nanotechnology: the next big idea week 3: pop culture

Nanotechnology: the next big ideaWeek 3: Pop Culture

Maryse de la Giroday6-week course

SFU Liberal Arts & Adults 55+ program

Old business

• kevlar• dendrimer• quantum spin• Niels Bohr hydrogen atom model• Google, medications, and magnetic particles• Sourcing nanomaterials• Where does Tony Ryan’s pollution go after it’s

captured in clothing fibres?• Naturally occurring carbon nanotubes

Kevlar (1 of 2)

• Developed in 1965 by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont, poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA), or Kevlar, is a para-aramid synthetic fiber deriving its strength from interchain hydrogen bonding. It finds use in flexible energy and electronic systems, but is most commonly associated with bullet-proof body armour. (http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/09/oxide-armour-kevlar-stab-resistance)

Kevlar (2 of 2)

• Presentation #MS+PS+TF-ThA4, “Multifunctional Fabrics via Tungsten ALD on Kevlar,” authored by Sarah Atanasov, B. Kalanyan and G.N. Parsons, will be at 3:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.

• researchers will describe how they were able to “weave” high-strength, highly conductive yarns made of tungsten metal on Kevlar — aka body armor material — by using atomic layer deposition (ALD), a process commonly used for producing memory and logic devices. (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=15053 Oct. 31, 2014)

http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=15053

Dendrimers

• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=13659 (June 6, 2014; video)

• I conflated them with aptamers: Dr. Maria DeRosa’s research examines a type of nucleic acid called ‘aptamers’ that can fold into 3D nanoscale shapes capable of binding tightly to a specific molecular target. (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=4923)


Quantum spin

• In quantum mechanics and particle physics, spin is an intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by elementary particles, composite particles (hadrons), and atomic nuclei. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_%28physics%29)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(physics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_(physics)

Quantum spin

• Physicist: “Spin” or sometimes “nuclear spin” or “intrinsic spin” is the quantum version of angular momentum. Unlike regular angular momentum, spin has nothing to do with actual spinning. Normally angular momentum takes the form of an object’s tendency to continue rotating at a particular rate. Conservation of regular, in-a-straight-line momentum is often described as “an object in motion stays in motion, and an object at rest stays at rest”, conservation of angular momentum is often described as “an object that’s rotating stays rotating, and an object that’s not rotating keeps not rotating”. (http://www.askamathematician.com/2011/10/q-what-is-spin-in-particle-physics-why-is-it-different-from-just-ordinary-rotation/)

Quantum spin

• What does it really mean that particle has a spin of up/down? And how is spin actually meassured? [sic]

• Answer: Your confusion probably arises not from the technical details of spin measurement, but the peculiar nature of quantum mechanics. The spin state of electron can be arbitrary aligned, so there are infinite possible spin states, not just up and down. But all these states live in a 2-dimensional vector space, and up and down states are one sets of basis vectors of this space. In other words, any spin state may be written as linear combination of up and down states (or left and right states).

Quantum spin

• Designating up and down states as the basis is analogous to choosing coordinate system; they are arbitrary and do not establish a preferential orientation in space. Another peculiar thing about quantum physics is the measurement induced "collapse" of quantum state. Whatever the initial orientation, if you measure spin along z axis, the outcome can only be up and down, with certain probability. Now since a left state tilts neither upward or downward, it is naturally the possibility of each outcome is 50%. (http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/31443/what-does-it-really-mean-that-particle-has-a-spin-of-up-down-and-how-is-spin-ac)

Niels Bohr and the hydrogen atom model (solar system model)

• In atomic physics, the Rutherford–Bohr model or Bohr model, introduced by Niels Bohr in 1913, depicts the atom as a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons that travel in circular orbits around the nucleus—similar in structure to the solar system, but with attraction provided by electrostatic forces rather than gravity. After the cubic model (1902), the plum-pudding model (1904), the Saturnian model (1904), and the Rutherford model (1911) came the Rutherford–Bohr model or just Bohr model for short (1913). The improvement to the Rutherford model is mostly a quantum physical interpretation of it.

• The Bohr model has been superseded, but the quantum theory remains sound. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model)

Science facts from school

• How many senses do you have?• Which of the following are magnetic: a tomato, you,

paperclips?• What are the primary colours of pigments and paints?• What region of the tongue is responsible for sensing

bitter tastes?• What are the states of matter? • (http://theconversation.com/five-science-facts-we-

learnt-at-school-that-are-plain-wrong-33258)

Google, medications, magnetic particles

• Google is in the early stages of creating tiny, magnetic nanoparticles that will be able to search the human body for cancer and other diseases, The Wall Street Journal’s Alistair Barr and Ron Winslow report. [behind a paywall]

• Google’s goal is “an early heads-up” on disease to ultimately facilitate more effective treatment by making medicine proactive instead of reactive.

• Google’s particles will be less than 1/000 the width of a red blood cell and would attach themselves to specific cells, proteins, and other molecules inside the body. For example, Google could coat its nanoparticles with an antibody that would recognize and attach to a protein on the surface of a tumor cell.


• Google is also working on a wearable device that would attract and count the particles. In that way, the system would be used for testing and monitoring health: You could be alerted through the wearable if a lot of the particles were attaching to tumor cells. Google admits, however, that it still needs to better understand what constitutes as a healthy level of disease-carrying molecules in the blood and what would be a cause for a concern.


