NanoForm

Buckminsterfullerene C60, also known as the buckyball, is the smallest member of the fullerene family.

I was reading NyTeknik and found an article about an EU-financed project concerning the effect of nano-particles on the human body. The project, named Nanommune and led by Bengt Fadeel from Karolinska Institute, was granted 31 million SEK over the next three years.

We were discussing how the project should not only attack the question of nano-haptics, but also extend to the societal debate concerning nanomaterials. This might be a good place to start,… as well as the debate pages of major newspapers,… Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, New York Times, Le Monde, you name it.

Obama on the microscale

I was reading today’s NyTeknik and found an article about images of Barack Obama consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNT),… 150 million of them. Responsible for the images is Professor John Hart from the Mechanosynthesis Group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. John is not only involved in scientific research concerning nanostructures, he has a rather fetching site on visualizations and structures at the nano level, http://www.nanobliss.com/ . Check it out.

After our initial meeting before Christmas, I started thinking about
the laboratory exercises that we are going to perform this spring. I’m nothing if not predictable, in that I immediately started to ponder fluid mechanics. There are nanosuspensions, nanofluidics, et cetera. There is no lack of phenomena, but connecting them to our senses is tricky. That’s when I hit on nanoemulsions.

Nanoemulsions might sound complicated, but it’s essentially just a mixture of very small droplets of different fluids. Mayonnaise is an example of an emulsion of oil and egg white. Hmmm… haptic and tactile experiences are present at every meal we eat, so why not use this as an angle of attack for one of the labs?

I discussed the idea with my friend Malin Sandström who, apart from being a PhD student at KTH, is involved with a book/blog project concerning food and chemistry together with Lisa Förare Winbladh. She thought it was an exciting idea, especially now that Cheryl is establishing ties to Örebro University in general and Grythyttan in particular. I’ll keep you updated as my thoughts gain lucidity.

My friend Anders reacted immediately to the mention of haptics on our blog. Apparently he is involved in a project (Funk-IS: Functionality enhancing technologies for built-in systems with application within advanced medical processes) aimed at combining and developing advanced tools for perception and decision-making in the realm of medical diagnostics and therapeutic advising. Looks pretty cool. I’m going to try and get together with Anders for a lunch to see if there is more there that could be helpful for us.

R. Feynman

While talking about the project a while ago, Narendra mentioned the ‘1959-talk by Feynman’ a few times and this got me thinking. I have read about Richard Feynman’s famous talk on the opportunities available at the nanoscale, but never read a transcript of it myself. A Google search later and there I was reading it. This talk is amazing! Feynman points at a number of very specific opportunities (and problems) that scientists should be looking at in order to further the cause of miniaturization. Some of the talk is pretty technical, but even the broad strokes come through pretty well. Give it a chance.
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html

I just ran across this great youtube video that talks about and shows examples of nanotechnology. Hope to here some reactions from this. Here is the site.

Nanotechnology takes off

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4CjZ-OkGDs&feature=related )

Take care, Cheryl