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Science Technology

Nanotube Applications Grow And Grow 264

Posted by timothy from the or-shrink-and-shrink dept.
HobbySpacer writes "Carbon nanotubes are starting to transition from interesting laboratory curiosities into interesting technological applications. These apps include non-volatile RAM, flat screen displays, high strength fabrics, and smart skin for structures in aerospace and elsewhere. Perhaps if The Graduate was being made today, the one word for Benjamin Braddock's future would not be "plastics" but "nanotubes"."
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Nanotube Applications Grow And Grow More

Nanotube Applications Grow And Grow

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  • The space elevator could do double duty as the worlds longest (and thinnest) supercomputer?

  • More relevant material (Score:5, Informative)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:03PM (#6350956) Journal
    NASA also has a page [nasa.gov] for it's nanotube developments at Johnson Space Center. The NSF is part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and has it's own page [nsf.gov] as well.

    And as far as commercial entities go, don't forget IBM's find [com.com] back in September of 2002, which was making nanotubes with carbon instead of metal.

    • IBM's had a whole bunch of releases on Carbon Nanotubes, most recently there was the one about a solid-state light emitter [ibm.com], and in may 2002 we made CNT transistors [ibm.com] that out performed the Si ones.

      The IBM releases/etc on Carbon Nanotubes can all be found here [ibm.com].

  • Incredible what you can do with carbon! (Score:5, Funny)

    by SpanishInquisition ( 127269 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:03PM (#6350960) Homepage Journal
    What's next? jewelry? pencils? life?
    • Could be. But there could be some serious safety problems with nanites if they aren't addressed and worked with now. The bright side is that none of these problems would be hard to solve. I think something like proximity detectors could solve much of it. Other than that, I think this could be a groovy technology with benefits that really help mankind. Just a thought.

  • nobody mentioned (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:03PM (#6350963)
    fishing rods.. what about fishing rods ?!
    • Doh. Just imagine! Current fishing poles are made from carbon fiber and they are strong like the hell! With a nanotube fishing pole you could go fishing for whales!
      And the string! It would NEVER break! Sooner the hook would get straightened or you'd lose your hands!

      Offtopic. Doh.
      • True! New lines ARE neeeeeded! I've lost too many fish already.

        Still, the greatest fishing lines today are more than 2.5 times stronger than the strongest nylon fishing lines, at the same diameter. A 0.30 mm diameter line of today break first at well over 20kg (some 43 pound [or whatever... I'm ISO-metric]). And, several of my friends have had their hooks straightened before their lines broke.

        Fishermen are keen "benchmarkers" [fateback.com], too :)

  • carbin[e] nanotubes? (Score:5, Funny)

    by *weasel ( 174362 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:05PM (#6350981)
    what on earth would you do with a carbine rifle that small?

    i guess even nanites are set to participate in the arms race.

    • Re:carbin[e] nanotubes? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Miniature rifles don't kill nanites, nanites kill nanites.

      Well, and accidental sneezes.
    • I wonder if you could use nanotubes and buckyballs to make very small peashooters?

  • No, no no! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by SiMac ( 409541 )
    The whole point of the "plastics" line was that plastics represent the artificiality of adult life. If nanotubes are made of carbon, then they're not artificial enough!

    • Re:No, no no! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jerf ( 17166 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:17PM (#6351100) Journal
      The whole point of the "plastics" line was that plastics represent the artificiality of adult life. If nanotubes are made of carbon, then they're not artificial enough!

      Uh, what do you think plastic is made out of? The core of what most people think of as plastic (as opposed to the technical definition which focuses on properties rather then composition) is based on a chain of hydrocarbons [handsonplastics.com], with some impurities.

      In fact, what most people call "plastic" are closer to "natural" things then nanotubes; no "natural" lifeform consists of pure carbon, so a carbon + hydrogen mix is closer.

      So, personally, I'd say (-1, Tried For Humor But Failed) on your post. >:-P

      And remember, plastics are made out of all-natural atoms, so ignore the losers who think natural==good, and use plastic. This message not brought to you by the American Plastics Council [plastics.org], but my wallet wishes it was.

