The National Science Foundation is now soliciting proposals for the creation of a national "Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology", with full proposals due in March. This Center will conduct research on the implications of nanotechnology on the environment and "living systems of all scales". This move is extremely promising given all the attention given to nanotechnology research in recent years, and could reveal important dangers that certain nanotechnologies pose to the environment before they have their effects. The announcement states that any proposals must be for a center with an interdisciplinary approach, combining biological, chemical, physical, computational, mathematical, social and behavioral sciences, ensuring that such a center would focus on all aspects of nanotechnology's effects on the environment.

This announcement comes just around the time of the article in this week's Economist which states "The unusual properties of tiny particles contain huge promise. But nobody knows how safe they are. And too few people are trying to find out." (The Economist. November 24th, 2007. p. 81) The fact that people are worried about unknown consequences of Nanotechnology is a step in the right direction, but we will see if announcements and articles like these will actually lead to the investigative rigor that we would hope for.

Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN)

Labels: Nanotechnology

A proposed energy project in Europe would supply so much renewable energy to the continent that fossil fuels may no longer be necessary. Consisting mostly of wind farms and using high voltage direct-current lines as main arteries, this supergrid would be more efficient and less costly than any counterpart. It does this by dealing with the biggest hurdle in wind-driven energy: unreliability. All the wind turbines across Europe would be massed and contributed to a centralized grid, so no matter what - wind will be blowing somewhere.

The only step that separates this project from reality is the political will of the citizens of Europe to accept the $80bil price tag that comes with it. Given the enthusiasm shown for greener forms of production and the promise of a fossil-free existence, it sounds like all the European people need is assurance of success. The plan's creator, German Gregor Czisch says that Europe's grids are outdated and in bad need of replacement. He is confident such a plan could be implemented within 5 years.

Labels: Advanced Energy

Recent months have seen former subscription-only news sites remove the cost of reading articles, including the Wall Street Journal, Economist and the New York Times. It comes as industry leaders have realized that consumers are only willing to pay for content of a specific and intense interest, and that news, video and other mainstream items are expected to be free and widely available. Media outlets are now being forced to turn to an advertising-based business model to sustain revenue lost from offering material without a paid subscribtion.

This kind of shift represents the impact that the Web and those who utilize it are having on the traditional modes of business. Enticing more visitors to the site with free content means that companies can charge more for advertising, and an online model allows for significantly more growth than one with a stiff subscription. Additionally, it adds strength to the world of digital media, one that is not only being affected by Web 2.0, but is slowing overtaking print media as the place to turn for news and events. Now that more mainstream sites are opening their doors to everyone on the Internet, a complete media transformation may be closer than we realize.

Labels: Web Technologies

About a billion people worldwide suffer from a lack of clean water. In order to help alleviate this global problem, the British engineering firm Arup and poverty relief charity WaterAid invited engineers to present their solutions. The prize-winning entry, called WatAir, was developed by a team of Israeli architects. The team derived the model's foundations from nature. The spider web, they observed, has an impeccable ability to gather moisture, condensing water vapor into droplets of liquid water. Their design captures water vapor from the air and coverts it into water. It is then processed through an onboard filter.

Since the contest, the developers have built a prototype model. A simple canvas, 10 meters in diameter and held up by ropes tied to trees, extracted 20 liters of water from the air. Canvas, to be sure, is not the ideal material for water extraction. The team is currently seeking improved materials which can more efficiently harvest the available water vapor.

This method of water extraction may have far reaching uses, beyond supplying clean water to impoverished regions. For example, in the face of an impending irrigable land shortage, a farming technology which stacks greenhouses into towers is in development. These towers will require an efficient system for water consumption.

The developers of the WatAir system are also involved in the development an alternative energy source based on helium balloons.

Dew-harvesting Technology

Labels: Advanced Energy

A coalition of lobbying groups in Australia is looking towards solar conscious residents to help spur the government and economy in a more green direction. It's an interesting approach to take advantage of already existing infrastructure, instead of spending money building costly fields of solar panels or wind farms. The plan calls for willing homeowners to sell back the energy received from panels placed on their roofs straight into the power grid. What's different about this plan, however, is that these groups are lobbying for homeowners to be paid at a premium market price, in order to boost incentive for more homes to participate.

Australians are no strangers to the solar market. On a continent with such abundant sunshine, solar-capturing products and services are readily available. One company has even developed a solar sail that can be mounted on a boat, turning the boats energy source into a hybrid of sun and fuel. With continued efforts like these, cities and towns are learning to become totally energy self-sufficient, emitting no carbon and setting an example for the rest of Australia, and the rest of the world.

Labels: Advanced Energy

An Ithica, NY materials startup company, Novomer, has been working on creating plastics out of Carbon Mono- and Dioxide. The company, run by a group of Cornell University alumni, has created a catalyst which can turn Carbon Dioxide into a polymer, which has promise to become a low-cost, high-quality, biodegradable plastic for use in a wide variety of industries. The company, founded in 2004, has just received $6.6 million in venture capital funding which it intends to use to scale up its manufacturing capability.

