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Meet the world’s smallest hard drive.


Dutch scientists have developed a unique solution to deal with the data storage problem. By manipulating single atoms, researchers have created the world’s smallest hard drive capable of storing 1 kilobyte of data (8000 bits) in a space under 100 nanometers across. The technology means that all the books in the world could be stored on a device the size of a postage stamp.

In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, scientists from the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft) said that they have created an atomic hard drive with a storage density that is 500 times greater than current hard drive technology.

Associate Professor at TU Delft and lead researcher Sander Otte and his team found that placing chlorine atoms on a copper surface created the perfect square grid. A hole appears in the grid when an atom is missing. Using a scanning tunneling microscope, scientists were able to move atoms around one by one and even drag individual atoms toward the hole.

For years, scientists and engineers have synthesized materials at the nanoscale level to take advantage of their mechanical, optical, and energy properties, but efforts to scale these materials to larger sizes have resulted in diminished performance and structural integrity.

Now, researchers led by Xiaoyu “Rayne” Zheng, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech have published a study in the journal Nature Materials that describes a new process to create lightweight, strong and super elastic 3D printed metallic nanostructured with unprecedented scalability, a full seven orders of magnitude control of arbitrary 3D architectures.

Strikingly, these multiscale metallic materials have displayed super elasticity because of their designed hierarchical 3D architectural arrangement and nanoscale hollow tubes, resulting in more than a 400 percent increase of tensile elasticity over conventional lightweight metals and ceramic foams.

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Biowire.


Researchers led by microbiologist Derek Lovely say the wires, which rival the thinnest wires known to man, are produced from renewable, inexpensive feedstocks and avoid the harsh chemical processes typically used to produce nanoelectronic materials.

Lovley says, “New sources of electronic materials are needed to meet the increasing demand for making smaller, more powerful electronic devices in a sustainable way.” The ability to mass-produce such thin conductive wires with this sustainable technology has many potential applications in electronic devices, functioning not only as wires, but also transistors and capacitors. Proposed applications include biocompatible sensors, computing devices, and as components of solar panels.

This advance began a decade ago, when Lovley and colleagues discovered that Geobacter, a common soil microorganism, could produce “microbial nanowires,” electrically conductive protein filaments that help the microbe grow on the iron minerals abundant in soil. These microbial nanowires were conductive enough to meet the bacterium’s needs, but their conductivity was well below the conductivities of organic wires that chemists could synthesize.

Purifying H2O more cheaply.


WASHINGTON—()—Organic compounds in wastewater, such as dyes and pigments in industry effluents, are toxic or have lethal effect on aquatic living and humans. Increasing evidence has shown that the organic contaminants discharged from electroplating, textile production, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals are the main reasons for the higher morbidity rates of kidney, liver, and bladder cancers, etc. Organic contaminants, especially methyl blue and methyl orange, are stable to light, heat or oxidizing agents and very difficult to remove by conventional chemical or biological wastewater treatment techniques. Recently scientists have developed some new strategies with good dye-removal performance; however, a subsequent adsorbent purification procedure is unavoidable after water treatment, which are often complicated and not suitable for practical water treatment.

Now, using laser-induced fabrication technique, a team of Chinese researchers from Shandong University, China, have developed a novel dye adsorbent. Hybrid nano-particles of silver and silver sulfide (Ag2S@Ag hybrid nano-particles) have demonstrated the nanomaterial’s superior adsorption performance for removing methyl blue and methyl orange from wastewater. More importantly, the new adsorbents can be removed directly from solutions by filters without adsorbent purification procedures, as the silver-based hybrid nano-particles will be agglomerated and deposited on the bottom after adsorbing dyes, providing a green, simple, rapid and low-cost solution for water purification. This week in the journal Optical Materials Express, from The Optical Society (OSA), the researchers describe the work.

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Way cool! Your stitches monitors and reports your progress to your doctor/s.

BTW — In 1999, I told a guy from Diamond Intl. that the thread in our clothing would be able to do this in the next 15 to 20 years. He laughed at me; never say never.


For the first time, researchers led by Tufts University engineers have integrated nano-scale sensors, electronics and microfluidics into threads — ranging from simple cotton to sophisticated synthetics — that can be sutured through multiple layers of tissue to gather diagnostic data wirelessly in real time, according to a paper published online July 18 in Microsystems & Nanoengineering. The research suggests that the thread-based diagnostic platform could be an effective substrate for a new generation of implantable diagnostic devices and smart wearable systems.

The researchers used a variety of conductive threads that were dipped in physical and chemical sensing compounds and connected to wireless electronic circuitry to create a flexible platform that they sutured into tissue in rats as well as in vitro. The threads collected data on tissue health (e.g. pressure, stress, strain and temperature), pH and glucose levels that can be used to determine such things as how a wound is healing, whether infection is emerging, or whether the body’s chemistry is out of balance. The results were transmitted wirelessly to a cell phone and computer.

Invisibility cloak has hidden Harry Potter and hobbits from view and now, this sci-fi staple may be moving closer to reality!

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have made an object disappear by using a composite material with nano-size particles that can enhance specific properties on the object’s surface.