      • Artificial replacements of other materials (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Ra5pu7in ( 603513 ) <ra5pu7in@gm a i l . com> on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:43PM (#6351321) Journal
        The reason that plastics are seen to represent artificiality has nothing to do with their core makeup. It has to do with the fact they are used to replace other materials - in a way that mimics the original material without actually having any of the original material. Examples: faux furs and glasses (both cups and eyeglasses apply here). No matter how close in look and feel a plastic comes to the original material, it is still not really that material - and thus is artificial.
    • The "plastics" line was also a reference to the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," from the scene where George and Mary are sharing the phone while talking to "Hee-Haw" Sam Wainwright (who not incidentally got rather rich on his plastics, while George was stuck at the Building and Loan).

      Another perhaps little known reference to that film were the Sesame Street characters named after Bert the cop and Ernie the cab-driver. /me will spew trivia for food.
  • What happens when someone starts to create viruses with these Nanotubes ? It'll be a brave new world then :-P
    • YOUCH! Imagine a pack of those crawling around your neck, pulling a nanotube around it without you even knowing and then cutting your throat and generally your head off! Beats all, Ebola, HIV, SARS and BSE! That would be one curious viral "disease"!
    • Probably the same thing that happens when people have the power to create real viruses. not much.

      Fearmongering with open-ended questions does nothing to further an intellectual arguement.

  • Better Flat Screens (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nbarr ( 666157 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:06PM (#6350997)
    For me, the best is to come in LCD screens. Faster and cheaper LCD screens, and with better image quality. Now, thats what I call good news.

  • Scientific American articles on nanotubes (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Twid ( 67847 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:11PM (#6351049) Homepage
    SciAm has run several articles on nanotubes over the years, several are indexed here, along with more general nanotech articles:

    http://www.sciam.com/nanotech_directory.cfm [sciam.com]

    • Wired [wired.com] has also had some great articles. My favorite has been the plan for the space elevator. Thick as a piece of paper and a few feed wide, create a ribbon made of nanotubes miles long. Attach one end to a platform in the middle of an ocean. Attach the other end to a station in geo-cync orbit. Have a simple platform crawl up the ribbon into space.

      Plus it would make one hell of a great Freefall ride at Great Adventure.

  • Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Darken_Everseek ( 681296 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:14PM (#6351077)

    That's all fine and dandy, but a bullet proof piece of clothing 'as light as a t-shirt' wouldn't so squat. Kevlar is a pretty light material too, the reason bullet proof vests are so heavy is because of the large impact absorbing plates. Without some impact absorbance, the bullet would just end up dragging a whole bunch of cloth into the gaping hole in your chest. You have to have something to absorb the kinetic energy; and a t-shirt just doesn't cut it.

    • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:4, Funny)

      by BillFarber ( 641417 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:23PM (#6351149)
      This isn't anywhere near my field, but it seems that if the material were stiff enough, then it wouldn't have to be heavy. By being stiff, the kinetic energy would be widely distributed. Of course, being stiff would defeat the purpose of being a t-shirt, though maybe you could use it to make a bullet-proof condom!

    • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by forgetmenot ( 467513 ) <atsjewell.gmail@com> on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:31PM (#6351238) Homepage
      Exactly! I wish someone would explain that to Tolkien, or perhaps Peter Jackson too! I don't care how hard mithril is, if it's flexible and light enough to wear hidden under your clothes then it's flexible and light enough to be forced (without tearing either) into a gaping hole in your chest when an 18 foot cave troll skewers you full force with a spear. You can't tell me there was enough impact absorbancy in Frodo's shirt to dissipate the energy from that impact enough so as to prevent chronic pierced lung syndrome.

      Am I still on topic? Ummm... "Mithril Nanotubes". (There that should fix it.)

      • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by bitrott ( 232312 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:36PM (#6351278)
        Oh... my god. What a nerd. Ok, it's a magic armor. What made you think physics SHOULD apply you silly sod?
        • Feel free to correct me on this. I always had the distinct impression that mithril itself wasn't magical, though it might have been forged using magic. It was just really well-made armor. All of its properties once made were accountable using nothing but physics (minus magic). Do the books make any reference to some "aura" or something accompanying mithril afterward to protect the wearer?

      • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Alric ( 58756 ) <slashdot@tenhund[ ]d.org ['fel' in gap]> on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:43PM (#6351327) Homepage Journal
        Maybe you shouldn't include Tolkien in your education series. All he said is that the cave troll skewered Frodo with the spear. Peter Jackson is the genius who decided to put Frodo against a wall so there would be no where for all of that kinetic energy to go except right into Frodo's tiny, weak little heart.

        Jackson needs the education; leave the one true god, errr Tolkien, out of this.

        • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:4, Informative)

          by Gulik ( 179693 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @02:27PM (#6351715)
          All he said is that the cave troll skewered Frodo with the spear.

          Actually, upon re-reading the series, I was relieved to find that it was the captain of the Orc guard (not the troll) who got Frodo, and Frodo's side hurt for days afterwards. I don't believe there was any mention of him getting pinned against the wall, either. So, sadly, I think Jackson has to take the total weight of this particular nitpick.
      • While the strength inherent in the mithril is a component in resisting spear thrusts, it is in fact the Elfish magic that the armor has been imbued with that absorbs and dissipates the force of the blow. This is also the major factor in the delicious nature of Keebler cookies, which are also Elfish.
        • errr....wasn't the mithril shirt made by the dwarfs?
          It was given to Bilbo by anelve (as much as I recall) but from what I understood the dwarfes made those shorts. So no Magic here. Just regular dwarfish smithing genius.
          • errr....wasn't the mithril shirt made by the dwarfs? It was given to Bilbo by anelve (as much as I recall) but from what I understood the dwarfes made those shorts. So no Magic here. Just regular dwarfish smithing genius.

            There is also Dwarvish magic. Remember, Dwarves made the rings and the magic door of Moria.
            • Lol, you may be right. I guess I was mixing Middleearth stuff with Warhammer again....
              btw, this [warhammeronline.com] looks cool, doesn't it?
            • Dvarves didn't entirely make the doors of Moria. To quote the doors themselves:

              The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. [now, at the bottom] I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.

              Celebrimbor drew the illustrations, and he was from Hollin, so he's probably an Elf, albeit one of the more Dwarvish types of Elves. However, the Dwarves did make the secret entrance to the Lonely Mountain which could only be seen when it was open or on Durin's Day.

              Man, I know too much a

      • Ever heard of magic?

        Mithril is a magic metal (in Tolkiens FICTIONAL world)

        So... like... get a life.

      • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Funny)

        by JahToasted ( 517101 ) <toastafari AT yahoo DOT com> on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:57PM (#6351440) Homepage
        First of all, Tolkien is dead, so its hard to explain it to him, Secondly please refer to the Simpsons:

        Frink: Yes, over here, m-hay, m-haven... in episode BF12, you were battling Barbarians while riding a winged apalousa, yet in the very next scene my dear, you're clearly atop a winged arabian! Please do explain it!

        Lucy Lawless: Uh, yeah, well whenever you notice something like that.. a wizard did it!

        Frink: Yes, alright, yes, in episode AG04..

        Lucy Lawless: Wizard!

        Frink: Oh for glaven out loud..

      • Maybe mithril behaves like a non-Newtonian fluid, and hardens on impact?

        Thinking on it, that's a neat idea! Perhaps the nano-stuff could be configured so that it uses the energy of impact to restructure itself into a configuration with the hardness of diamond, and when the engery disappates, it goes back into a looser, more flexible form.

        Or maybe not.
        • That was in the Sourcebook Fields of Fire for the Shadowrun RPG. (and a damn fine gaming system it is too.)

          The bulletproof clothing felt like gel when worn under normal conditions, but when subjected to a shockwave from a projectile or blast moving at or above the speed of sound it would harden into a bodycast of the wearer. After the shock had passed around the wearer, the armour would return to its fluid state. It was available in two models - the original bodysuit which made the wearer immobile until it
      • Mithril armor is actually a "smart material" sent back in time from the future such that it's indisguishable from magic. :)

        How it works is fairly simple (for someone from the fuuuuture): the material is networked and is aware of its state. When some of the "links" in the armor notice that they're moving very fast relative to their neighbors -- as would happen when a bullet or sword is trying to pierce -- it tenses and effectively becomes diamond plate armor, spreading the pressure out from a square centim

      • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Arcaeris ( 311424 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @02:22PM (#6351676)
        The very point of chainmail - even your average real kind - is to transform piercing/slashing damage into like bludgeoning damage. Without a really incredible amount of force, the spear would never pierce chainmail (not counting the pinning to the wall) and minimally cut the skin.

