProfessor Program enhance our ability to provide students with a practical learning experience, but NanoInk’s NLP 2000 Desktop Nanofabrication System allows us to expand our research capability through the versatility of Dip Pen Nanolithography® (DPN®).”

This reminds me of some of the product placement on television programmes but here the product placement is part of the curriculum. As I recall, Apple pioneered this technology incursion into schools. The idea being that if you give (or sell computers for a good price to schools) so children learn using your equipment they are more likely to purchase it as they look to own it for themselves.

Here’s a bit more about NanoProfessor,

NanoProfessor is an exciting and comprehensive Nanoscience Education Program combining cutting-edge desktop nanofabrication instruments with a stimulating curriculum. Students will be immersed into the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology through real hands-on experience in building custom-engineered nanoscale structures. With an incredible range of new applications from building solar cells to fighting cancer cells, nanotechnology is the future of science and engineering education.

And for more about NanoInk, you can go here.

By the way, I have an interview with David Cramb in my March 8, 2010 posting.

Winslow Homer, Van Gogh, and nanotechnology

1 Reply

A few years back I wrote up a story about Winslow Homer and his painting, For to Be a Farmer’s Boy, which had a nanotechnology angle. The painting,part f the Art Institute of Chicago’s (AIC) collection, was examined using the Surface Enhanced Raman Spectrometry (SERS) technique and I found the art conservation application so interesting I included the story in my The Nanotech Mysteries wiki on the Scientists get artful page.

The April 5, 2011 article [ETA: Link added Feb. 10, 2013] by Francesca Casadio on physorg.com  has more technical detail about the conservation process and the painting. It also mentions The Bedroom by Van Gogh,

… they are both displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Homer’s painting represents a high point in the career of America’s premiere watercolorist, while Van Gogh’s painting is perhaps one of most recognizable paintings in the world. However, they also share a key physical trait.

“These breathtaking artworks are both painted with colorants that are sensitive to light, or, as we say in museums, they are ‘fugitive,’ meaning they quickly vanish if exposed to too much light,” says Francesca Casadio, A.W. Mellon senior conservation scientist at the AIC. “Fading can dramatically change the color balance of fragile works of art and go so far as to obfuscate, in part, the artist’s intended effect.”

Here’s how it works,

By using a colloidal suspension of silver nanoparticles as a “performance enhancing drug,” researchers, for the first time, can identify natural organic colorants on a single grain of pigment otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

SERS analysis
Indeed, only a handful of pigment particles were available from the Homer watercolor. Compared to reference 19th century watercolor pigments available at AIC, these colorants were identified as Indian purple (cochineal precipitated with copper sulfate) and madder purple, two natural dyestuffs derived from an insect and vegetable-root sources, respectively.
The results indicate that in Homer’s For to Be a Farmer’s Boy, the “empty” sky once depicted a vibrant autumn sunset, with organic purples and reds, in addition to inorganic reds and yellows.

The Art Institute of Chicago has a page about this painting where they have a digital simulation that allows you to see the original before and after the restoration.

I did cover Van Gogh’s The Bedroom in a March 16, 2010 posting (scroll down) about the Amsterdam Museum and its restoration efforts. The museum staff wrote a blog about the painting and the process as they restored it. The last posting on the blog indicates that The Bedroom was going to be in Japan until April 10, 2011 and then it was being returned to the Amsterdam Museum. I wonder if the painting’s current residency at the AIC is a consequence of the earthquake, tsunami, and reactor situations in Japan.

Science writing prize for nonprofessional writers

2 Replies

The prize is 1000 pounds and it’s for writing an article about science. As far as I can tell, there are no residency requirements, i.e., you don’t have to be a resident of the UK to qualify for this competition [ETA April 8, 2011: Yes, you do have to be resident in the UK or Ireland according to my commenter and to GrrlScientist’s April 8, 2011 postiing] which is being held by Wellcome Trust, the Guardian, and The Observer. Here’s more from the April 7, 2011 article by Alok Jha on the Guardian website,

Our competition kicks off today to find talented new science writers.The Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2011 in association with Guardian and The Observer aims to celebrate new voices in the ever-growing ecosystem of science journalism.
We want to identify some of the best writing about the remarkable ideas and stories emerging from the world’s laboratories, field trips and research journals. If you can enthuse people about cutting-edge particle physics or the latest developments in synthetic biology, this is the competition for you.