• Google would likely let people consume its nanoparticles through a pill, but is reportedly at least five to seven years away from a product that would be approved by doctors.

• (https://my.news.yahoo.com/google-making-magnetic-nanoparticles-search-172700907.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter)

Google, medications, magnetic particles: details please

• ‘Andrew] Conrad’s track record demands that we take this seriously. In the 1990s the molecular biologist’s work led to a test that dramatically reduced the time and cost it took to test blood and plasma donations for HIV and other viruses. He continued his ground-breaking research as chief scientist at LabCorp, but after spending time with Sergey Brin and others at Google, he decided that he could reach for most audacious goals at that company’s well-funded advanced lab, which has been the source of projects like self-driving cars, Google Glass, and Project Loon.


• Conrad, 50, is a surfing aficionado who sports a blonde goatee and a wry sense of humor. He gave BACKCHANNEL a rare interview about his new project as well as an overview of what his team is doing at Google X.


• ... Most of the time people are not sick. That means monitoring would have to be done continuously. You have to measure all the time because if you only measure once a year when people visit he [sic] doctor—or in men’s cases, once a decade—you’re going to miss huge swaths of the possibility of detecting disease early. So we have to make a continuous monitoring and measuring device. Since it’s continuous, it has to be something people wear, right? ...


• So the radical solution was to move away from the episodic, “Wait ‘til you feel a big lump in your chest before you go into the doctor” approach, and do a continuous measurement of key biological markers through non-invasive devices. And we would do that by miniaturizing electronics. We can make a little computer chip which has three hundred and sixty thousand transistors on it, yet it’s the size of a piece of glitter. One of the other ways is to functionalize nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are the smallest engineered particles, the smallest engineered machines or things that you can make. Nature does its business on the molecular level or the cellular level.


• ... We use Star Trek as our guiding force around Google because there used to be a computer called Tricorder —you’d talk to it and it would answer any question. That’s what we’re really looking for at Google X. We want to have a Tricorder where Dr. McCoy will wave this thing and say “Oh, you’re suffering from Valerian death fever.” And he’d then give some shot in a person’s neck and they’d immediately get better. We won’t do the shots—our partners will do the shots. But we’re hoping to build the Tricorder.


• You say you decorate the nanoparticles. I’ve also heard the word painting. I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around how you paint a nanoparticle.

• It’s done with chemistry. The core of the nanoparticle is iron oxide. So you take all the little particles, you can’t see individual ones, but you take a spoonful of particles, and you throw it into a mix of almost a polymer, like paint, that coats the outside. And coating the outside of it makes it permissible to attach other things to the surface.


• ... When a sodium molecule comes into the nanoparticle, it causes the nanoparticle to fluoresce light at a different color. So by collecting those nanoparticles at your wrist, where you have a device that detects these changes, we can see what color they’re glowing, and that way you can tell the concentration of sodium. In another case, by having a magnet at your wrist you can tell whether the nanoparticles are bound to cancer cells. …

• ...


• What about false positives?• This goes back to our Baseline Study. We are

looking at thousands of normal, healthy people and we’re going to measure everything we can think to measure in an effort to answer questions like how many cancer cells should a normal healthy person have, Zero? I don’t know. One? I don’t know. Ten? I don’t know.


• Because we might have cancer going around all the time but the immune system stifles it. So if you really want to be proactive, you need a ground truth. And the baseline is enrolling thousands of super healthy people, measuring all these things on them, then putting these devices on them to make sure we know what do when we’re looking for someone who’s transitioning from health to disease.

• (https://medium.com/backchannel/were-hoping-to-build-the-tricorder-12e1822e5e6a0

Response to Google X projects (moonshot projects: Baseline Study)

• The term “moon shot” has been getting tossed around a lot lately, mostly by Google X, the search company’s publicity arm.

• Ahem, secret lab.• The last time was last Friday, when the Wall Street

Journal broke the news of a biomedical research study being planned by Google X, which it crowned “Google’s New Moonshot” and rated as the company’s “most ambitious and difficult science project ever.”


• But the research, called the Baseline Study, sounded pretty ordinary to me—measure the genes and blood chemistry of 175 healthy people (and eventually thousands more) and try to establish some molecular information about what normal looks like.

• It makes you wonder what qualifies as a moon shot. On Twitter, some genome researchers had the same feeling:


• Google’s moon shots now include autonomous cars, Google Glass, high-altitude blimps that beam Internet service to the ground below, contact lenses that monitor glucose, a life extension company with plans to “solve death,” and something involving walking robots. Half these projects were announced in the last eight months.


• There’s also something slightly hokey-sounding about Baseline. The Google X manager running the study, Andrew Conrad, previously cofounded the California Health & Longevity Institute. That’s an upscale spa near Malibu where the well-heeled can pick from a menu that includes acupuncture treatments, healthy cooking lessons, or sitting inside a 64-slice CT scanner.


• It was funded by Conrad’s previous benefactor, the 91-year-old billionaire David Murdock, who is the chairman of Dole Foods, and who has plans to live to be 125 by eating only healthy foods. In fact, the $4,000 executive physicals offered at the spa (technicians check your vitamin levels and scour your scans for cancer while you get a massage) sounds vaguely like the workups the 175 volunteers will get as part of Baseline.


