Tag Archives: nano song

Fish camouflage, Australian webinar for nano business, medical nanobots in your bloodstream and Simon Fraser U has nano news

First off, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has declared ‘The Nano Song‘ a winner (in the People’s Choice and Critic’s Choice categories) in their ACS Nanotation web community video contest ‘What is Nano?’. If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can go here (scroll down).

Researchers at Sandia Labs are working to develop materials that change colour in the same that some fish can. Here’s how it works with the fish (from Nanowerk News here):

Certain fish species blend with their environment by changing color like chameleons. Their tiny motor proteins carry skin pigment crystals in their “tails” as they walk with their “feet” along the microtubule skeletons of cells to rearrange the animal’s color display.

The fish change colour as the environment around them changes. The researchers led by George Bachand are trying to enable synthetic or hybrid materials to do the same thing. Applications could be for military and/or fashion.

If you’re interested in the business end of nano, then there’s a webinar courtesy of the Australian Office of Nanotechnology coming up on April 29, 2009. NanoVentures Australia CEO, Peter Binks, will be talking about nanotechnology’s impact on global markets and industries. For more info. about the event, check here and to sign up for the event, go here.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University (US) are honing in on a way to get hordes of microrobots (or nanobots) that have been introduced into the bloodstream to flock or swarm together so they can repair organs or deliver drugs to a specific target. I gather the problem has been getting the machines to work together and the proposed solution is to use UV light. More details here.

Finally, some latebreaking news from Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada). The university’s nano research facility, 4D Labs, has won funding (roughly $884, 000) from the federal government’s Western Economic Diversification agency to build a maskwritiing facility. More about this tomorrow.

Unexpected time off; now back for nano

My system melted down last Monday (Mar.2.09) and, as often happens with these things, it turned out to be more complicated (and expensive) than we hoped. On the good side, I’ve gotten things cleaned up, more memory, and updated a few programs on my system. On the not so good side, I still have a lot of catching up to do. Plus, I’ve decided to update this site … soon.

There was a nano song making the rounds recently and i finally got a chance to watch it. It’s charming and it tells the nano story complete with puppets.

I also found an art/science project focusing on nanotechnology at Cranfield University, UK. Julie Freeman, artist-in-residence, worked with Professor Jeremy Ramsden to produce a series of 16 nano ‘novels’. I’m not sure why they’ve called them novels since they’re described this way:

Nano Novels consists of 16 graphic artworks, inspired by nanotechnology. Each artwork is accompanied by some ‘stereo literature’ – factual scientific text and metaphorical text.

Warning! Disgruntled writer ahead! It sounds like it’s artwork accompanied by a few pieces of text. Since when does that qualify as a novel? (sigh) I know it’s all changing but shouldn’t there be some sort of story. After all, graphic novels tell stories with words as well as pictures. That said, if you want to take a look at the project, go here.

Nano song, swimwear, and the Canadian government announces some funding for research chairs

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There’s a nano song making the rounds. The video concept sounds delightful but I’m having problems with videos lately. It’s something do with Adobe Flash Player 10. It gave me a horrible time (my system almost goes to sleep) last week and the week before and I’m at the point where I’m afraid to look at videos. So if you want to take a look at the nano song video, it’s here or here.

There was an announcement about a new type of swimsuit, Nanotechnology Swimsuits Gear Up to Become the Biggest Revolution in Swimwear since the Bikini. It turns that the fabric dries instantly. Somehow that doesn’t seem to be on par with the ‘bikini’ revolution. Interestingly, there is no detail about the process or how it works. From the article,

“Sun Dry Swim fabrics are treated using our proprietary methods with a nanotechnology process that is inert, UV stable, and completely harmless to skin. Our non-toxic nanotechnology treatment is water based and environmentally friendly,” according to Amy Hardin of Sun Dry Technologies.

I wonder how they determined it was non-toxic, environmentally friendly, etc. There’s no mention of testing.

The Canadian government today (Feb. 23, 2009) announced the investment of money ($120.4 M) to fund 134 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs. (Government of Canada provides support to Canada Research Chairs at 37 universities) Jillian Buriak at the University of Alberta holds a new Canada Research Chair in Nanomaterials. I read recently that this programme has attracted a lot of research talent to Canada and is being looked at by other countries as a model. After the cuts in research funding in the latest federal budget, it’s nice to be able to mention something a little more positive.