The catalogue of 53 nanotechnology companies that Spain has produced is part of a national nanotechnology action plan according to the July 5, 2011 news item on Azonano,
At the end of 90’s, Spain had not any institutional framework nor initiative pointed towards the support and promotion of R&D in Nanotechnology. This fact pushed the scientific community to promote several initiatives to strengthen research in Nanotechnology and, at the same time, to raise the awareness of Public Administration and industry about the need to support this emergent field. In parallel, numerous companies dedicated to N&N arouse, many of them spin-offs emerging from research centers.
The Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) conscious of the importance of this field to the development and growth of Spanish companies decided to launch 5 years ago an action plan on Nanotechnology, which Phantoms Foundation coordinates. Within this framework, in 2011 a catalogue that gathers 53 companies working in N&N was launched.
A $5.5M pilot plant to produce NCC (nanocrystalline cellulose) in Alberta has been announced. From the July 5, 2011 news release,
It’s super strong, it’s green and it’s providing new opportunities for business in Alberta. It’s called nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) and Alberta is about to become a leader in its production and study. A new Edmonton-based pilot facility will be the first in Canada to produce the quality of NCC that researchers need to fully explore all its potential applications. [emphasis mine]
The $5.5-million pilot plant, created through a collaboration of the provincial and federal governments in partnership with industry under the Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA), will use wood and straw pulp, like that from flax and hemp, to create up to 100 kg per week of NCC for testing in commercial applications leading to production. [emphasis mine]
Interestingly, there’s no mention of the NCC pilot plant in Québec; my May 31, 2011 posting highlights information about their 3kg/day NCC production, at that time the largest production in the world. So, I’m not sure how the plant in Alberta could be considered the first; it doesn’t seem to have been built yet, plus, that means the Québec plant is still likely to be the largest production facility. (Generally when a new facility built with government funding is opened, there are politicians and pictures. There are no pictures of the Alberta facility.)
Funders for the Alberta initiative include the Government of Alberta and Western Economic Diversification through the Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA) along with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., and Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF)
Regardless of any regional competitiveness, the NCC initiatives both in Alberta and Québec are exciting developments suggesting that the innovation picture in Canada is not quite as bleak as we are sometimes inclined to believe.
One comment, FPInnovations and Domtar (joint venture partners) for the Québec initiative have formed a joint venture NCC company, CelluForce (mentioned in my June 6, 2011 posting).
Finally, I’m not sure how long the website where I found the Alberta news release will keep it available. I have found an alternative although it does not include a backgrounder and appears to have been edited on canadaviews.ca.
ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Arts) 2011 is being held in Istanbul, Turkey from Sept. 14-21, 2011. I submitted a proposal for a paper which was accepted and I have been included in the Biosynthetics and Body – Machine Presentation (from the presentation webpage),
Art and Life: Biocybrid systems and the reengineering of reality by Diana Domingues, Adson Ferreira da Rocha, and Cristiano Jacques Miosso/ ColourBlind by Alan Dunning and Paul Woodrow/ Morphogenesis by Christophe Viau/ Whose electric brain by Maryse Simone de la Giroday/ Fish and Chips, MEART and Silent Barrage, pioneering cybernetic organisms from the SymbioticA research Group by Stuart Bunt
I’m very excited about the conference and it overlaps with the 12th Istanbul Biennial, which runs from Sept. 17 – Nov. 13, 2011. My fellow presenters are quite exciting too. I’ve looked up each presenter and linked to information about them and/or their work.
Diana Domingues exhibition website providing some biographical info. in English.
SymbioticA (Stuart Blunt) laboratory webpage and newsletter description of Stuart Blunt’s career at the University of Western Australia and his role at SymbioticA.
It’s an eclectic group of artists, engineers, a neuroscientist, and me (a writer). I’d love to attend although it seems unlikely. If you have any ideas for creative (or not) fundraising for an independent scholar scheduled for a Sept. 19, 2011 presentation at ISEA 2011, I’d love to hear them.
In the meantime, here’s a link to a lengthy (34 mins.) conversation between the two curators (Jens Hoffman and Adriano Pedrosa) selected for the 12th Istanbul Biennial.