The deadline for entry is May 20, 2011. Here are some more details from Jha’s article,

… in summary, we’re looking for an 800-word article from non-professional writers suitable for publication on guardian.co.uk, in the Guardian or The Observer. There will be two prizes, one for professional scientists and another for everyone else.
The entries can be traditional newspaper features or writing suitable for the web that utilises the medium in an innovative and appropriate way. Bear in mind, however, that this prize is primarily about the writing and is not meant as a way of recognising expert programming skills or multimedia.

For an entry and more information you can go to the Wellcome Trust website.

Arts-science prize now an international competition

Leave a reply

I’m not sure what’s happening but I’m losing more features from my blogging software as I update to the newest versions. (A few weeks I lost the ability to use my linking features and now I’ve lost access to my entire visual editor.) I apologize, this is probably not going to look pretty.

There’s an art-science competition in France which is being opened to international participation. From the April 5, 2011 news item (http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=20863.php) on Nanowerk,

The Arts-Sciences Workshop, a common innovation initiative between CEA-Grenoble and the Hexagone Scène Nationale de Meylan, in partnership with the Cultural Center for Scientific and Industrial Engineering (CCSTI) in Grenoble, has issued a call for projects. The 2011 Art.Research.Technology.Science prize is open to an international audience for the first time. It will reward projects that cross the artistic, technological, and scientific domains in three research areas of CEA/Grenoble:
• New energy technologies for transportation, mobile electronics, solar energy, energy storage and nanomaterials
• New technologies for information and communication, microsystems, imaging, lighting, display and bio/health
• Living and materials sciences The winner will receive a research partnership with a CEA laboratory and a cash award of 30,000 euros to be used in the fulfilment of the project. For this third year of the prize, the Arts-Sciences Workshop has expanded its offer to include a second prize, a jury’s pick and a special reward for students. The deadline for entries is May 18, 2011. Prizes will be awarded in October at the Rencontres-I, Biennial Arts-Sciences 2011.

The materials on the site are in both French and English although it seems to me that if you apply and win the prize you may want to brush up on your French language since this involves a residency. The ARTS Prize website: http://www.atelier-arts-sciences.eu/index.php/en/component/content/article/61/396-prix-arts-2011.html

Not enough money for Canadian business schools? Canada Foundation for Innovation replies

Leave a reply

March 22, 2011 (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=3151)  I posted about a  interview with Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, about Canadian business schools, innovation and research that was published in the March 16, 2011, Globe & Mail newspaper. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/business-education/canada-will-shrivel-under-business-school-neglect-dean-says/article1942997/page2/). In response to this interview question, Martin made the claim the Canada Foundation for Innovation funded a greater numbers of arts funding requests and humanities funding requests over business funding requests,

Wouldn’t some people argue leadership comes as much from the liberal arts and other social sciences?

We’re getting liberal arts education, but the arts are getting an incredibly rich allocation of the money at all levels. It is only business that is not.

Of all the money given out by the Canada Foundation for Innovation [CFI], a big federal grants program, nine times more has gone to arts and literature than to business. I am not even talking social and human sciences – that is 41 times.

The view is that having educated managers is not relevant to economic success. We assume we need educated lawyers to have good law firms; we need educated scientists to have good science; you need educated engineers to have good engineering, but in business it is assumed you do not need education.

There was a response from the president and CEO (chief executive officer) of the CFI in the March 18, 2011 issue of the Globe & Mail. The paper published an excerpt, this is the full text of the response (received by request from the CFI media relations coordinator, Yves Melanson),

I read with interest the report of your interview with Roger Martin in Wednesday’s edition of the Globe and Mail on the “Lack of government research funding for business education”. As President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), I was particularly interested by the reference made to the CFI.

Your readers might be interested to know that the Canada Foundation for Innovation was created by the Government of Canada to support state-of-the-art infrastructure (facilities and equipment), in universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions, allowing them to: a) attract/retain the world’s top talent; b) conduct world-class research and technology development that leads to social, economic and environmental benefits to Canada; c) train the next generation of highly qualified personnel; and d) support private-sector innovation that strengthens Canada’s position in today’s knowledge economy.

The CFI is called upon to invest in equipment, laboratories, information databases and computing systems required by all researchers, including those in our business schools. The CFI does not allocate funding to any specific discipline or area of research. Applications are submitted by the institutions to the CFI and funding is awarded through highly competitive programs. All applications, whether they are in health, science or business administration are judged according to the same criteria – excellence and the benefits to Canada. Moreover, the CFI requires that applications be well aligned with the university’s overall Strategic Research Plan.