• And then there’s simply the matter of scale. Google has been building a team of “70 to 100” experts in biomedical imaging and analysis, according to the WSJ. That’s not small, but it’s not moon-shot-sized either. About 400,000 people worked for the Apollo program, a massive undertaking that at times ate up as much as 4 percent of the U.S. GDP. (July 29, 2014 MIT Technology Review http://www.technologyreview.com/view/529591/whats-a-moon-shot-worth-these-days/

Response to Google X projects (moonshot projects: magnetic particles)

• Other labs are already hard at work at exploring the potential nanoparticles, experts noted. "The idea isn't new," said Laurent Levy, founder and chairman of a French company, Nanobiotix, which is looking at the use of nanoparticles in cancer radiotherapy. "It's not science fiction -- it is achievable," he told AFP, saying that the technology is likely to start coming on stream within a decade. (http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=37911.php )


• Some nanotechnology experts, however, have responded by asking whether Google’s project is more science fiction than medical reality.

• “It’s very exciting that a company with Google’s financial firepower is taking on this big challenge,” says Chad Mirkin, who directs the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University. But he says that what Google has described is “an intent to do something, not a discovery or a pathway to get there.” At this point, he says, the technology is speculative: it’s basically “a good Star Trek episode.”


• In addition to challenges in delivering the nanoparticles and reading a signal from them, another key question is whether the system will be safe, says MIT professor Robert Langer. Indeed, says John McDonald, a professor at Georgia Tech, “one of the big hurdles we had with magnetic nanoparticles was their toxicity.” McDonald says that “Although anything is possible, I think there may be more effective ways to detect cancer and other diseases at an early stage than the approach envisioned by Google.” (http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532181/reality-check-for-googles-nanoparticle-health-tests/ MIT Technology Review Oct. 31, 2014)

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532181/reality-check-for-googles-nanoparticle-health-tests/

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532181/reality-check-for-googles-nanoparticle-health-tests/

Real research on magnetic nanoparticles

• Magnetic nanoparticles as contrast agents in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer by Juan Gallo, Nicholas J. Long, and Eric O. Aboagye. DOI: 10.1039/C3CS60149H (Review Article) Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 7816-7833 First published on the web 21st June 2013

Real research on magnetic nanoparticles

• Conclusions and Outlook: As demonstrated by the examples highlighted in this review, the application of nanotechnology to human health, although still in its initial stages, is very promising. The main advantage of nanoparticle formulations is the possibility of using the nanoparticles as a functional platform onto which a number of different ligands can be assembled. This not only allows the simultaneous delivery of different drugs, or drugs and imaging probes (not treated in this review), together with targeting molecules to gain specificity, but also allows the multivalent presentation of ligands (giving even more versatility to the system as weaker targeting molecules can be used) and provides a higher local concentration of the drugs in their final location.

Sourcing nanomaterials (1 of 3)• http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/nanomaterial/suppliers_p

list.php?page=1&mat=&subcat1=np• ABC Nanotech (South Korea)

– Producer of silver and silica nanoparticles and nano coatings.• ABCR (Germany)

– ABCR supplies speciality chemicals, including nanomaterials, to pharmaceutical, chemical and material science oriented companies worldwide.

• ...• American Dye Source, Inc. (Canada)

– American Dye Source, Inc. is a manufacturer of high quality materials for many different applications.

• American Elements (USA)– Manufacturer of advanced and engineered materials including ultra high

purity refining (99.9999%) and nanoparticles.

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/nanomaterial/suppliers_plist.php?page=1&mat=&subcat1=np

http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/nanomaterial/suppliers_plist.php?page=1&mat=&subcat1=np

Sourcing nanomaterials (2 of 3)• Antaria (Australia)

– A manufacturer of advanced nanomaterials and nanomaterials products in Australia.

• ApNano Materials (USA)– Commercializes proprietary technology for nanospheres and nanotubes

made from inorganic compounds.• ...• Chengyin Technology (PR China)

– Producer of nanoparticles.• Cline Scientific (Sweden)

– The company develops and sells tools for biomedical research based on nanotechnologies. Our products range from nanoparticles in suspensions to engineered surfaces for applications within stem cell research.

Sourcing nanomaterials (3 of 3)

• Comar Chemicals (South Africa)– The company manufactures iron based nanoparticle colloids and

carboxylates• ...• Cytodiagnostics (Canada)

– Cytodiagnostics is a biotechnology company that focuses on providing and developing nanotechnology derived products and services for the international life science market.

• DA NanoMaterials (USA)– A joint venture between DuPont and Air Products, develops and

manufactures colloidal silica sols and particles for electronic applications.

Where does Tony Ryan’s pollution go after it’s captured in clothing fibres?

• Message sent Nov. 3, 2014

Naturally occurring carbon nanotubes?