The Americans call these things roadmaps while it seems that Europeans are calling their latest an ‘orientation paper with proposed NMP (Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials) research priorities’. From the July 4, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,
The EC [European Commission] published an orientation paper (pdf) with proposed NMP research priorities for 2012.
The approach for 2012 is described by the EC to be “Broadly speaking, calls of the NMP Theme in 2012 and 2013 will continue to span the spectrum from enabling research, to applications and demonstration activities. The NMP Theme covers the entire range of industrial research activities. Sustainability and societal challenges have always been implicit in NMP strategies, but are receiving increased attention. In a few words, the NMP Theme focuses on smart and sustainable growth, for a greener industry, its three constituent activities being the tools rather than ends in themselves.
The specific issues are listed,
Energy and Energy efficiency: These activities are in tune with the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. They include topics in support of the ‘European energy-efficient buildings’ PPP initiative.
Environmental issues and sustainable development: These topics complement activities of the Environment and the Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology (FAFB) Themes.
Raw Materials: In support of the Commission’s Raw Materials Initiative, research is supported on the extraction and processing of raw materials; reduction of waste and recycling.
Health and safety: This covers research based on nanomedicine and materials for health, complementing the Health Theme. It also includes research necessary to ensure the safe use of nanotechnologies, building on an extensive body of previous work under the NMP Theme.
Factories of the Future: The objective of this PPP initiative is to help EU manufacturers across sectors, in particular SMEs, to adapt to global competitive pressures by increasing the technological base of EU manufacturing through the development and integration the enabling technologies of the future, such as engineering technologies for adaptable machines and industrial processes, ICT, and advanced materials. Demonstration-targeted activities include high-performance manufacturing technologies (covering efficiency, robustness and accuracy); and technologies for casting, material removing and forming processes.
European energy-efficient buildings: This PPP initiative promotes green technologies and aims at the development of energy-efficient systems and materials in new and renovated buildings with a view to reducing radically their energy consumption and CO2 emissions. These activities are in tune with the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan.
Green Cars: This PPP supports research on a broad range of technologies and smart energy infrastructures, essential to achieve a breakthrough in the use of renewable and non-polluting energy sources, safety and traffic fluidity.
It looks to me like the priorities are energy, food, j0bs, and health with the emphasis on energy.
I came across a June 29, 2011 article in Physics Today [online] by Steve Corneliussen about ‘geek’ rap. From the Corneliussen article,
Science rap is no flash in the pan according to Dennis Overbye, the high-visibility New York Times science writer. This week he proclaimed that “‘geek rap’ … is becoming one of the most popular and vital forms of science communication.” Immediately he added: “Few exegeses of the Large Hadron Collider match Alpinekat’s ‘Large Hadron Rap’ for punch and rhythm, and Stephen Hawking’s robot voice and puckish wit have spawned a host of imitators, like M C Hawking, rapping about black holes and entropy.”
Poetry and/or music, in combination with science is not new. Take a few more recent examples, James Clerk Maxwell, in addition to his scientific accomplishments in the 19th century, was also a poet and Tom Lehrer (pianist and mathematician) set the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements to music (The Elements) in the 1950s.
One can stretch back further to De rerum natura, an epic poem about physics and Epicurean philosophy written by Lucretius in the first century BCE (before the common era). From the Wikipedia essay on De rerum natura,
The poem, written in dactylic hexameter, is divided into six books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. Lucretius presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, “chance,” and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities.
It’s good to see that rappers are keeping the traditions alive and reinterpreting them for modern audiences. Dennis Overbye, the New York Times science writer mentioned in the Corneliussen article, recently highlighted Baba Brinkman, a Vancouver-based rapper, (mentioned here a few times a list of those posts follows), who’s currently performing his Rap Guide to Evolution at an off Broadway theatre. From Overbye’s June 27, 2011 article of Brinkman’s show,
Don’t sleep with mean people.