While the success rate of applications from business schools compares favourably to the overall CFI success rate, the number of applications from business schools is surprisingly low. Of the more than 900 applications in the humanities and social sciences that have been submitted to the CFI to date, only 50 came from business schools (with a 70% success rate). [emphasis mine] Researchers in our business schools have received CFI research infrastructure funding, and, given the high quality of their research, will no doubt receive more in the future. The CFI’s doors are open to business school researchers, and will remain so, but they must apply!

Gilles G. Patry
President and CEO
Canada Foundation for Innovation

I haven’t seen responses from the other funding agencies but based on this one from the CFI, it would seem that the business schools are not pursuing the grants available to them for research.

Alberta’s Wonderville and Ireland’s The Frog Blog

1 Reply

Humphrey Jones and Jeremy Stone, science teachers at St. Columba’s College, Dublin, Ireland created and maintain The Frog Blog. And, in one of those crazy ways that the web and social media connect us all, on March 31, 2011 they posted about Wonderville (http://www.frogblog.ie/2011/03/wonderville.html?spref=tw).

Shockingly, Wonderville is a science education online website designed by the folks at the Alberta Science Council and I’d never heard about it even though I live in the province next door. It took a pair of blogging science teachers from Ireland to point me in that direction. From the March 31, 2011 posting on The Frog Blog,

Wonderville is a brilliant website containing some amazing interactive resources to support science teaching. This award-winning site aims to encourage exploration and curiosity, while helping kids discover how much fun science can be. There are over 30 interactive games covering many different science themes including “thing created using science”, “things in our world and beyond”, “things you just can’t see” and “things and how they work”. … (There is a great feature too – as you explore the site you pick up puzzle pieces along the way and a counter on top of the page records your progress – brilliant for young kids!)

As you might expect, there’s a lot of information about nanotechnology at Wonderville. I have looked at the material briefly and it seems they are trying to communicate to a range of ages. I saw one video which was encouraging kids to embark on a ‘nanotechnology’ career and an animation (highlighted by the folks at The Frog Blog) suitable for grade school.

From the Wonderville website About page (http://www.wonderville.ca/information/about-wonderville/),

Wonderville is a fun, interactive destination for kids to discover the exciting world of science. This award-winning site encourages exploration and curiosity, while helping kids discover how much fun science can be.

Who provides wonderville.ca?

Wonderville is brought to you by the Science Alberta Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to increasing science literacy and awareness. SAF develops engaging resources that bring math and science to life and foster an enthusiasm for science and technology.

Games

Adventure through the wide selection of more than 30 games at wonderville. Building science knowledge has never been so much fun! These exciting games, designed with leading learning techniques, will have kids learning challenging concepts without even knowing it.

Activities

Need a way to bring more science into your kid’s life? Look to our activities section. We have a wide selection of science crosswords, word search puzzles and printable activity sheets that will turn science into a fun adventure at home!

Videos

For kids wondering how they will ever use science, there are videos that explore real-life applications of science concepts. Many videos provide an exciting behind the scenes look at science-based careers for those kids exploring a world full of fascinating careers.

Comics

Laughing at our comics is a great way to learn engaging science facts. Kids will be able to not only better understand a topic but also see how science is present into their everyday lives.

The Science Content

While having fun with wonderville’s games, activities, videos and comics, kids will be presented with interesting science facts. Of course, all of these facts are vetted by experts to ensure accuracy.

What is the cost to use wonderville.ca?

Free! There is no cost to use all of the amazing resources available on wonderville.ca. This site is made possible by grants from SAF sponsors and donors.

As for The Frog Blog itself, they have adopted an eclectic and fun approach to science education and, if you should go there, you may want to peruse a number of the postings. To whet your appetite, here’s the Nano animation mentioned earlier,

I got curious about the name of the school, St. Columba,  so I went looking for some information about that saint. From the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04136a.htm),

He was not only a great missionary saint who won a whole kingdom to Christ, but he was a statesman, a scholar, a poet, and the founder of numerous churches and monasteries. His name is dear to Scotsmen and Irishmen alike. And because of his great and noble work even non-Catholics hold his memory in veneration.

There you have it. Irish science teachers rock!