Product Description
What Can Nanotechnology Learn From Biotechnology? presents diverse perspectives on biotechnology and nanotechnologies. Avoiding extreme perspectives, unwarranted hype and absolute rejection, this book explores the diverse territory of proponents and opponents of challenging but potentially risky technologies. Contributions from recognized experts in their fields represent the perspectives of a diverse range of stakeholders.
This book details the lessons to be learned from the controversy over genetically modified foods, and how those lessons can be applied to developing nanotechnologies, particularly agricultural and other food-related applications. Exploring the environmental, social and ethical impact of nanotechnology in addition to the technical and economical impacts, it an ideal reference for any scientist, engineer, research program administrator, resource allocator, and NGO advocate.

Key Features:
*Addresses the growing concern over the responsibility of science to the impacted population

*Uses real-world experience to outline practical approaches for emerging technologies

*Addresses the concerns of science as well as social science ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

useful comparisons between the fields
The nanotech researchers and companies are trying to head off future controversies about their products. By analysing the biotech fracas that has occurring and is still happening in various countries (especially in Europe). Quite aside from this, there are cogent comparisons between the 2 fields. Much similarity at small scales.

Perhaps the greatest difference is that nanotech does not necessarily have to mean products for consumption by humans or livestock. Some mooted nanotech products were never alive or derived from biological sources. Plus, they cannot reproduce. Therein lies a lot of the fear of biotech products; the running amok of them. ... Read more

Product Description
Discover nanotech opportunities the smart way with the first "down to business" market analysis that separates commercial reality from hype and gives you the tools you need to forecast nanotech’s impact on any company. This professional-level book spotlights the most viable R&D now taking root, what nano-enabled products will likely emerge in what industries first, and what timeframes you can expect before market rollout. You get a rich understanding of technical, business and legal essentials, and a solid framework for assessing commercial potential without either overheated expectations or overcautious pessimism.This indispensable resource focuses on the best nanotech-driven opportunities arising in the computer/electronics, medical/biotech, and energy industries — from nano-engineered microchips and fuel cells to nano-enabled drug discovery and delivery. You see where the "low hanging fruit" will be and won’t be in each field, and how nanotech will change each industry. The book also highlights nano-enabled advances taking place in such diverse industries as textiles, specialty chemicals, automotive, aerospace, agriculture, and building materials. What’s more, a unique and well-detailed "impact assessment audit" helps you identify how nanotech may soon change your company’s products, R&D, and production processes, and what new opportunities or threats to your business may emerge as the result of nanotech. Rounding out the coverage are extensive resource lists for further research in this up-and-coming sector. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Best Book for Executives New to Nanotechnology

Having been in the nanotechnology field for six years, I have seen many books on nanotechnology.This is the best one I have seen for business executives and other decision makers that are new to the field and trying to understand where the opportunities are for their organizations. The book is well-structured, and written in an erudite, accessible and engaging style.

Unlike many books on the subject, Gasman provides specific guidance on the applications that are most likely to pay off in the near and medium term, and which are not.While not exhaustive, it provides a good overview of the most fertile opportunities.The summaries of the "takeaways" from each chapter, and the ample reference to further reading are particularly useful for the busy reader.These will help the neophyte to locate the gems as they wade through the huge amount information on nanotech, much of which is quite mediocre.Unlike many authors who provide a superficial and shallow treatment of the subject, Gasman's experience as a high-quality, disciplined and thorough market analyst comes through in this book.

If I have one primary complaint about the book, it is that there are a few important elements of the nanotech field that are missing.For example, his summary of nanotechnology tools does not make any reference to electron microscopes and focused ion beam devices, which are key to imaging and manipulation at the nanoscale.These omissions are more than balanced by the overall quality of the book.I recommend it highly.

wide scope, but necessarily somewhat introductory
The strength of this book lies in its broad scope. Gasman provides an up to date survey of nanotech's prospects in a wide range of applications. From semiconductors, computers, communication to the currently very hot energy field. Other topics include medicine and pharmaceuticals.

For semiconductors, I see the nano prospects as just hype, for the near future. Semiconductor research and fabs are already at or near the so-called nanoscales. Current linewidths of circuits are reaching below 100 nm. Sure, new and very different production methods are being devised, to get around various limits in current technology. Call these nanotech if the trends continue, perhaps. But it's just a change in label.

The very breadth of the book's scope also means that it is unable to enter any given topic to any depth. Of necessity, the book then functions as an alertness indicator, if you will. Then, for a topic germane to your interests, you might follow the references cited for a more indepth exposition.

Well structured, broad scope introduction to nanotech markets
This book offers a broad overview of nanotech markets. It is structured around major markets where nanotech is likely to have an impact (energy, healthcare, IT). The author's background as a high tech market researcher is evident: while the book is hopeful, it's informed by experience with hype in other industries (disclosure: I was a contractor for the author's telecom market research company in the 1990s). There is ample discussion of different scenarios and their relative probability, and effective summaries at the beginning and end of most sections, which make it very easy to scan at different levels of detail. The book also includes a method for assessing the likely impact of nanotech on the reader's company and industry; for people in the planning sections of large organizations, this section is reason enough to buy the book. The weakness of the book is related to its strength: most of the discussion is necessarily introductory. That said, the book is rich with pointers to other resources, and though the focus is on business, aside on societal, legal, cultural, and other implications included throughout.

Cost
At $79 for a 242 page book, don't bother with nanotechnology.Invest in the guys marketing this book.