Researchers demonstrated for the first time a practical cloaking device that allows curved surfaces to appear flat to electromagnetic waves.

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(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with the University of California, MIT, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan has created images of relativistic electrons trapped in graphene quantum dots. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics the team describes how they achieved this feat and where they plan to take their work in the future.

As the many unique properties of graphene continue to unfold, scientists seek new ways to harness and eventually make use of them. One such use might be to control electrons to allow their use in nano-scaled devices, which could also inadvertently lead to a deeper understanding of Dirac fermions. In this new effort, the researchers have made progress in that area by devising a means for capturing and holding electrons and for creating images of the result.

Obtaining images of electron waveforms has thus far been particularly difficult—virtually all existing methods have resulted in too many defects. To get around such problems, the researchers took another approach to capturing the electrons. They first created circular p-n junctions by sending voltage through the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope down to a graphene sample below. At the same time, they also applied voltage to a slab of silicon underneath the piece of graphene, which was kept separated by a layer of silicon-oxide and a flake of . Doing so caused defects in the boron nitride to ionize, resulting in charges migrating to the graphene.

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Transhuman Terminology.

ADHOCRACY
AEONOMICS
A-LIFE
AGORIC SYSTEM

AI-COMPLETE ALEPH ALGERNON AMORTALIST ARACHNIOGRAPHY ARCH-ANARCHY ARCOLOGY ARROW IMPOSSIBILITY THEOREM ARTILECT ASEX ASIMORT ASIMOV ASSEMBLER ATHANASIA ATHANOPHY ATHEOSIS AUGMENT AUTOEVOLUTIONIST AUTOMATED ENGINEERING AUTOMORPHISM AUTOPOTENT AUTOSCIENT BABY UNIVERSE BASEMENT UNIVERSE BEAN DIP CATASTROPHE BEANSTALK BEKENSTEIN BOUND BERSERKER BETELGEUSE-BRAIN BIG CRUNCH BINERATOR BIOCHAUVINISM BIOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALISM BIONICS BIONOMICS BIOPHILIAC BIOSTASIS B-LIFE BLIGHT BLIND UPLOADING BLUE GOO BOGOSITY FILTER BORGANISM BREAKEVEN POINT BROADCATCHING BRUTE FORCE UPLOADING BUSH ROBOT CALCUTTA SYNDROME CALM TECHNOLOGY CALORIE RESTRICTION CASIMIR EFFECT CEREBROSTHESIS CHINESE ROOM CHRONONAUTS CHURCH-TURING THESIS COBOTS COMPUFORM COMPUTRONIUM CONCENTRATED INTELLIGENCE CONSILIENCE CONNECTIONISM CONTELLIGENCE CONTINUITY IDENTITY THEORY COSMYTHOLOGY CRYOBIOLOGY CRYOCRASTINATE CRYOGENICS CRYONICS CRYONIC SUSPENSION CRYPTO ANARCHY CRYPTOCOSMOLOGY CYBERCIDE CYBERFICTION CYBERGNOSTICISM CYBERIAN CYBERNATE/CYBERNIZE CYBERSPACE/CYBERMATRIX CYBRARIAN CYPHERPUNK DEANIMALIZE DEATH FORWARD DEATHISM DEEP ANARCHY DEFLESH DIGITAL PSEUDONYM DIAMONDOID DISASSEMBLER DISASTERBATION DISTRIBUTED INTELLIGENCE DIVERGENT TRACK HYPOTHESIS DIVERSITY IQ DIVIDUALS DOOMSDAY ARGUMENT DOWNLOAD DRYWARE DUBIFIER DYSON SPHERE ECOCALYPSE ECTOGENESIS

EMBRYOMEME
EMULATION
ENHANCED REALITY
ENVIROCAPITALISM
EPHEMERALISTS
E-PRIME
ESCALATORLOGY
THE ETERNAL LIFE POSTULATE
EUPSYCHIA
EUTHENICS
EVOLUTIONARILY STABLE STRATEGY (ESS)
EVOLUTURE
EXCONOMICS
EXES
EXFORMATION
EXISTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY
EXOPHOBIA
EXOSELF
EXTROPIAN
EXTROPIATE
EXTROPIC
EXTROPOLIS
EXTROPY
FACULTATIVE ANAGOROBE
FAR EDGE PARTY
THE FERMI PARADOX
FEMTOTECHNOLOGY
FLATLANDER
FLUIDENTITY
FOGLET
FORK
FREDKIN’S PARADOX
FUNCTIONAL SOUP
FUTIQUE
FUTURE SHOCK
GALAXY BRAIN
GAUSSIAN
GENEGENEERING
GENETIC ALGORITHM
GENIE
GREEN GOO
GÖDEL’S THEOREM
GOLDEN GOO
GREAT FILTER, THE
GREY GOO
GUY FAWKES SCENARIO
HALLUCINOMEMIC
HIVE COMPUTING
HOMORPH
HPLD
HYPERTEXT
HYPONEIRIA
HYPOTECH