That’s a lesson some of us learn painfully, if at all, in regard to our personal happiness. That there could be a cosmic evolutionary angle to this thought had never occurred to me until I heard Baba Brinkman, a rap artist and Chaucer scholar, say it the other night. Think of it as the ultimate example of thinking globally and acting very, very locally. We are all in the process of recreating our species in our most intimate acts:
Don’t sleep with mean people, that’s the anthem
Please! Think about your granddaughters and grandsons
Don’t sleep with mean people, pretty or handsome
Mean people hold the gene pool for ransom.
…
Writing on NYTimes.com last year, Olivia Judson, the biologist and author, called the evolution rap show “one of the most astonishing, and brilliant, lectures on evolution I’ve ever seen.” On a humid night last week the crowd spilled out of the playhouse and down the streets of SoHo after the show, chatting about the technical and social aspects of natural selection.
Björk has taken her own approach to science, music, and, in her case, song with her new show Biophilia. From the July 1, 2011 article by David Robson for The New Scientist’s Culture Lab blog,
As the lights dimmed and we waited for Björk to mount the stage of the Victorian market hall, the last thing I expected to hear was a recording of the dulcet tones of David Attenborough, waxing lyrical about nature, music and technology.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. The show does, after all, take its name, Biophilia, from Edward O. Wilson’s theory about the instinctive bond between humankind and nature, which he claims is a necessary consequence of our evolutionary origins. And the Icelandic singer has made it clear that she is a life-long fan of the British naturalist. “When I was a kid, my rock star was David Attenborough,” she recently told Rolling Stone. “I’ve always been interested in science.”
And boy, did she manage to pack a dizzying amount of it into the show. There were songs about plate tectonics, galaxy formation, crystallisation, DNA and heredity, equilibrium, gravity and dark matter. Then there were the novel instruments, including four harps driven by 10-foot pendulums and a gigantic Tesla coil that sparked in time to the music. We’re told that the structures of her compositions, too, were inspired by scientific ideas – the beats to some of the songs were based on prime number sequences, for example.
While Baba’s rap is peer-reviewed, Björk’s work is aimed a little differently. As David Bruggeman (Pasco Phronesis) explains in his July 3, 2011 posting,
They [reviews of Biophilia] suggest that Björk is not even thinking of encroaching on Baba Brinkman or They Might Be Giants science music turf anytime soon. While she shares their enthusiasm for science, expressing that enthusiasm, rather than explaining the concepts underneath it, seems to be the main science emphasis of the work.
Here’s a demonstration of the Tesla coil synth prior to a Biophilia performance in Campfield (ETA July 5, 2011: This is where Bjork premiered Biophilia June 27, 2011 at the Manchester International Festival, more details in July 5, 2011 note added after this post),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlQp7wXxrgE
There are more Biophilia-related video clips but this was one of the shorter ones.
As for the Baba Brinkman posts I mentioned earlier, here are the most relevant ones from the earliest to the latest,
Here’s very recent news (from a July 4, 2011 email) about Baba’s CD,
First thing’s [sic] first, I have a new CD out! The Rap Guide to Evolution: Revised is a brand new 14-track album produced by Mr. Simmonds. It started out as a “remix” of the original RGE CD from a few years ago but soon took on a life of its own with all new music, new collaborations, and most of the lyrics re-written (performance, feedback, revision), plus three completely new tracks. We’ve been working on this album all year long and finally finished it last week. Click here to listen to the evolution of the rap guide, and download it Radiohead-style (pay what you like).
I like the fact that there’s a range of approaches to science communication, poetry, and music. I think there’s room for everybody.
ETA July 5, 2011: There’s a July 4, 2011 article by Simon Reynolds of The Guardian that offers a little more information about Biophilia and Björk (from the article),
Originally formulated by scientist Edward O Wilson, the biophilia hypothesis suggests that human beings have an innate affinity with the natural world – plants, animals or even the weather. Yet it’s not biophilia but good old-fashioned fandom that has drawn a small band of Björk obsessives to queue outside Manchester’s Campfield Market Hall since 10am this morning. Not that there’s anything old-fashioned about the woman they are here to see. Biophilia is the Icelandic singer’s new project – the word means “love of living things” – and promises to push the envelope so far you’ll need the Hubble telescope to see it.