Gasman NanoBook Important Contribution to the Literature and History of Nano
As author of the first book on successful investing in nanotechnology, Nanotech Fortunes: Make Yours in the Boom; Winning Strategies, I can say that Nanomarkets.net's Lawrence Gasman has produced an exceptional contribution to the literature of nanotech, Nanotechnology: Applications and Markets. Everyone interested in exactly how nanotech is going to impact products, markets, industries and businesses must study this concise and worthwhile read. Gasman's intuitions, opinions and arguments are not only right on target but they are informed by a lively intelligence and decades of real-life experience and deeply thought analysis. Whether you are in the business or just looking to invest with a real understanding of what you're doing, you are going to love this book and thank the author as well.

Lawrence has decades of experience analyzing the impact of, commercialization processes and "productization" of new technologies, and he is one of the most down-to-earth reporters on the goings on in real world manufacturing and basic industrial demands, as well as the far-out world of nanotechnology.

The book's real value lays in chapters on nanotech's likely and UNLIKELY impacts on industries as diverse as semiconductors, medical, computing, pharmaceuticals, communications, alternative energy, pollution control and advanced materials. From there, Lawrence leads executives (and investors) on an examination of specific industry-related opportunities and then the step-by-step tools on exactly how to conduct a nanotech audit in any particular company. His strategy will help businesses, large and small, identify both commercial opportunities and threats stemming from advances in nanotechnology.

If there is any "weakness" to the book some might argue that it is too short. At only 200 pages perhaps several chapters and discussions could have been expanded and more time could have been spent debunking ideas and processes, current in the nano-community, that have little or no commercial future. That said, Gasman covers all the important topics, markets and applications.

I feel that scientists and engineers can also benefit from Nanotechnology: Applications and Markets simply because it orients any reader to a perspective where solutions to problems and products that are needed or useful become the key areas of interest. Clearly, a fruitful place for engineers to start . . . I think one that more and more scientists will find a beneficial focus.

All and all, along with Nanotech Fortunes, of course, this is one of the few books related to nano, that belongs on everyone's shelf. ... Read more

Product Description
Nanomaterials' unique properties offer revolutionary means to optimize a variety of products, including electronics, textiles, paintings and coatings, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. However, these same properties mean that nanoscale materials can behave differently in the human body and the environment than conventional materials.

Nanotechnology and the Environment provides the fundamental basis needed to assess and understand the life cycle of nanomaterials. It begins with a general explanation of nanomaterials, their properties, and their uses and describes the processes used to manufacture nanoscale materials. Subsequent chapters furnish information on the analysis of nanomaterials in the environment and their fate and transport, including the effects of wastewater treatment on nanomaterials.  The book discusses possible risks to human health and the environment and the environment, and describes developing regulations to manage those risks.

Given the potential risks, the book explores the apparent paradox of using nanomaterials in environmental remediation. The final chapter discusses frameworks for evaluating the balance between risk and reward as nanomaterials are manufactured, used and released to the environment. ... Read more

Product Description
This complete series of 10 volumes provides an excellent, in-depth overview of all nanoscale technologies and fabrication methods in materials engineering towards the life sciences. Each volume is dedicated to a specific topic that is covered in detail by experts from that particular field, reviewing existing technologies as well as current developments and the directions they are taking. The result is a cross-disciplinary, major reference work, bringing together the pertinent knowledge that was hitherto widely spread among many different sources. ... Read more

Product Description
Ongoing research in nanotechnology promises both innovations and risks, potentially and profoundly changing the world. This book helps to promote a balanced understanding of this important emerging technology, offering an informed and impartial look at the technology, its science, and its social impact and ethics.

• Nanotechnology is crucial for the next generation of industries, financial markets, research labs, and our everyday lives; this book provides an informed and balanced look at nanotechnology and its social impact
• Offers a comprehensive background discussion on nanotechnology itself, including its history, its science, and its tools, creating a clear understanding of the technology needed to evaluate ethics and social issues
• Authored by a nanoscientist and philosophers, offers an accurate and accessible look at the science while providing an ideal text for ethics and philosophy courses
• Explores the most immediate and urgent areas of social impact of nanotechnology

Product Description

Considering the fluid nature of nano breakthroughs—and the delicate balance between benefits and consequences as they apply to medicine—readers at all levels require a practical, understandable base of information about these developments to take greatest advantage of them. Medical Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine meets that need by introducing non-experts to nanomedicine and its evolving organizational infrastructure.

This practical reference investigates the impact of nanotechnology on applications in medicine and biomedical sciences, and the broader societal and economic effects. Eschewing technological details, it focuses on enhancing awareness of the business, regulatory, and administrative aspects of medical applications. It gives readers a critical, balanced, and realistic evaluation of existing nanomedicine developments and future prospects—an ideal foundation upon which to plan and make decisions.

Product Description
This monograph is the first text to review the subject of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) comprehensively. It not only covers its application to microelectronics, but also many important new and emerging applications in Nanotechnology. It is the culmination of over 10 years of pioneering research and development by the author. Not only does it cover thermal processes for ALD growth of nanometer thick films of semiconductors, oxides, metals and nitrides, but also reviews the formation of mixed and multilayer materials. Also, the newer radical enhanced technology is described and evaluated. Finally, the author presents some of the most recent applications of ALD to the emerging field of Nanotechnology. These include MEMS, solar cells, optical coatings, and organic/inorganic films among others. This treatment of an important and emerging technology will be particularly useful to engineers and scientists both in industry and universities. ... Read more

Product Description
Miniaturisation has revolutionised the semiconductor industry by making possible inexpensive integrated electronic circuits comprised of devices and wires with sub-micrometer dimensions. This is a very hot area of research with large amounts of venture capital and government funding being invested worldwide. This book highlights the growing information need in this area, presenting readers with an insider’s view of the opportunities and risks associated with the development of nanotechnology initiatives.