IDEAL IDENTITY
IMMORTALIST
IMMORTECHNICS
IMP
INACTIVATE
INFOGLUT
INFOMORPH
INFORMATION-THEORETICAL DEATH
INLINE UNIVERSITIES
INTERFACER
INTERNALNET
JUPITER-BRAIN
KHAKI GOO
KARDASCHEV TYPES
KNOWBOTS
KOLMOGOROV COMPELXITY
LEONARDO DA VINCI SYNDROME
LINDE SCENARIO
LIQUIDENTITY
LOFSTROM LOOP
LONGEVIST
MASPAR
MATAGLAP
MEGATECHNOLOGY (or MEGASCALE ENGINEERING)
MEMETICS
MEMIE
MEMIUS
MEMOTYPE
MEMOID (or MEMEOID)
MEHUM
MERCHANCY
MESOSCALE
MINDKIND
MOLMAC
MORPHOLOGICAL FREEDOM
MUTUAL REALITY
NANARCHIST
NANARCHY
NANITE
NANOCHONDRIA
NANOFACTURE
NANOMEDICINE
NANOSOME
NANOTECH
(MOLECULAR) NANOTECHNOLOGY
NEG
NEOMORPH
NEOLOGOMANIA
NEOPHILE
NEOPHILIA
NEOPHOBE
NEUROCOMPUTATION
NEURONAUT
NEURON STAR
NEUROPROSTHESIS
NEUROSUSPENSION
NOOTROPIC
NOW SHOCK
NUTRACEUTICAL
OFFLOADING
OMEGA POINT
OMEGON
OMNESCIENCE
O’NEILL COLONY
O’NEILL CYLINDERS
ONTOLOGICAL CONSERVATIVES
OPTIMAL PERSONA
PANCRITICAL RATIONALISM
ORBITAL TOWER
PARTIALATE
PATTERN IDENTITY THEORY
PERICOMPUTER
PERIMELASMA
PERSOGATE
PERVERSION ATTACK
PHARMING
PHYLE
PHYSICAL ESCHATOLOGY
PICO TECHNOLOGY
PIDGIN BRAIN
PINK GOO
PLEXURE
POME
POSTHUMAN
POSTJUDICE
POWERSHIFT
PRISONERS’ DILEMMA
PRIVACY MANAGEMENT
PROLONGEVITY
QUANTUM COMPUTING
QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY
QUASISPECIES
RAPTURE OF THE FUTURE
RED GOO
RED QUEEN PRINCIPLE
RED QUEENED
REMEMBRANCE AGENT
REVERSIBLE
RIF
SANS CEILING HYPOTHESIS
SANTA MACHINE
SAPPER MEME
SCHEME
SENTIENCE QUOTIENT
SHIH
SINGULARITY
SINGULARITARIAN
SKY HOOK
SMART-FACED
SOCIOTYPE
SOLID STATE CIVILIZATION
SPIKE, THE
SPOCK MEME
SPONTANEOUS VOLUNTARISM
SPACE FOUNTAIN
STAR LIFTING
STELLAR HUSBANDRY
STEWARD
STRONG AI POSTULATE
STRONG CONVERGENCE HYPOTHESIS
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
SYNTHESPIAN
TAZ/Temporary Autonomous Zone.
TECHNOCYTE
TECHNOSPHERE
TECHNOCALYPS
TELEOLOGICAL THREAD
THEORETICAL APPLIED SCIENCE
TITHONUS SYNDROME
TIPLER CYLINDER
TIPLERITE
TRANSBIOMORPHOSIS (TRANSBIOLOGICAL METAMORPHOSIS)
TRANSCEND
TRANSCENSION
TRANSCIENT
TRANSCLUSION
TRANSHUMANISM
TRANSHUMANITIES
TRAPDOOR FUNCTION
TURING MACHINE
TURING TEST
ÜBERGOO
UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING
UPLIFT
UPLOADER
UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTOR
UNIVERSAL IMMORTALISM
UNIVERSAL TURING MACHINE
UTILITY FOG
VACCIME
VASTEN
VENTURISM
VIEWQUAKE
VIRIAN
VIRION
VIRTUAL COMMUNITY
VIRTUAL RIGHTS
VITOLOGY
VIVISYSTEM
VON NEUMANN MACHINE
VON NEUMANN PROBE
WEBORIZE
WETWARE
WORMHOLE
XENOBIOLOGY
XENOEVOLUTURE
XEROPHILIA
XOXER
ZERO KNOWLEDGE PROOF


The researchers say that the monochrome painting — a dime’s width across — is a proof-of-concept that the extremely precise technique can be used to build nanoscale chip-based devices like computer circuits, conductive carbon nanotubes, and for extremely efficient targeted drug delivery.

In order to reproduce the painting, the researchers used a technique first described by Rothemund and colleagues at IBM in 2009. The first step of the process involves folding DNA strands to create the desired shape, with short “staple strands” being used to literally staple the molecules. Then this pattern, which, at this stage, is floating in a saline solution, is poured into patches on a chip whose shapes match the DNA origami’s.

The folded DNA now acts as scaffolding onto which researchers then install fluorescent molecules inside microscopic light sources called photonic crystal cavities (PCC) — much like putting light bulbs into lamps.

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