• Yes, we think so: Naturally produced carbon nanotubes in Chemical Physics Letters 373 (2003) 272–276

• Maybe no: Do single-walled carbon nanotubes occur naturally? In Nature Nanotechnology 3, 310 (2008) doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.139

• Maybe yes: Are Carbon Nanotubes a Naturally Occurring Material? Hints from Methane CVD Using Lava as a Catalyst in Current Nanoscience VOLUME: 7 (2011) ISSUE: 3 DOI: 10.2174/157341311795542543

Older debates within the nanotech community set the stage

• Top/down engineering• Bottom/up engineering• Self-assemblers/self-assembly• Goo (gray and green)• Fear of nanotechnology (scientists were very

concerned after the GMO and stem cell debacles)

Drexler, the popularizer and proselytizer is quite polarizing

• K. Eric Drexler, an engineer who studied with Feynman, popularized nanotechnology with his book Engines of Creation (1986) plarized the community and set the stage for goo

• His latest book is Radical Abundance (2013).• http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU_qq

MD08PFrDfPREoBEL6IQ&feature=player_detailpage&v=ylOCEmlnyHk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU_qqMD08PFrDfPREoBEL6IQ&feature=player_detailpage&v=ylOCEmlnyHk



Bitter nanotechnology debates (Smalley)

• The Drexler–Smalley debate [2001 – 3] on molecular nanotechnology was a public dispute between K. Eric Drexler, the originator of the conceptual basis of molecular nanotechnology, and Richard Smalley, a recipient of the 1996 Nobel prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the nanomaterial buckminsterfullerene. The dispute was about the feasibility of constructing molecular assemblers, which are molecular machines which could robotically assemble molecular materials and devices by manipulating individual atoms or molecules.

Bitter nanotechnology debates (Smalley)

• The concept of molecular assemblers was central to Drexler's conception of molecular nanotechnology, but Smalley argued that fundamental physical principles would prevent them from ever being possible. The two also traded accusations that the other's conception of nanotechnology was harmful to public perception of the field and threatened continued public support for nanotechnology research. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexler%E2%80%93Smalley_debate_on_molecular_nanotechnology]

Bitter nanotechnology debates (Joy)

• Grey goo (also spelled gray goo) is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves, ...

• The term gray goo was coined by nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation.[4] In 2004 he stated, "I wish I had never used the term 'gray goo'. …”

• Bill Joy, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, discussed some of the problems with pursuing this technology in his now-famous 2000 article in Wired magazine, titled "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us". In direct response to Joy's concerns, the first quantitative technical analysis of the ecophagy scenario was published in 2000 by nanomedicine pioneer Robert Freitas. ...

Bitter nanotechnology debates (Prince Charles)

• In Britain, Prince Charles called upon the Royal Society to investigate the "enormous environmental and social risks" of nanotechnology in a planned report, leading to much media commentary on gray goo. The Royal Society's report on nanoscience was released on 29 July 2004, and declared the possibility of self-replicating machines to lie too far in the future to be of concern to regulators.[9]

Bitter nanotechnology debates (Prince Charles)

• More recent analysis has shown that the danger of gray goo is far less likely than originally thought.[by whom?][10] However, other long-term major risks to society and the environment from nanotechnology have been identified.[11] Drexler has made a somewhat public effort to retract his gray goo hypothesis, in an effort to focus the debate on more realistic threats associated with knowledge-enabled nanoterrorism and other misuses. .. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo]

Challenging Feynman’s role as the source of nanotechnology thinking

• Chris Toumey, cultural anthropologist [Ph.D. 1987 from Univ. of North Carolina – Chapel Hill] who works in the anthropology of science. Since 2003 he has worked on societal and cultural issues in nanotechnology. Professor at University of South Carolina

• http://www.christoumey.org/?page_id=25


• 2008 Reading Feynman into Nanotechnology: A Text for a New Science. Techné, 13(3):133-168.

• The results in Table 1 show a total of 3 citations in the 1960s and 4 in the 1970s. This scant record in the two decades before the arrival of the STM and the AFM corroborates some impressionistic comments. Tim Appenzeller wrote, “The fact that many of Feynman‟s ideas have now become reality doesn‟t mean they caught on at the time” (Appenzeller 1991:1300). … And according to Adam Keiper, “Although Feynman‟s lecture is, in retrospect, remembered as a major event, it didn‟t make much of a splash in the world of science at the time” (Keiper 2003:18-19).


• I received replies from four of the people associated with the STM, the AFM, and the manipulation of atoms, namely, G. Binnig, D. Eigler, C. Quate, and H. Rohrer. I received nothing at the time from C. Gerber, and was unable to locate E. Schweizer. These nano luminaries, as I call them, responded to my queries by saying uniformly that Feynman‟s “Plenty of Room” had no influence on their work on the STM, the AFM, or the manipulation of atoms. Rohrer said that their STM work was influenced “not whatsoever” by Feynman‟s paper. “Binnig and I neither heard of Feynman's paper until Scanning Tunneling Microscopy was widely accepted in the scientific community a couple of years after our first publication, nor did any referee of our papers ever refer to it... It might have been even after the Nobel [Prize].”


• Regarding the general influence of “Plenty of Room” on nanotech as a whole, Rohrer responded, “I think it had no influence whatsoever.” Rohrer has written a short unpublished comment on “Plenty of Room” in which he praised the boldness and brilliance of Feynman‟s vision, but he reminded the reader that nanotech‟s scientific community proceeded without knowing about “Plenty of Room.” “Feynman‟s lecture remained practically unnoticed during nearly three decades, while the miniaturization progressed in the same time at a fantastic pace, driven by the needs of the data processing industry” (Rohrer Undated). [From Toumey’s paper]


• … locates the origin of the field in a 1959 lecture by Richard Feynman titled, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” which [Colin] Milburn notes contains images and concepts lifted directly from Robert Heinlein’s celebrated 1942 short story, “Waldo,” about a scientist who manufactures an interface that can reproduce itself at ever smaller scales, until it reaches the nanolevel, allowing him to manipulate matter at the molecular level through actions at the macrolevel.