It is ideal for executives and investors with limited understanding of the technology itself who need to know how it will impact on them and what the future developments are likely to be. Written by leading authorities from around the world, Nanotechnology: Applications and Trends provides a unique global perspective on this hot new area of research and development.
... Read more

Product Description
· Nanotechnology is the new genetic modification, with $5 billion in funding, involving thousands of companies and universities

· This is the first book to take stock of the risks and benefits of nanotechnology, and the complex ethical and legal questions facing governments, the public, investors, and businesses worldwide

· An accessible popular science book for all interested in the fascinating and unpredictable science, law, policy and regulation of nanotech

Nanotechnology—technology at the molecular level—has the potential, according to its supporters, to create a trillion dollar economy and provide solutions from curing cancer to reprocessing waste into products and building super-fast computers. Yet, as with genetically modified organisms, many view nanotech as a high-risk genie in a bottle that once uncorked has the potential to cause unpredictable, and perhaps irreversible, environmental and public health disasters.

With the race to bring products to market, there is pressing need to take stock of the situation and to have a full public debate about this new technological frontier.

Including contributions by renowned figures such as Roland Clift, K. Eric Drexler, and Arpad Pusztai, this is the first global overview of the state of nanotech and society in US, Europe, Japan, and Canada, examining the ethics, the environmental, and public health risks, and the governance and regulation of this most promising, and potentially most dangerous, of all technologies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

new problems arising
As nanotechnology starts to emerge in the form of products for the marketplace, this book confronts various societal issues about its safety and usage. The contributors are varied. Most notable is Eric Drexler, who, in his seminal work, "Engines of Creation", helped kick off this entire field in 1986. His paper is a summary of the field's development. Well written, but nothing especially striking here.

Another chapter looks at a thorny problem of genetic analysis. As genomics becomes cheaper and more powerful, genetic testing raises issues of privacy versus need to know by others, including employers and insurers. Genetic discrimination has really not yet been significant. But mostly due to a paucity of solid information. The increasing availability of the latter can thus be awkward.

Overall, the book can be used as a non-technical briefing on the field. ... Read more

Product Description
Interested in Nanotechnology but Can’t Bear to Wade through Detailed Technical Reports?

While reports on nanotechnology by research and marketing firms as well as governmental agencies are comprehensive and insightful, they can often be tedious to read, expensive to procure, and generally unknown to nonexperts interested in this technology. Offering a reader-friendly and affordable alternative to these options, Nanotechnology: Health and Environmental Risks introduces risk analysis as a tool for responsible environmental decision making in nanotechnology development and provides examples of past, present, and future technologies that demonstrate the need for and benefits of evaluating the risks of nanotechnology.

The Most Up-to-Date and Relevant Information on the Impact of Nanotechnology on Our Health and Surroundings

After outlining the steps of risk analysis, the book examines the opportunity costs inherent in current nanotechnology development. It then introduces life cycle analysis, the toxicology of nanoscale materials, and the known impacts of specific nanoscale materials on people. The text also covers environmental impacts and exposure, followed by chapters on the state-of-the-art tools that adapt life cycle thinking into risk analysis for nanotechnology. The final chapters describe current practices for managing the hazards and risks of nanoscale materials and explore the numerous international efforts that address the risks, science, and policies of nanotechnology.

Recognize and Overcome the Risks Involving Nanotechnology

With full-color images and insights into key health and environmental aspects of nanotechnology, this resource shows how the risk analysis of nanotechnology can play an important role in creating a sustainable future. ... Read more

Product Description
Technology is becoming molecularly precise. Nanotechnology, otherwiseknown as molecular engineering, will soon create effective machines assmall as DNA. This capacity to manipulate matter -- to program matter-- with atomic precision will utterly change the economic, ecological,and cultural fabric of our lives. This book, which is accessible to abroad audience while providing references to the technical literature,presents a wide range of potential applications of this new materialtechnology. The first chapter introduces the basic concepts ofmolecular engineering and demonstrates that several mutuallyreinforcing trends in current research are leading directly into aworld of surprisingly powerful molecular machines. Nine originalessays on specific applications follow the introductory chapter. Thefirst section presents applications of nanotechnology that interactdirectly with the molecular systems of the human body. The secondpresents applications that function, for the most part, outside thebody. The final section details the mechanisms of a universalhuman-machine interface and the operation of an extremely highresolution display system. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

NanoUtopian Dreams
Crandall presents ten essays out of which to construct your nanoUtopian dream.Another example of a genre called fictional science where the reader must supply the plot, characters and action.What is all this talk of nanobots and utility fog? Is man not already constructed from nanomachines?One might already ask if molecules of nicotine, aspirin, heroin or cocaine are nanomachines since they control the flow of neurotransmitters.Is molecular engineering merely the search for molecular shapes that will fit together like lego blocks-just like the search for new drugs?

Many are enamored by the way the cells and bacteria of the body construct our reality.They would like to copy these processes and rename them nanotechnology.Viewing cells and proteins as nanomachines is not new.Evolution, itself, could be viewed as a way of encapsulating cooperating cells intohuman shaped terrariums. Crandall quotes Richard Preston on the flesh eating Ebola Zaire virus: "seven mysterious proteins that ...work as a relentless machine, a molecular shark, and they consume the body as the virus makes copies of itself."