A collection of journalists have already had a preview at a press conference in the Museum of Science and Industry over the road. Björk is absent, preparing for tonight’s live show, her first in the UK for over three years, which will open the Manchester international festival. Instead, artist and app developer Scott Snibbe, musicologist Nikki Dibben and project co-ordinator James Merry talk through Biophilia’s many layers. There will be an album in September, with an app to go with each of the 10 songs. There will be an education project, designed to teach children about nature, music and technology – some local kids will embark on it next week. There will be a documentary. And then there will be tonight’s show, performed in the round to a 2,000-strong crowd including journalists representing publications from New Scientist to the New York Times, as well as the diehard fans waiting outside.
Although it’s going to be years (I imagine several) before patients at risk for diabetes-related blindness will be able to benefit from this work, it’s certainly exciting news from the University of British Columbia (UBC). One of their research teams has tested a device that could be implanted behind an eye to release medications when an external sensor is activated. ETA July 4, 2011: I took another look at that news release and I’m now not sure that I correctly understood the term “… on-demand release of drugs” which I meant an external locus of control.
Here’s more from the June 29, 2011 UBC news release,
A team of engineers and scientists at the University of British Columbia has developed a device that can be implanted behind the eye for controlled and on-demand release of drugs to treat retinal damage caused by diabetes.
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss among patients with diabetes. The disease is caused by the unwanted growth of capillary cells in the retina, which in its advanced stages can result in blindness.
The novel drug delivery mechanism is detailed in the current issue of Lab on a Chip, a multidisciplinary journal on innovative microfluidic and nanofluidic technologies.
The lead authors are recent PhD mechanical engineering graduate Fatemeh Nazly Pirmoradi, who completed the study for her doctoral thesis, and Mechanical Engineering Assoc. Prof. Mu Chiao, who studies nanoscience and microelectromechanical systems for biological applications.
The co-authors are Prof. Helen Burt and research scientist John Jackson at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“We wanted to come up with a safe and effective way to help diabetic patients safeguard their sight,” says Chiao who has a family member dealing with diabetic retinopathy.
A current treatment for diabetic retinopathy is laser therapy, which has side effects, among them laser burns or the loss of peripheral or night vision. Anti-cancer drugs may also used to treat the disease. However, these compounds clear quickly from the bloodstream so high dosages are required, thus exposing other tissues to toxicity.
Key to UBC’s innovation is the ability to trigger the drug delivery system through an external magnetic field. The team accomplished this by sealing the reservoir of the implantable device – which is no larger than the head of a pin – with an elastic magnetic polydimethylsiloxane (silicone) membrane. A magnetic field causes the membrane to deform and discharge a specific amount of the drug, much like squeezing water out of a flexible bottle.
In a series of lab tests, the UBC researchers loaded the implantable device with the drug docetaxel and triggered the drug release at a dosage suitable for treating diabetic retinopathy. They found that the implantable device kept its integrity with negligible leakage over 35 days.
They also monitored the drug’s biological effectiveness over a given period, testing it against two types of cultured cancer cells, including those found in the prostate. They found that they were able to achieve reliable release rates.
“The docetaxel retained its pharmacological efficacy for more than two months in the device and was able to kill off the cancer cells,” says Pirmoradi.
The UBC device offers improvements upon existing implantable devices for drug delivery, says Chiao.
“Technologies available now are either battery operated and are too large for treating the eye, or they rely on diffusion, which means drug release rates cannot be stopped once the device is implanted – a problem when patients’ conditions change.”
Pirmoradi says it will be several years before the UBC device is ready for patient use. “There’s a lot of work ahead of us in terms of biocompatibility and performance optimization.”
The team is also working to pinpoint all the possible medical applications for their device so that they can tailor the mechanical design to particular diseases
There’s no information as to whether this is work being done at microscale or nanoscale or both for that matter. I do note that the device is described as being “no larger than the head of a pin” so it’s possible to physically see and/or handle it. I wonder what the response would be if the device were invisible to the human eye. I expect that response would be dependent on how unpleasant the effects from the previous technology/ies used have proved to be.