From the monthly archives:

January 2009

The Nobel Prize for Technology

January 8, 2009

We usually think of Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine as celebrations of scientific discovery, yet prizes are often awarded not for discovery, but for technological innovation. This is entirely proper, as you can perhaps see from the above excerpt of Alfred Nobel’s will.
I surveyed the awards since 2000 to see which were granted [...]

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Molecular Assembly Lines

January 5, 2009

Cells use what are, in effect, molecular assembly lines to manufacture a range of complex molecular products. Biochemists recently learned in greater detail how these biomolecular assembly lines work, and are considering how to string devices together to make artificial machines that work the same way.

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Greenhouse Gases and Advanced Nanotechnology

January 1, 2009

The greenhouse gas problem is far more intractable than most people think, and although there is a solution in sight, we will need a technological revolution to implement it…. molecular manufacturing capabilities will make it possible to reduce CO2 concentrations to pre-industrial levels within a short time span.

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