These writers suggest ways man could profit by controlling the design of these cellular machines.Richard Crawford's contribution suggests man designed molecules could be injected into the blood steam in order to do the bidding of cosmetic surgeons.He sees big cash to be made.Edward Reifman proposes diamond teeth but would this put dentists in the unemployment line?Brian Wowk manipulates phase array optics to enable the reader to construct a STAR TREK holodeck.J. Storrs Hall envisions filling one's environment with utility fog, placing one within a kind of pixel coated TV screen where objects in your personal space can be moved as easily as pictures on that screen.Tom McKendree worries that nanosized assemblers will make goods so plentiful that nothing will be of any value.Crandall, himself, suggests that when room runs out on earth we might repackage man into geodesic spheres, floating ecospheres, in stationary orbit high above the planet.All pretty good fictional science but why not read Greg Bear where you also get the plot, characters and action.

amazing!
Ok so the title (of the review) is kida corny, but dont worry,i did read the book and il have to say its a good book and has a few good ideas, so all in all its a good book.

Read this one first!
Most nanotechnolgy books and articles start out with lots of hype to excite the reader, and then follow it up with a meandering discussion of how this might really be possible.This book was no exception.It did a good job of building up themes and exploring them in detail.The treatment of "utility fog" was extremely well done, as was the discussion of a "holodeck" type image technology.

The language and style is easily accessible to those with a basic science education, and it was refreshing that this book avoided the doomsday predictions of nanotechnology and kept the unbounded prediction for when this will all happen to a minimum.

Published in 1996, the content of this book is a good introduction, but is in danger of becoming dated due to the fast moving nature of this field.This might be the first nanotechnology book to read, but not the last for a true fan of the topic.This book might not be for you, if you've been able to read Nanosystems by K. Eric Drexler, but if you want an entertaining walk through visions of future technology, check this one out.

Entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking, futurist essays
The opening chapter, written by editor Crandall, is a good, necessarily cursory, summation of nanotechnology at the time of publication.The inclusion of a long list of web sites with up-to-date information is awelcome way to keep the material fresh.

If you're looking to getserious and read a discussion of recent research, look elsewhere. Theremaining chapters fall into the realm of pure speculation, where futuristspractice the fine art of making guesses to which no one will hold them.

Ultimately, it is exactly this light-heartedness and high-level thoughtexperimentation that makes the book a good weekend's read. Enjoy it the wayyou would enjoy a work of science fiction with its technology premisesolidly rooted in today's understanding of the universe.

If you enjoythis kind of reading, I would strongly encourage you to read _The DiamondAge_ by Neal Stephenson.

The Premier Technology of the 21st Century.
Nanotechnology, The Premier Technology of the 21st Century, is about building things atom by atom like biology does.
About making extraordinary things from ordinary mater (see http://planet-hawaii.com/nanozine/WHATNANO.HTM).

After reading nanotechnology, Molecular Speculations on Global Abundance (The MIT Press), I found an ancient bottle washed ashore by the tide.
I popped the top and to my surprise, a Green Genie materialized before my eyes.
You have three wishesboomed the Arabian aberration.
Cool.
Ill have nanotechnology.And your other two wishes?And to his surprise I said, Pack up and join the ether. Who needs magic if you have atomic precision chemistry.
This attitude is amply backed up by the stream of authors and their thoughts presented in BC Crandalls latest work.

Prepare for anew wave of startling ideas written by a group of the Worlds foremost nanotechnologist.
Attention Nano Venture Capitalists.
This is the info you are looking for.
Read and profit.
Now a summery of the authors and their chapters:

1. Molecular engineering.
BC Crandall, the books editor, founder of Molecular Realities, Memetic Engineering and co-founder of Prime Arithmetics inc., starts the work with a thorough intro to the concept beginning with an explanation of the atom, the workings of chemistry and self assembling natural machines like DNA in a style comfortably accessible to the uninitiated layperson.
Then Crandall moves on to A Genealogy of Nanotechnology. How ideas and discoveries of the past, (the study of artificial life concepts, the invention of scanning tunneling microscopes, walking molecules) have transported science to the brink of this incredible power.
Excellent and mandatory background information.

2. In-Vivo Nanoscope and the Two-Week Revolution.

Ted Kaehler of Apple Computer, has a two part chapterthat sheds a calibrating light on the time table and extreme complexity of developing nanotechnology through the eyes of a computer scientist (Carnegie-Mellon) with a physics background (Stanford).
Kaehler argues that a great deal of early nano (preassembler) devices must be developed and understood before moving on.
His example in part one of his chapter is an early nano-like multi-purpose bioprobe unobtrusively investigating the immune system in a living organism.
This device is connected to desk top computers in a normal lab scene.
This is early nanotechnology.
The bioprobe was extremely expensive to hand craft (no assemblers yet exist).
The information from the experiment is richly rewarding and will be added to a massive library of knowledge needed to make the sophisticated cell repair machines of a mature nanofuture.
Venture capitalist:There will be many steps to mature nanotechnology that need financing and because of the novel utility of these breakthroughs, such first on the block investments should produce fabulous returns.

Kaehler goes on to explain away the myth of the Two-Week Revolution, referring to the concept that very shortly after the building of the first self replicating assembler, every nanotechnology idea conceived and nanotech product would spread across the planet and into space like wild fire.Arguing from the experience of complex systems builders, Kaehler predicts that lots of debugging and product cycle improvement are inevitable.
The two-week revolution will not happen.
Two weeks after the first assembler works, it will be in the shop for repairs.
And not many of the things that it builds in those two weeks will work either.
The pervasive use of assemblers in our lives depends on the development of several new fields of study and entire new layers of infrastructures.
It will be a human endeavor operating at human speeds.It wont happen without thousands of cycles of experimental feedback, and it wont happen in the first two weeks.
Good news for society as we will have, mercifully, more time to adapt.
(Good sources tell me, he argues the other side as well, that while it won't be 2 weeks, it won't be all that long either, especially with good design ahead.)

