From the monthly archives:

December 2008

Real (Photonics) Technologies

December 9, 2008

On a recent expedition to collect mail, I hauled back a box that seemed to contain a brick, but instead yielded a catalog: 3 kg, 1148 glossy pages, and descriptions of about 6000 items. It’s also available as a zero-mass 336.9 MB download (or piecemeal here). Full disclosure: I have nothing to do with the [...]

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Condensed-Matter Physics Condensed

December 7, 2008

In reading up on metal oxides, spin systems, and computation, I found a wonderful 19-page “Perspective of Frontiers in Modern Condensed Matter Physics” [pdf], published in the AAPPS Bulletin last April by Caltech physicist Nai-Chang Yeh. Its scope ranges from symmetry, Landau, and intellectual history, to topological orders and spin liquids, even touching on solid-phase [...]

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Black Swans

December 5, 2008

It seems that whenever I recommend The Black Swan to a friend, the response is “Yes, people have been saying I should read it”, or words to that effect (Rosa and I first heard it recommended by a speaker at a WEF meeting in Dalian, China). In The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly [...]

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Welcome to Metamodern!

December 5, 2008

I’m launching Metamodern for public access today, and would like to say a few words of introduction about its topics and purpose.
My main focus will be on research progress, largely in nanoscience and technology, and often with a special perspective: how current research is applicable to the development of advanced nanosystems. I’ve found that a [...]

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A DNA-Imaging Bottleneck

December 4, 2008

The Battelle-led roadmap, my recent talks, and Nanorex (the molecular-CAD company I’ve been advising) all emphasize structural DNA nanotechnology as a basis for developing large, complex, easily reconfigured frameworks for building composite nanosystems. This gives me a strong interest in the difficulties that hamper SDN research.

AFM images of flat DNA structures

“Folding DNA to create nanoscale [...]

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Peptoids at the Molecular Foundry

December 1, 2008

Last week, I visited Ron Zuckerman at the Molecular Foundry to talk science, meet Ron’s colleagues, and give a seminar on directions for research in molecular system-building. I learned a lot, and the seminar topic seemed to be on-target for the lab, drawing an audience that packed the seminar room.

Peptide

Peptoid
Roughly speaking, ‘R’ = ‘whatever…’

For [...]

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