Challenging Feynman’s role as the source of nanotechnology thinking: writers

• Indeed, nanotechnology was described in detail by science fiction writers long before it was studied in the lab; what is surprising is that the writings of scientists working in the field differ little in form from those science fiction stories.

• Discussion of Colin Milburn ‘s Nanovision (http://innovate.ucsb.edu/354-colin-milburn-nanovision-part-i-science-and-fiction)

Comparison of Feynman’s 1959 description

• … I want to build much the same device – a master-slave system which operates electrically. But I want the slaves to be made especially carefully by modern large-scale machinists so that they are one-fourth the scale of the "hands" that you ordinarily maneuver. So you have a scheme by which you can do things at one- quarter scale anyway – the little servo motors with little hands play with little nuts and bolts; they drill little holes; they are four times smaller.

Comparison of Feynman’s 1959 description

• Aha! So I manufacture a quarter-size lathe; I manufacture quarter-size tools; and I make, at the one-quarter scale, still another set of hands again relatively one-quarter size! This is one-sixteenth size, from my point of view. And after I finish doing this I wire directly from my large-scale system, through transformers perhaps, to the one-sixteenth-size servo motors. Thus I can now manipulate the one-sixteenth size hands. … (http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html)

Feynman and Robert Heinlein’s Waldo (1942)

• … Eventually this leads Waldo to fabricate a nanomanipulator through an ingenious method: he uses his Waldo to manufacture a smaller Waldo, which manufactures a smaller Waldo, right on down to at least the cellular level, so that Waldo can study and manipulate neurons using his bare hands.

Feynman and Robert Heinlein’s Waldo

• Colin Milburn notes in “Nanovision” that the entire field of nanotechnology is born out of this vision, borrowed by Richard Feynman for his catalyzing 1959 lecture, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” in which he describes “a set of master and slave hands, so that by operating a set of levers here, you control the ‘hands’ there…” (Milburn 48) Thus Feynman draws directly on “Waldo” for his primary vision of nanotechnology, which launched the scientific field. (http://innovate.ucsb.edu/740-robert-heinlein-waldo)

Nano and literature

• 1881: Russian writer Nikolai Leskov wrote The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea, which included the concept of text that can be seen only through a microscope at 5,000,000 times magnification.[6]

• 1931: Boris Zhitkov wrote a short story called Microhands (Микроруки), where the narrator builds for himself a pair of microscopic remote manipulators, and uses them for fine tasks like eye surgery. When he attempts to build even smaller manipulators to be manipulated by the first pair, the story goes into detail about the problem of regular materials behaving differently on a microscopic scale. (Inspiration for Waldo?)

Nano and literature

• 1956 short story The Next Tenants by Arthur C. Clarke describes tiny machines that operate at the micrometre scale – although not strictly nanoscale (billionth of a meter), they are the first fictional example of the concepts now associated with nanotechnology.

• Stanislaw Lem's 1964 novel The Invincible involves the discovery of an artificial ecosystem of minuscule robots, although like in Clarke's story they are larger than what is strictly meant by the term 'nanotechnology'.

Nano and literature

• Robert Silverberg's 1969 short story How It Was when the Past Went Away describes nanotechnology being used in the construction of stereo loudspeakers, with a thousand speakers per inch.[5]

• The 1984 novel Peace on Earth by Stanislaw Lem tells about small bacteria-sized nanorobots looking as normal dust (developed by artificial intelligence placed by humans on the Moon in the era of cold warfare) that has later came to Earth and are replicating, destroying all weapons, modern technology and software, leaving living organisms (as there were no living organisms on the Moon) intact. [goo]

Nano and literature

• The 1985 novel Blood Music by Greg Bear (originally a 1983 short story) features genetically engineered white blood cells that eventually learn to manipulate matter on an atomic scale. [goo]

• The 1991 Novelization of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, authored by Randall Frakes, expands the origin story of the T-1000 Terminator through the inclusion of a prologue set in the future. It is explained that the T-1000 is a 'Nanomorph', that was created by Skynet, through the use of programmable Nanotechnology. This was only implied in the film itself.

Nano and literature

• Neal Stephenson's 1995 novel The Diamond Age is set in a world where nanotechnology is commonplace. Nanoscale warfare, fabrication at the molecular scale, and self-assembling islands all exist.

• The Trinity Blood series features an alien nanomachine found on Mars which is present in the body of the protagonist, Abel Nighroad. These nanomachines are known as Krusnik nanomachines, and feed on the cells of vampires.

Nano and literature

• Nanobots (called Nanoes) are central to Stel Pavlou's novel Decipher (2001).

• Michael Crichton's novel Prey (2002) was one of the earliest nanotechnology-themed books to reach a mainstream audience and is a cautionary tale about the possible risks of developing nanotechnology.[7] In Prey, a swarm of molecule-sized nanorobots develop intelligence and become a large scale threat. [gooish and feared/loathed by nanotech community: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/devices/pop_culture_and_nanotech_a_tel]

Nano and literature

• Robert Ludlum's 2005 novel The Lazarus Vendetta also focuses around nanotechnology, focusing mainly on its ability to cure cancer.