3.Cosmetic Nanosurgery

Former senior editor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories prestigious monthly, Energy and Technology Review , Richard Crawford blows the doors off the $18 + Billion Cosmetic industry, showing how even early nanotechnology can actually deliver on the bogus promises made today by copywriters for their big business Oil of Old Lady clients.
He shows relatively simple designs for early nanodevices that change hair color, texture and skin color (I would love a tan in the winter!).
No more bitter baldness for male and female.Cast off unwanted facial and body hair.Such would be converted into CO2, H2O and sulfur crystals at the source.<

>Enjoy wrinkle repair, full body tight skin well before the assembler.
Later, with cell repair machines working at the molecular level, full body makeover.
Look completely different every month.Shock your friends by morphing into a Klingon.

Alas, there is a bleak, dark side, the sleazy underbelly of this nanotechnology utilization:Inevitably, there will be people who dont know how to leave well enough alone.
Many who never liked their own youthful appearance will opt instead to copy some popular model or other sex symbol.
It could become very confusing, with dozens of pop-idol look-alikes crowding the parks and boulevards of our future metropolis.
Some may relish the prospect, but we may never see the last of the Elvis clones.
(Oh..My...God..!What did I do in a past life to be sent to this Universe?)

4.Diamond Teeth

Famed nano D.D.S. Edward M. Reifman also has a B.S. in mechanical engineering, magna cum laude, and an M.S. in biomedical engineering. After graduation and before obtaining his D.D.S., Reifman went to work for Hughes Aircraft designing communications satellites.(Makes sense.)

As a warm up for early, then sophisticated nanotechnology, the Dr. offers some really advanced dental tech like a CAD-CAM system with a fiber optic wand to quickly take 3D measurements of a tooth to be capped and a portable milling machine to make perfect caps on the spot.
On to early nano and a hand held (Tricorder like) PET scanner that not only sees in 3D, but detects abnormal bone and gum densities, all vessels, and specific sites where further tooth or jawbone loss will likely occur.Then early nanites are introduced to rebuild problem areas.

Nanotechnology will deliver the holy grail of dentistry: long-lasting, cavity-free teeth.Advanced nanotechnology will deliver another coup:arresting or neutralizing the genetics behind a degenerating, aging jawline.
We could eventually see the replacement of the entire jaw and teeth with diamondoid matrix.
But why stop there?We can expand this approach to improve or replace the bodys entire skeletal structure.

5. Early Applications

Harry Chesley is a senior software architect at Macromedia, formally with Apple Computer and SRI International.
He has designed code for 25 years. Chesley presents a nuts and bolts presentation on building nanomachines.
Scale, shape, and energy needs are included.
You can get a real physical grasp of how these hypothetical mechanical marvels come together.Like all machines, they are built fromcomponents. Each machine needs storage and computing facilities.It seems that it will be possible to build a 1,000 MIPS (million instructions per second) molecular computer that fits inside a cube 0.4 microns (millionths of a meter) on a side.
This is roughly 1,000 times the computing power of todays personal computers.

But now on to the fun stuff.In his An Opening Selection,Chesley offers a long delightful list of early applications, some of which I present for your enjoyment:

-Board games with billions of moving parts, allowing economic, logistical, and military games with incredible depth of simulation.
-Full-wall speakers for people ... Read more

Product Description
The rapid commercialization of nanotechnology is one of the most intriguing industrial phenomena of our time. But as the universe of applied nanotechnology is burgeoning, so are questions raised about the possible impact of exposure to nanoscale materials on human health and the environment. This book offers the most current and authoritative look at the regulatory, governance, and business issues of a technology that is as fascinating as it is challenging. ... Read more

Product Description

The research underpinning this work was intended to better enable an informed national debate and to affect international debate on the potential role and impact of nanotechnology and emerging science on national defense and homeland security. The text highlights the findings and conclusions from the study and accompanying workshop as well as identifies research directions in basic and applied science that may foster transformational breakthroughs in nanotechnology-based chemical and biological countermeasures. This ambitious effort serves manifold objectives, including the following:

• To give policymakers a strategic roadmap to provide a basis for research direction decisions;

• To provide an overview of the current and future challenges, both for traditional military operations and for homeland security applications;

• To provide a survey of potential future proliferation and malfeasant co-option of emerging technologies;

• To discuss organizational structure and management of chemical and biological defense-related research and nanotechnology-related research at the federal level.

Throughout, the emphasis is on revolutionary rather than evolutionary science and technology. This work intentionally straddles between technical disciplines and social sciences making it truly interdisciplinary. Ideas or work from across the experimental and theoretical physical and life sciences are included. Contributions of social scientists were also actively sought.

Product Description

Veteran NPR^® science correspondent and award-winning radio and TV journalist Ira Flatow's enthusiasm for all things science has made him a beloved on-air journalist. For more than thirty-five years, Flatow has interviewed the top scientists and researchers on many NPR and PBS programs, including his popular Science Friday^® spot on Talk of the Nation. In Present at the Future, he shares the groundbreaking revelations from those conversations, including the latest on nanotechnology, space travel, global warming, alternative energies, stem cell research, and using the universe as a super–super computer. Flatow also further explores his favorite topic of the science of everyday life with explanations on why the shower curtain sticks to you, the real story of why airplanes fly, and much more.

Customer Reviews (6)

Great science fun
I recently read this and Ira Flatow's other book, "They All Laughed..." I have found both to be fun, interesting books filled with fascinating insight into the lives of important scientists and inventors - and with a great sense of fun. I mean, in this book, Ira debunks everything from the Bernoulli airplane myth, to why bubbles in Guiness float down instead of up along the glass. I highly recommend it, enjoy!

Interesting ideas, somewhat flawed execution
Overall the book was worth reading but just barely.As another reviewer mentioned, there doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to the layout of the book in terms of what is covered where.