        The real fiction, however, is how Frodo manages to remain unharmed. The spear wouldn't pierce the flesh, but you're right in that the force wouldn't be dissipated. It would have probably broken every bone in his chest.

        Despite not actually stopping blows, chainmail was still a very good piece of armor. A broken arm is better than a severed one, and with deaths from disease so high in that era, you wanted to prevent all the exposed insides you could. Stopped arrows pretty well, too.
    • How would the bullet drag the cloth into the hole without the cloth tearing somewhere? The projectile would have to either pierce the fabric or cause it to tear somewhere for your scenario to be realized. If this cloth is just as resistant to tearing as it is to piercing, then it would work fine. Not to say that you still wouldn't have one mother of a bruise, though.

      • Re:Bullet-proof nano-fabric? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by forgetmenot ( 467513 ) <atsjewell.gmail@com> on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:52PM (#6351392) Homepage
        Here's a "slow speed" analogy for you. Take a dish cloth (this will be your kevlar or your nanotube t-shirt). Put it over a lump of plastercine (this will be you). Now poke your finger (your bulltet) into the cloth so that it indents into the plastercine.
        See the hole in the plastercine? See the lack of tear in your cloth? You still need something to dissipate the energy concentrated at the point of the bullet over a wide area. Kevlar does not do that, nor would any material light and flexible enough to wear as a t-shirt no matter what it's made of.

        That's why SWAT personnerl look like tanks instead of sleek scuba-divers - One t-shirt thin layer of Kevlar ain't nearly enough protection.
    • The mogols used to wear silk shirts when riding into battle. The silk would not tear when the warrior was stuck by an arrow - just pushed into the wound by the force of the arrow. This made it easier to pull the arrowhead back out of the wound. Ouck. I can't envision this working as well with 38cal rounds in your chest cavity.
    • Maybe it's a piezo-electric device, stiffening through means of generating electricity upon kinetic stimulus. There are tennis rackets [wired.com] (look down a bit, under the heading "Power Surge") that do this. Of course, it would have to be pretty damn efficient in this particular case, but the elves and dwarves might know something we don't.

      *duck*

    • OK, as others have said, bulletproof clothing's purpose is to redistribute kinetic energy, so that a small fast force is turned into a large slower force. And it doesn't necessarily need to be heavy to do that; it just needs to be structured properly. And with that said, all that kinetic energy will still need to go somewhere, whether it's redirected all over the body, absorbed, turned into heat, or a combination of these.

      Maybe with "smart skin", you could keep redirecting that energy around and around t
    • Is this really true? I thought that rifle rounds actually cut through the kevlar (or other ballistic-resistant material) itself. Some bullet-resistant vests also do not protect against sharp-edged weapons.

      Check this [savvysurvivor.com] out, where even a handgun bullet can sometimes actually penetrate a kevlar vest, or here [bulletproofme.com] where there was penetration of several layers of kevlar.

      Blunt-force trauma is another reason to use hard plates, but penetration is an issue as well, especially with rifle bullets.

  • Clarke and Niven have some more apps... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by karlandtanya ( 601084 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:15PM (#6351086)
    with the introduction of an infinitely strong weightless fiber.

    Space elevator.

    Variable sword.

    Shadow-square wire.

    Don't write these off as goofy SF ideas. These are well-thought-out designs with only one "If Only". When the final engineering solution for the "if only" part of the design appears (and it will), the prediction is realized.


    Ever heard of geostationary satellites?

  • Everytime I read about nanotech (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:23PM (#6351145)
    I notice similaraties with Stephenson's 'The Diamond Age'... You say Carbon Nanotube based memory chip... He calls it rod logic, but it's clearly the same thing

    Just wait until we get some vacuum-filled buckyballs and some useful nano-power sourde.

    The diamond age is about to begin.