• J. C. Lansing's 2011 novel The Book of Kur depicts the rebuilding of the entire world using nanobots provided by an ancient Sumerian god. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology_in_fiction)

Nano and literature (left out?)

• James Blish (Surface Tension [1952 short story] described here: http://hplusmagazine.com/2009/09/16/nanopeople/)

• Theodore Sturgeon (Microcosmic God, 1941) “a scientist who creates a microcosmic civilization able to evolve and innovate more rapidly than human society” from: Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology edited by David Guston (http://books.google.ca/books?id=vyp1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PR34&lpg=PR34&dq=theodore+sturgeon+nano&source=bl&ots=oenAr-cjeS&sig=n54JYhxzQ73FP5vgUxK3bt8wB8Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VxJUVPy9HNO4oQTq_4D4Dw&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=theodore%20sturgeon%20nano&f=false)

Nano on the screen (tv, movies, and games)

• In the Star Trek universe, from Star Trek: The Next Generation onward, the Borg use nanomachines, referred to as nanoprobes, to assimilate individuals into their collective.

• On the television show Red Dwarf, nanobots played a notable role in series VII to IX. Nanobots are nanotechnology created to be a self-repair system for androids like Kryten as they can also change anything into anything else. Kryten's nanobots grow bored of their duties and take over the ship Red Dwarf, leaving the crew to try and recapture it aboard the smaller Starbug. ...


• Nanotechnology appeared several times in the TV series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, in the form of the replicators and the Asurans, respectively. A "nanovirus" is also seen in Stargate Atlantis.

• In Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001), a criminal blows up a tanker trunk containing a nanobot virus that instantly kills thousands. [goo?]


• In the 2003 film Agent Cody Banks, a scientist creates nanobots programmed to clean up oil spills. [goo]

• In the 2004 film I, Robot, nanites are used to wipe out artificial intelligence in the event of a malfunction and are depicted as a liquid containing tiny silver objects. [gooish]


• In the 2005 Doctor Who television episode The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances a metal cylinder falling from space and lands in the time of World War 2 era London, breaks releasing nanobots which transform every human it comes into contact with into a gas mask-wearing zombie, like its first contact, a child.


• In Total Annihilation nanobots are used to build structures.• In some games of the Mortal Kombat series, the character

Smoke is a cloud of nanobots.• In System Shock 2 (1999), "nanites" are used as currency

as well as a type of weapon ammo.• In Deus Ex (2000), nanotechnology is an important part of

both the plot and game mechanics. A very dangerous technology in the wrong hands, it provides a number of abilities to the protagonist. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology_in_fiction)

Eidos and Deus Ex

• How Real Science Shaped Game "Deus Ex"'s Tech Magic by Susan Karli n– The popular game series Deus Ex taps real-world

science for its latest installment of a transhuman dystopia.

• Aug. 16, 2011 re: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Eidos and Deus Ex

• Will Rosellini is a science fiction purist. So much so that when his favorite video game--Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex series--started phoning in the science, he offered to consult for free so their next venture would ring a little more true and present a plausible future of enhanced humans.

Eidos and Deus Ex

• [Rosellini] helms a research company, the Dallas-based MicroTransponder, that develops implantable wireless neurotransmitters to help control disorders such as tinnitus, pain, stroke-induced motor loss, and post-traumatic stress. The technology uses tiny electronic devices inside the body to electrically stimulate, reset, or override faulty nerve cells.

• (http://www.fastcompany.com/1773935/how-real-science-shaped-game-deus-exs-tech-magic)

Eidos and Deus Ex

• Deus Ex Wikia (nanotechnological augmentation)– Nano-augmentation is the most advanced form of

human augmentation. It uses nanites to give people the ability to do things that they couldn't normally do, for example, seeing in the dark, turning invisible, having immense strength, immunity from toxins and physical trauma, and more.

Eidos and Deus Ex

• The Omar are an example of extreme nano-augmentation - they have been so heavily nano-augmented that they no longer resemble humans at all, rather cyborgs with no skin and respirators for faces; the exact opposite of what the nanotechnology was created for. Nano-augmentation is the advanced equivalent of physiopharmaceutical augmentation and mechanical augmentation.

• http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Nanotechnological_augmentation

Eidos, Deux Ex, and reality

• The Sun [UK newspaper] Mixes Up 'Sarif Industries' (From 'Deus Ex') With Real Company, Credits It For Cybernetic Eyeball– The company doesn't quite exist.– Yes, it has a website. But the only place Sarif

Industries has ever done business is inside the video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Eidos, Deux Ex, and reality

– Admittedly the website is pretty convincing - with its own stock ticker, news page and conceptual gallery. But perhaps the aggressive cyber-punk "hacks" present on every page should have been a bit of a giveaway…

• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/16/sarif-industries-the-sun_n_4108549.html

FDA approves first retinal implant for adults with rare genetic eye disease

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, the first implanted device to treat adult patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The device, which includes a small video camera, transmitter mounted on a pair of eyeglasses, video processing unit (VPU) and an implanted retinal prosthesis (artificial retina), replaces the function of degenerated cells in the retina (a membrane inside the eye) and may improve a patient’s ability to perceive images and movement. The VPU transforms images from the video camera into electronic data that is wirelessly transmitted to the retinal prosthesis. (http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm339824.htm