More significantly it is just not very well written.Here is the sentence that had me laughing out loud:

"Sitting on the panel, beside the usual film folks, was Dr. James Watson, the famous codiscoverer, with Dr. Francis Crick, of the three-dimensional structure of the DNA molecule, 50 years before." (p.203)

This is not the only instance of convoluted writing.

There also are problems in the editing of the book.
For instance, on p. 109:
"Remember our energy numbers?Remember that corn ethanol gives you a return of 1.25 energy units for each energy unit you put into growing, harvesting, and turning the corn into ethanol?"

Well, no in fact I don't.Because he hasn't mentioned it until p. 114

"Their results were startling.Ethanol returns 25 percent more energy than it takes to put into it.So if you put 100 units of every into growing, harvesting, and turning corn into alcohol, you get a yield of 125 units of energy."

In conclusion, there are some interesting ideas in this book but they are marred by some poor writing and editing.

IGCC
Pebble reactors, "each one of the cylindrical pebbles are packed with a load of radioactive fuel, a cue ball, containing inside, ten thousand tiny little micro spheres of uranium.They drop into the top of the a hopper and by gravity are circulated and discharge from the bottom and then pneumatically reinserted in the top and could be operated without refueling or shutting down for about five years.""The Chinese and the South Africans are in fact now in the process of licensing for construction two of these demonstration plants."The pebble reactor has no water; instead the coolant is helium and does not get activated or corrode material; the pebble reactor promises to be 50 percent efficient.The heated helium can be used to produce electricity or as a heat exchange.The pebble reactor may be used to produce hydrogen.The reactor does not have walls and the design is "Meltdown-proof" because the reactor design does not let the fuel get hot enough to melt.The reactor is designed to automatically shutdown without human intervention if the coolant fails."Pebble reactors don't show any signs of being cheaper than the conventional reactors we have in the country.""The white house has been reluctant to spend money on developing these reactors, spending money instead on more conventional nuclear reactors."Two commercial reactors are scheduled to come online in 2011, 2012.

PBMR process involves helium coolant entering the vector vessel at 500 C and a pressure of 9MPa or 1,323 pounds per square inch.The gas moves down between the hot fuel sphere,and leaves the vessel at 9090 C.The hot gas enters the tub urine and is connected to the generator and gas compressors.The coolant leaves the turbine at 500 C, recompressed, and returned to the reactor vessel.

Joe Lucas, director of Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, says, "We have more energy in the form of coal here in the United States than the Middle East has in its entirety in oil."Lucas choice for energy is coal."Sulfer dioxide, nitrogen oxide ... have been cut by about seventy percent overall".Coal is half the cost of other fuels.Half the electricity produced in the United States comes from coal.Lucas says the highest potential for coal as a energy source is power plants that emit no pollutants. The CO2 emitted from the coal power plant will be stored in underground aquifers.

Integrated gasification combined cycle, IGCC can produce gas from coal.Jeff Goodwell says, "But the industry has resisted building these plants.They prefer to tout these plants that are ten to twenty years down the road and continue building the same thing." "The coal industry fought tooth and nail against all those laws that required reductions during the 70s and 80s and 90s, spending millions of dollars lobbying against them."Sequestration of CO2 underground will work. Coal power plants could store millions of tons of CO2 underground.The biggest sequestration field is in Canada and after twenty five years sequester about twenty five million tons of CO2, "which sounds like a lot, but a coal plant in Georgia emits that much in one year.' Delays instead of solutions is a sad song and dance, Goodwell says, "It was the same talk in the 70s.We can't clean it up.Its too hard.It's too expensive.The stuff's not ready yet.And then they pass laws and it comes ready and they do it far cheaper than before.It was the same debate with mercury (pollution). We can't do it.It's too had. Stuff's not ready.You know, if we passed a law, they would do it.""it's the same thing with IGCC.Gasification is widely deployed around the world.There have been a number of IGCC plants that up and running all around the world."Big profits are compelling investors to build Coal fired plants and get them grandfathered in before CO2 laws apply.Goodwell believes that mandatory CO2 regulation is inevitable.

Does science have a future?
As I expected, this was a fun book to read.I did not any significant errors.

The presentation was disjointed with no clear direction.

A good, broad view of modern scientific advances
I'm a big fan of popular science books--new theories and advances pop up all the time, and it's hard to keep up with them otherwise."Present at the Future" is definitely one of the better offerings out there, both in terms of the scope of the fields covered and in the clarity of its explanations.In fact, Flatow picks such interesting topics and discusses them so well that I often found myself wishing he's explanations had gone even more in-depth.The fact that he didn't is not a handicap however; the broad range of topics will expose readers to a lot of new potential interests they can then pursue further in other sources.

My only quibble with the book is Flatow's alarming tendency to start a paragraph with a quote, write four or five sentences, and then recycle the exact same quote--which struck me as somewhat sloppy.Surely the experts he interviewed provided him with more than one usable soundbite.But honestly, it's a very small flaw in an otherwise excellent book. ... Read more

Product Description
nanotechnology \na-no--tek-'nä-l -je-\ n (1987): thescience of manipulating material at the atomic level

Although nanotechnology deals with the very small—a nanometer is 1/80,000th the diameter of a human hair—it is going to be huge. From the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the products we manufacture to the composition of our bodies, everything is made of atoms. And if we can manipulate the atom, then that changes the rules of the game for almost every product.