In terms of its biodegradability, Novomer will have to compete with other green plastics made from plant matter, like those produced by Metabolix and Natureworks, but Novomer has the advantage that, using Carbon Dioxide as its input, it won't compete with food production. A company like Novomer is especially promising because it deals with the problem of needing green alternatives to non-fuel petroleum products.

Much excitement has resulted from Google’s recent announcement of OpenSocial, an initiative to further cooperation between software developers and Web sites in adopting a single set of software standards for the little software pieces that can add a layer of social networking to all Web sites. Such an agreement would liberate users from the frustration of joining multiple sites, enabling them to link up all of their friend networks into one macro-network across the internet. This initiative, which has the support of all the top social networking sites except for Facebook, champions the use of nonproprietary programming languages. The creation of such an interoperable platform for ubiquitous social networking among the top social networking sites has set the stage for a new chapter in web interaction. The announcement came shortly after the generous $15 billion valuation of Facebook resulting from Microsofts investment of $240 million – a transaction which demonstrated the growing influence of social networking sites to command large valuations resulting from their potential ad space. Despite Google’s own investments in social network sites like Orkut, the internet conglomerate’s disclosures of its OpenSocial project underlines the movement to integrate all such sites where Google’s search crawler is currently not allowed to search through. While the innovative OpenSocial project would open doors allowing for a more free sharing of friend networks which are quickly expanding, it also raises concerns about the amount of control over users’ personal information. The vast number of disconnected social networks may be inconvenient for some users seeking a more connected awareness, however the status quo situation does ensure the compartmentalization of sensitive information users may not intend for public consumption outside of their trusted circles. Indeed, while interoperability may result in greater efficiency, it may also alter the dynamic of how openly users share information with their trusted peers.

Labels: Web Technologies

Last February, D-Wave Systems introduced the first 16 qubit computer, and wasted very little time in advancing. This week at the SC07 Conference, D-Wave will put the world's first commercial quantum computer on display, via the Internet. The computer, code-named "Orion", has a tentative release date of June 2009, where it will be accessible on-line for simulation purposes targeting at pricing and risk analysis. Users of the on-line service will come from

• government
• military
• academia
• research
• engineering
• life sciences
• manufacturing, banking and insurance industries

"Orion" is supported by a software system that allows the user to be free from confusion. Ease of use was a primary factor in the design of our software system," said Dr. Bill Macready, D-Wave vice president of software systems and products. With the inception of "Orion", D-Wave hopes to provide solutions to problems that have inherently limited digital computing.

Labels: Advanced Computing

Carbon nanotubes have long been the in forefront of medical technology, especially given their ability to act as drug carriers within the body. However, researchers remain skeptical as to how friendly they are to the body's tissues and structure. Nanodiamonds are starting to alleviate these fears with their non-toxic properties and and water soluability. Tests of the ability for these tiny structures to deliver anti-tumor medication in patients were recently completed by scientists at Northwestern University and proved successful. Previous methods of delivering these drugs has toxic effects on the body, as they contain materials that destroy healthy cells as well as cancerous ones. The nanodiamond structures act as ferrys for these drugs and prevent them from releasing in to the body until they reach their intended targets.

Tiny diamonds act as anti-cancer drugs

Labels: Nanotechnology

After posting over $60 million in losses, the Biodiesel company Earth Biofeuls has been sued by its investors for involuntary bankruptcy. Despite celebrity endorsements, the sale of biofeuls has remained dismal. Despite their losses, Earth Biofuels maintains that it will continue its operations and will strive to bring biofuels to the mass market.

The failure of biofuel companies to evolve into self-sustaining entities has serious implications for the alternative energy industry. With its proven advantages, huge numbers of famous supporters, and abundance of biodiesel-related companies, biofuels appear to be the among the most plausible forms of alternative energy. Despite its promise, one of the largest Biofuel companies in America has proven unprofitable. This signals just how far alternative energy developers still have to go in bringing down its costs.

Labels: Advanced Energy

Months of speculation have fueled the announcement by Google this week of a new cell phone system that offers not a new device, but a free platform that makes a mobile device operate more like a personal computer. Google is taking several revolutionary steps to make this product a reality, including allowing dozens of companies to have access to its source code and design the system. It's also inviting third parties to design add-ons that allow video playback, mp3 capabilities, and syncronization code to allow whatever device the system is operating on to automatically sync with computer calenders and address books.

This system can also run on the most ordinary of cellular devices, unlike current PDA systems that come on expensive and complicated machines. Until now, these third parties would have to design their products with the permission and compatability of each individual carrier; with this technology, Google will make that step obsolete. But unlike the numerous companies who have jumped on board this project in order to regain some of the customers they've lost in recent years (namely Sprint and T-Mobile), others like Microsoft seem to be welcoming the competition.

Labels: Wireless