• Feb. 14, 2013

Interplay between pop culture and science

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FwmiPE9tI [BRAHE battle: Rosalind Franklin]

• Maurice Wilkins defence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Wilkins

• STAGE: Scientists, Technologists & Artists Generating Exploration (http://www.stage.ucsb.edu/competition/)– 3rd cycle (2010) STAGE winner: Photograph 51

about Rosalind Franklin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FwmiPE9tI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FwmiPE9tI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Wilkins

http://www.stage.ucsb.edu/competition/


• A slate of six science-centric, in-the-works pics have been selected to receive grants from the Tribeca Film Institute Sloan Filmmaker Fund, including one produced by Darren Aronofsky and Rachel Weisz.

• The grant program from TFI, the nonprofit affiliated with the Tribeca Film Festival, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation hands out coin to narrative film projects that dramatize science or tech issues, or feature scientists in central roles.

• Aronofsky, Weisz and fellow producer Ari Handel team on scribe Anna Ziegler's "Photograph 51," based on her own play about Rosalind Franklin's role in determining the double-helix structure of DNA. (http://www.stage.ucsb.edu/competition/news/photograph-51/variety_photograph-51.pdf April 2011)

http://www.stage.ucsb.edu/competition/news/photograph-51/variety_photograph-51.pdf

http://www.stage.ucsb.edu/competition/news/photograph-51/variety_photograph-51.pdf


• Iron Man 2 (science and entertainment exchange) http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=1055

• Webinar on collaborating with Hollywood http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=7828

• The Simpsons (Simon Singh)– http://www.salon.com/2013/10/27/

one_doh_three_homer_simpson_is_a_math_genius_really/




• Without doubt, the most mathematically sophisticated television show in the history of primetime broadcasting is The Simpsons. ...

• ...• ... the show's writing team includes several mathematical

heavyweights. Al Jean, who worked on the first series and is now executive producer, went to Harvard University to study mathematics at the age of just 16. Others have similarly impressive degrees in maths, a few can even boast PhDs, and Jeff Westbrook resigned from a senior research post at Yale University to write scripts for Homer, Marge and the other residents of Springfield. (http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/22/the-simpsons-secret-formula-maths-simon-singh )

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/22/the-simpsons-secret-formula-maths-simon-singh

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/sep/22/the-simpsons-secret-formula-maths-simon-singh


• … a new Creative Science Studio opening at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC). From Dave’s (Pasco Phronesis) post,– It [Creative Science Studio] will start this fall at

USC, where its School of Cinematic Arts makes heavy use of its proximity to Hollywood, and builds on its history of other projects that use science, technology and entertainment in other areas of research.


• The studio will not only help studios improve the depiction of science in the products of their students, faculty and alumni (much like the Science and Entertainment Exchange), but help scientists create entertaining outreach products. In addition, science and engineering topics will be incorporated into the School’s curriculum and be supported in faculty research.

• http://pascophronesis.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/another-sciencehollywood-partnership-this-time-with-opie/ April 2010

http://pascophronesis.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/another-sciencehollywood-partnership-this-time-with-opie/




• This announcement reminds me a little bit of an IBM/USC initiative in 2008 (from the news item on Nanowerk),– For decades Hollywood has looked to science for inspiration, now IBM

researchers are looking to Hollywood for new ideas too.– The entertainment industry has portrayed possible future worlds through

science fiction movies – many created by USC’s famous alumni – and IBM wants to tap into that creativity.

– At a kickoff event at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, five of IBM’s top scientists met with students and alumni of the school, along with other invitees from the entertainment industry, to “Imagine the World in 2050.” The event is the first phase of an expected collaboration between IBM and USC to explore how combining creative vision and insight with science and technology trends might fuel novel solutions to the most pressing problems and opportunities of our time.

• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=939

http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=5577.php

Interplay between pop culture, science and education

• The Walking Dead, collaborated with the Canvas Network and the University of California, Irvine on an online course.– Society, Science Survival: Lessons from AMC’s The

Walking Dead– MOOC (massive open online course)– This course drew over 65,000 students globally– Interdisciplinary: it was taught by faculty members

from public health, social sciences, physics, and mathematics


• the expected course outcomes describe:• Describe how infectious diseases—like a

zombie epidemic—spread and are managed• Apply various models of society and Maslow’s

hierarchy of needs to existing and emerging societies as a means for understanding human behavior

• Analyze existing social roles and stereotypes as they exist today and in an emerging world


• Debate the role of public health organizations in society• Describe how mathematical equations for population

dynamics can be used to study disease spread and interventions

• Apply concepts of energy and momentum appropriately when analyzing collisions and other activities that either inflict or prevent damage

• Summarize multiple methods for managing stress in disaster situations (http://pascophronesis.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/zombie-classes-can-be-serious/0


• "This initiative was an experiment to determine whether a pop-culture MOOC in a multidisciplinary format would create a compelling academic experience. The answer--an unequivocal 'yes,'" says Instructure's co-founder Brian Whitmer. "This different audience provided us with new insights that will shape the way we approach designing and developing MOOCs going forward. By acting as a springboard for exploring academic ideas in contemporary media, this course illustrates the potential for pop culture to serve as a modern-day literature review."