Coal and diamonds, for example, are both constructed from carbon atoms. It’s merely the arrangement of the atoms that differentiates an inexpensive fuel source from a pricey engagement jewel. While the science of nanotech cannot yet transform coal into diamonds, it is advancing rapidly and will begin to radically alter the business world during the next few years—and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

The buzz surrounding nanotech is comparable to that at the dawn of the digital revolution, which changed the face of how business operates. Unlike the Internet, however, which applied new technology to many old processes and businesses, nanotech is about creating entirely new materials, products, and systems (and therefore markets), as well as making existing products faster, stronger, and better.

You may be tempted to wait until the buzz dies down before deciding how to integrate nanotech into your business, but don’t make the mistake of thinking of it as being light-years away. Even though it may sound far-off at times, within ten years nanotech will have huge effects on many industries, including manufacturing, health care, energy, agriculture, communications, transportation, and electronics. Within a decade, nanotechnology is expected to be the basis of $1 trillion worth of products in the United States alone and will create anywhere from 800,000 to 2 million new jobs.

Nanotechnology will require you to radically re-think what your core business is, who your competitors are, what skills your workforce needs, how to train your employees, and how tothink strategically about the future. Jack Uldrich and Deb Newberry explain exactly how you should prepare for nanotech’s imminent arrival. They identify today’s nanotech innovators, chronicle and project the rapid rise of nanotech developments, and show how to think strategically about the field’s opportunities and investments.

The Next Big Thing Is Really Small provides a sneak peek at the technology that will transform the next ten years, giving investors and executives a road map for using small wonders to generate big profits. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Skip it...content of zero value...
...Uldrich makes big bucks on the public speaking circuit discussing nanotechnology...I suspect this book was published for no other reason than to provide some "credentials" to support the speaking engagements...his most recent books published since this one have been one about George Marshall and another about Lewis and Clark -- real cutting edge technology there!...nope, don't buy it.

A complete waste of time
This book is dripping with the worst kind of technology hype...Very few redeeming qualities...Don't waste your time/$.

Predictive until 2008, Afterwhich Infinite and Beyond
IBM in 2003, introduced millipede, a nanoscale device capable of storing one terbit of data per square inch. ZettaCore is developing nanoscale organic molecules to function as memory.HP is working to develop an Atomic Resolution Storage product that can encode one bit per atom.If successful, ARS would allow for storage of material at one hundred million times the density of the current disk technology.Applied Nanotech is introducing a nanotube display which will change flat screen display. In their first demo they demonstrated a 14 in nanotube display which will be cheaper, better, and thinner than existing technology.Nanophase technologies producing nanoparticles that are being used in vinyl floors and the floors are harder, more resistent to scratching and chipping, and maintain their gloss.Nanomuscle is producing micro sized devices that are created from nanocrytals taht can change shape whien applied with electric current.Nanomuscle has been delivering to Hasbro too be used in new toy product lines.The Navy is employing nanoparticle technology to coat turbines and engine parts increasing performance and efficiency.Likewise, the Navy has been using Nanoparticles to create corrosion resistent protection helping Navy ships reduce drag, increase speed, decrease rust, and making the surfaces harder and more resistent to barnacles and tubeworms.The application of nanoparticles has produced a 10% increase in efficiency.Nippon Corp uses Titanium dioxide nanoparticles to coat mirrors, create stain resistent automobile paints, and sterile hospital rooms.Titanium dioxide is a photocatylst when combined with light will burn off dangereous bacteria.Photocatalystically reactions can use sunlight to loosen dirt and smudges from material producing self cleaning light and appliances.Nano-Tex is creating nanomaterials that resist stains helping Lee Jeans and Eddie Bauer to market stain resistent jeans. Nanotechnology is creating nanoclay and nanocomposites for use in every day plastic.Plastic has the advantage of being flexible, moldable, and cheap. The nanocomposites are combined to produce super strong plastics and increasing their melting point and facture point.In 2004 and 2005 Nanotechnology created products that were better, smaller, cheaper, and better. Nanosphere introduced a viral detection system capable of sounding an alarm against airborn substances, such as, anthrax and smallpox with ten times faster response and 100,000 times increase in accuracy.C-Sixty is researching a nanoscopic device which when injected in the body can precisely fit in the pocket of an AIDS virus and disrupt the virus ability to reproduce.Angstrom is developing nanocrystals that can be mixed with the bodies cells to help regrow bones, a promising treatment for osteoporosis which affects 28 million Americans cost Health care $15 billion.Fuel Cell storage and separation of hydrogen will use nanotechnology.Nano particle catlyst will be used instead of graphite fibers to split the hydrogen into protons and electrons. Also, nanotechnology will be used to storage the hydrogen and reduce the rate of hydrogen escape from its container.Fuel cells offer the promise of providing electricity for transportation and power to businesses and homes.

What does the future hold?Nanobots running specific algorithms similar to biological celluar algorithms.The nanobots use raw material molecules, prode, manipulate, and assemble the molecule into a material composition. The material composition are assembled into a geometric shape.For example a mound of copper could be assembled into a door knob, for macro assembly.The end result could be a home created from molecules that nanobots assemble to build a more complex structure.

Nano technology will disrupt how medicene is delivered to patients. In the future, nanotechnology will come in the form of a patch.The patch will be applied to the skin of the patient, small nanomachines will release specific drugs into the blood of the patient, as needed. The patches will be computer assembled and disseminated.

Nano technology will be used too simulate celluar functionality. These nanobots will be used able to fix celluar damage, prevent disease, destroy cancer or defective cells, or provide barriers between host and foreign cells.For example, pig islets cells contained within a protective nanocell allow glucose into the cell, produce insulin which is small enough to pass outside the cell, and block incoming antibodies that cell the pig islet cells.Nano technology can be used to deliver chemicals to cancerous cells.The nano cell adheres to the cancer cell wall, dissolves, and releases its chemicals into the cell.