    • Wrong (Score:2)

      by jeti ( 105266 )
      You say Carbon Nanotube based memory chip...
      He calls it rod logic, but it's clearly the same thing
      Neal describes mechanical computers.
      The articles dicuss the use of nanotubes
      as transistors.
    • I think the rod logic in Diamond Age is more a mechanical thing. It is a Babbage Engine at the atomic scale with little gears and rods. This is talked about in K Eric Drexler's book that started the nanotechnology craze Engines of Creation [foresight.org].

      The book seems to be available online.
    • There's two problems with nano-machines; power and control.
      In other words, how do you get enough power to move those tiny limbs (and how are you going to move those tiny limbs in the first place? Tiny pistons?) and how do you give the thing an instruction set (where is it's program? A built in Dell?).

      Now the power and movement could probably be solved (ambient heat and electric motors), but the control aspect is damn near unsolvable unless you want a nano-sized machnine with a milimeter cpu on it's back...

  • What if ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zanek ( 546281 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:23PM (#6351154) Homepage
    From the article: "The ability to place CNTs directly on a substrate while controlling their spacing, size, and length, provides a high quality image with optimized electron emissions, brightness, color purity and resolution for flat panel displays. Other attempts in this field utilize a "paste" or "print" method of applying CNTs, which to date, have not been able to provide the same level of display image quality, or the potential cost savings of Motorola's NED process."

    This brings up some interesting ideas !
    What happens when the technology for laying the nanotubes onto substrates becomes so good that we
    are able to build car frames or house frames from it(think 3D substrates of nanotubes) ?
    How about another question , how easy is it for one to recycle this crap.
    We already have problems with millions of old junk PC's and monitors, what happens when you have near indestructable nanotube structures ?

    • Re:What if ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @02:05PM (#6351525) Homepage Journal
      > How about another question , how easy is it for one to recycle this crap.

      Burn it. It's coal.

    • Re:What if ... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by slagdogg ( 549983 )
      What happens when the technology for laying the nanotubes onto substrates becomes so good that we
      are able to build car frames or house frames from it(think 3D substrates of nanotubes) ?

      Automobile frames will probably be made of carbon fiber in the next few years, I think that will be "good enough". Check Discovery channel's "Extreme Engineering" for how nanotubes could really be used, on that gigantic pyramid thing.

      http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/ p yramidcity/interactive/interactive.ht [discovery.com]

  • Car Bodies (Score:2, Funny)

    by Infernon ( 460398 ) *
    Smart skins would have been nice this morning when some jerk backed into my car and didn't bother to leave a note...

  • vias in semiconductors (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tlk nnr ( 449342 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:25PM (#6351182) Homepage
    Another potential use for nanotubes are the traces on semiconductors:
    I've seen a presentation from Infineon about using carbon nanotubes instead of copper for the vias in copper - time frame for production 3-5 years.

    http://www.eurosime.com/bgnd.htm#es03

  • I was promised a flying car! Will nanotubes deliver?

  • IBM Developing MRAM prior to this so-called NRAM. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cenobita ( 615440 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:36PM (#6351281)
    It seems Nantero has taken a "hint" from IBM by trying to beat them to the punch.

    Wired had an article in April of 2000 on a technology called MRAM being developed by Stuart Parkin at IBM. Very interesting stuff, and they had working prototypes before this Nantero thing. From what I can tell, Nantero probably read the same article I did, as the similarities are quite remarkable.

    Check it out: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/mram.html

  • Plastics... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:38PM (#6351285)
    The amusing thing about the plastics mentioning is that it really has come true, as far as market penetration. Almost everything that we deal with is plastic, from the bulk of the styling panels on modern automobiles, to grocery bags, to computer parts. Almost every strap connector is made of plastic, and many ropes are plastic-impregnated for strength and longevity. We ship our food in plastic, we filter our water with it. We contain industrial fluids in it. It's everywhere. It's easy to find devices that are nearly 100% plastic, it's nearly impossible to find something with absolutely no plastic in it whatsoever.

    Maybe the Buggles album "Age of Plastic" is fully appropriate by name. Certainly the method I use to play it is plastic...
    • (it's nearly impossible to find something with absolutely no plastic in it whatsoever)

      Banana / Apple / Carrot / Orange, OFF THE TREE. Admittedly, those waxes they use could possibly qualify as a plastic. [oh yes... carrots come out of the ground.]