• More here:– http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/01/

walking_dead_uc_irvine_mooc.php– http://www.instructure.com/downloads/twd-

mooc-feedback.pdf

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/01/walking_dead_uc_irvine_mooc.php

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/01/walking_dead_uc_irvine_mooc.php

Math and the movies (Canadian style)

• There was a Canadian animated film, Ryan, which both won an Academy Award and involved significant collaboration between a mathematician and an animator …

• video https://www.nfb.ca/film/ryan/

Math and the movies (Canadian style)

• Karan Singh is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, where co-directs the graphics and HCI lab, DGP. His research interests are in artist driven interactive graphics encompassing geometric modeling, character animation and non-photorealistic rendering. As a researcher at Alias (1995-1999), he architected facial and character animation tools for Maya (Technical Oscar 2003). He was involved with conceptual design and reverse engineering software at Paraform (Academy award for technical achievement 2001) and currently as Chief Scientist for Geometry Systems Inc. He has worked on numerous film and animation projects and most recently was the R+D Director for the Oscar winning animation Ryan (2005)

• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=939

Nano and rap

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZB-ZUO6zqU (serious)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_712179&feature=iv&src_vid=7nJMinRT9xs&v=Si1b3GIRiOw (vampire)

• Coma Niddy

• More on materials, videos, etc. on http://nisenet.org/ Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (funded by US National Science Foundation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZB-ZUO6zqU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_712179&feature=iv&src_vid=7nJMinRT9xs&v=Si1b3GIRiOw



http://nisenet.org/

Nano and comic books

Nano and comic books• It’s tough to explain how the shield works, in part because it

behaves differently under different circumstances. Sometimes the shield is thrown and becomes embedded in a wall; but sometimes it bounces off of walls, ricocheting wildly. Sometimes the shield seems to easily absorb tremendous force; but sometimes it is damaged by the attacks of Cap’s most powerful foes.

• “However, from a scientific perspective, it’s important to remember that we’re talking about the first law of thermodynamics,” says Suveen Mathaudhu, a program manager in the materials science division of the U.S. Army Research Office, adjunct materials science professor at NC State University and hardcore comics fan. “Energy is conserved. It doesn’t disappear, it just changes form.

Nano and comic books

• Captain America’s shield as a supercapacitor (http://web.ncsu.edu/news-archive/abstract/science/captain-americas-shield/)

• Extracts on FrogHeart: Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, and Thor on The Abstract, North Carolina State University’s news blog (April 2014)

http://web.ncsu.edu/news-archive/abstract/science/captain-americas-shield/

http://web.ncsu.edu/news-archive/abstract/science/captain-americas-shield/

Nano and comic books (Iron Man 3)

• Iron Man III and Extremis– When a bio-tech weapon of mass destruction was

unleashed, Tony Stark threw himself onto the bleeding edge between science and alchemy, combining nanotechnology and his Iron Man armor. The result, which debuted in Iron Man, Vol. IV, issue 5, was the Extremis Armor, Model XXXII, Mark I, which made him the most powerful hero in the world–but not without a price.

– …


• There were two key parts to this Extremis-enhanced suit. The first part is the golden Undersheath, the protective interface between Stark’s nervous system and the second chief part, the External Suit Devices (ESDs), a.k.a. the red armor plating.– The Undersheath to the Iron Man suit components was super-

compressed and stored in the hollows of Stark’s bones. The sheath material exited through skeletal pores and slid between all cells to self-assemble a new “skin” around him. This skin provides a complete interface to the Iron Man suit components and can perform numerous other functions. (The process in reverse withdrew the Undersheath back into these specially modified areas of Tony Stark’s bone marrow tissue.)


– The Undersheath is a nano-network that incorporates peptide-peptide logic (PPL), a molecular computational system made of superconducting plastic impregnated molecular chains. The PPL handles, among other things: memory, critical logic paths, comparative “truth” tables, automatic response look-up tables, data storage, communication, and external sensing material interface.


The lattice assembly is a stress-compression truss with powered interstitial joints. This can surround the PPL material and guide it through Stark’s body. This steerable, motile lattice framework is commanded by the PPL molecule computational mentality. The metallic component to the lattice is a controlled mimetic artifact that can take on the characteristics of most elements. Even unusual combinations of behaviors such as extreme hardness and flexibility.


– The External Suit Devices (ESDs), the red armor plates, were made via mega-nano technology that has assembled atoms into large, discreet effectors. This allows for the plates to be collapsable [sic] to very small volumes for easy storage and carried in Stark’s briefcase. The ESDs were commanded by the Undersheath and were self-powered by high-capacity Kasimer plates. They were equipped with large arrays of nano-fans that allow flight. Armoring-up was done by drawing the suit to Stark via a vectored repulsor field, just lightly pushing them from different angles. ((http://www.ironmanarmory.com/Extremis_Armor.html))


• Lattice Assembly (http://www.ironmanarmory.com/Extremis_Armor.html)

Dance your PhD

• 2012 winner of Dance your PhD (Science Magazine)

• ("Nanostructures give alloy super strength)• http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=PaNRAc8za7s

Commentary on Iron Man 3

• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=9971 (video from Emory)


nanotechnology: the next big idea week 3: pop culture

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