Self replicating machines called nanobots.Machines will improve material compositions, organize these materials to provide specific functionality, sequence the functionality to solve a particular problem, and perfect through connected feedback. Fabrication will increase as more effective and innovative fabrication machines are built.Plastic circuits will decrease cost and increase usability. The circuit logic will blend with the print industry meaning that logic will be more distributable.The more distributable and connected the logic, the more adaptive the machine. New software interfaces will be able to query specific circuit logic, print the circuit logic, and connect the circuit logic to the fabricated device.Gernshfield was one of the first too see this possibility as describe in F.A.B.

Super CAD (Computer Aided Design) will begin bridging the gap between Virtual Reality and reality increasing the emercisive potential of the computer to affect all the senses of the human experience.Nanotechnology will be small, smart, and connected. New software will become available allowing the machine to adapt to external complexity. Data representation languages and information networks will become more standardized allowing the machine to better understand information.New designs will allow for more the machine to create increasingly complex designs.These new designs will have a breakthrough affect changing reality.The machine will be able too analyze enormous combinations of possiblities and produces a never before known design, in robotics and material compositions.The new designs will change reality and open up more innovation and change.

A new emerging class of engineers will be heavily sought after.These engineers will have knowledge in molecular biology, computer science, material science, architectural design, mechanical processing, and robotics.There is plenty of space at the bottom as Feynman suggests.

Save your money
A customer asked me to give him a brief overview of nanotechnology. This book was not helpful. Full of hype, jargon and precious little technical information, the main focus seemed to be to convince the reader to run out and invest in nanotechnology or be hopelessly left behind. I paid $12.89 for the book on Amazon, read about half of it and took it to the used bookstore in my neighborhood. They offered me $2.00 for it and I grabbed the money, though I felt guilty for taking advantage of them.

A good book, but improvable
As a biologist and a manager currently involved in leading-edge monoclonal antibodies marketing, I'm curious about latest developments in bioscience and technology, both on scientific and business side.

Nanotechnology promises to be the next frontier to medicine, even more pervasive and specific in action than recombinant DNA technology.

As this new field develops, there is a progressively growing number of publications trying to introduce specialists and non-specialist to this new world. As in the early stages of Internet development, there is some good review and an high number of garbage.

This book relies more in the first category, giving a certain overview of current developments in different fields of industry, but it has the negative side of not being specific for any of them.

The main message is certainly optimistic, and implies the rapid and ubiquitarious development of nanotech; but the substance is that most of described products and techniques are still in the realm of would-be.

The book has some interesting points about nanomaterials development, especially about spacecraft applications (it's reflecting authors' background), but information about currently developing projects in biosciences are vague and unsatisfying.

In summary, a good book when it's considered on wide perspective, but certainly not a guide to rely on in order to spot business opportunities in nanotech field. ... Read more

Product Description
In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit in terms of its transport and properties. It is further classified according to size: In terms of diameter, fine particles cover a range between 100 and 2500 nanometers, while ultrafine particles, on the other hand, are sized between 1 and 100 nanometers. Similarly to ultrafine particles, nanoparticles are sized between 1 and 100 nanometers, though the size limitation can be restricted to two dimensions. Nanoparticles may or may not exhibit size-related properties that differ significantly from those observed in fine particles or bulk materials. Nanopowders are agglomerates of ultrafine particles, nanoparticles, or nanoclusters. Adding nanoparticles to the polymer matrix of a coating does not make it a nanocoating. A nanocoating is synthesised using molecular engineering techniques to create a nano-structured polymer/coating. A coating with nanoparticles added to the polymer matrix will only incrementally improve the physical properties.Nanoparticles or nano-dirt can be used as an 'additive' in a coating to reinforce the polymer matrix, reduce UV degradation of the substrate, improve chemical resistance and change the coatings electrochemical properties. The technique of using nanoparticles to maximise the physical surface properties of a coating are limiting. Adding nanoparticles to a polymer matrix depend on the molecular structure of the polymer backbone, size and amount of nanoparticles added, particle dispersion throughout the coating, structure and functionality of the nanoparticles. This new and important book gathers the latest research from around the globe in the study of these dynamic fields. ... Read more

Product Description

From the reviews: ‘…a comprehensive overview of the theory and recent advancements in nanofluidic technology and would benefit any researcher interested in the physical and analytical advantages of miniaturization.’ (Sally Peyman, Chemistry World, July, 2009).
 

In his celebrated lecture at the APS meeting in 1959, Richard Feynman pondered the potential of miniaturization in the physical sciences and proposed a variety of new nano-tools. Since then, many of these predictions have become reality including the development and application of nanofluidics. This timely book fills a gap in the current reference literature in this exciting and growing field and is dedicated to the field of nanofluidics with a focus on bioanalytical applications. These nanoscale analytical instruments employ micromachined features and are able to manipulate fluid samples with high precision and efficiency.

Product Description

Since nanotechnology is considered a key for the 21^st century, its promises have been assessed by various scientific communities. By meeting at the nanoscale, various disciplines, from physics via chemistry to biology, from engineering to medicine, contribute synergetically to the newly created knowledge base and the resulting technological advances. Considering that large societal sectors will be impacted, the unique aspect of this two-year study was to assess nanotechnology from various interrelated perspectives: scientific progress, industrial relevance, economic potential, educational needs, potential adverse health effects, and philosophical aspects.

The goal of this study was to derive integrated recommendations which consider the large range of societal implications reflecting the different views in an integrative manner. The study attempts to link previously isolated statements, bundling the various concepts and giving unified recommendations to decision makers in relevant society sectors such as politics, economy and research. Special attention was given to the European situation with respect to commercial consequences, an aspect that has not yet received the attention it deserves so far.