      Construction materials: Wood. Concrete [many kinds, though not waterproof]. Bricks. Nails. (not CC's, though: they have thermoplastic cement]

      A GOOD white starch shirt from Lancaster, PA.

      Dirt. Water. Air.

      Philosophy. Mathematics. A Thanksgiving Day le
    • My pants are entirely plastic free, as is my broom, my doors, all the books on my shelf, virtually all the mail I get, and my cat (debatable).

      • Re:Plastics... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Zathrus ( 232140 )
        My pants are entirely plastic free

        Doubt it. Odds are, the tags that were on the pants when you bought them were attached with and/or made of plastic. They were probably manufactured with machines containing rather large amounts of plastic, and were shipped in containers partially made of plastic.

        my broom

        Old broom then. Most of the newer brooms are made entirely of plastic -- yeah, they're the cheap ones. They work just fine too.

        books on my shelf

        Which probably had theft prevention tags in them whi
      • You don't get mail with those clear envelopes? The metal plates on your your door don't have plastic film on them? NONE of your books have a jacket?
        • In order...
          yes, but very rarely.
          metal plates? You mean the hinges? Nope, they are just brass-looking metal.
          None of the books on my bookshelf do, all are academic books for the classes I've recently completed or paperback novels. Personally I hate hardcover novels...that's just me, I think the average person likes them better.

          Disregarding the above, I was trying to prove the point that not EVERYTHING is made of plastic or contains plastic.

    • Re:Plastics... (Score:3, Funny)

      by Surak ( 18578 ) *
      It's easy to find devices that are nearly 100% plastic, it's nearly impossible to find something with absolutely no plastic in it whatsoever.

      Yeah, people too, especially Hollywood stars. :)

    • I had an engineering professor that once delved into the whole 'fossil fuel' issue. He said the biggest problem with "using up" oil wasn't that gas would be more expensive, but that the plastics industry would implode. Plastics, not gasoline, are the biggest consumers of petroleum products.
      Well, I found that interesting. :)
  • Huh? I don't see anything in the articles about any of those applications increasing in size... Although, it would be pretty sweet to have a growing flat panel display...

  • Nonotubes are growing and growing? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gregoyle ( 122532 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:44PM (#6351328)
    I thought the whole reason we were using them was that they were small?

    ::ducks::

  • UK gov tries to catch up in nanotech (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tarquin_fim_bim ( 649994 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @01:44PM (#6351329)
    There's an article on the Register [theregister.co.uk] outlining the UK Governments [number-10.gov.uk] proposed investment of £90m (GBP) in nanotechnology over the next six years here [theregister.co.uk]. With links to the announcement [gnn.gov.uk] on the Government News Network [gnn.gov.uk]. A very little too late perhaps.
  • http://www.colossalstorage.net/eloy_3c.gif

    ferroelectric nanotubes

  • Hacking Matter (Score:2, Interesting)

    by HolyN00b! ( 684818 )
    Read a fantastic book on nanotechnology and future possible applications - specifically speaking of artificial atoms (see buckyballs) in a book called

    Excellent read - although I have now decided to freeze myself for thawing in about 200 years.

  • The manufacturing machine could be put on a geostationary satellite and could "grow" a thread reaching earth and further out into space.

    Its "Fountains of Paradise" time.

    Arthur C Clarke must be so pleased. He got right the development and use of satellites, geostationary and orbital, and now this.

    Kewl.
    • > The manufacturing machine could be put on a geostationary satellite and could "grow" a thread reaching earth and further out into space.

      And where would it get materials from? There's not much free carbon in vacuum!

      Don't you think manufactured on Earth thin threads of the "rope" lifted to orbit, attached to existing construction and attached either to the end of built already rope, or along it, to strenghten it would be better?

  • Ahem! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Capt'n Hector ( 650760 ) on Wednesday July 02, 2003 @04:24PM (#6352721)
    ...MP3 players with 1000s of songs...

    iPod [apple.com].

  • a lot more of those "priceless" pictures showing up on the net. Girls wearing nanotube clothes, only to have them explode off of them because they were too close to the camera flash.

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