Posts tagged as:

fabrication

An advance in atomically precise
building-block assembly

May 27, 2011

A paper in Science reports a design method that substantially advances the macromolecular technology base for building atomically precise nanosystems.
Background: foldamer engineering
As many readers know, biology shows an effective way build large, intricate, atomically precise systems: Use covalent chemistry to build chains of small building blocks, and design these chains to fold into nanoscale building [...]

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New project launched:
Atomic Scale and Single Molecule
Logic Gate Technologies

November 25, 2010

The Atomic Scale and Single Molecule Logic Gate Technologies project is a Singapore/EU effort that aims to build atomically precise digital devices and circuits by direct surface manipulation at cryogenic temperatures.
According to the project leader, Prof Christian Joachim, “The UHV interconnection machine at IMRE [in Singapore] is the only one in the entire project that [...]

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Evolutionary refinement of engineered molecules

October 5, 2010

Blind variation and focused selection have made the biosphere, and they’re being used in the lab to make functional biomolecular components. The laboratory methods often go under the names of “directed evolution” and (in single-round versions) “high-throughput screening”, and they hold promise as partners for rational design in macromolecular systems engineering.
As background, here are [...]

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About releasing building blocks…

August 19, 2010

A reader asks a general question about mechanosynthesis — How could a device release a reactive molecule once it’s bound to a product? — and I’d like to outline why there are many answers.

 

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The molecular approach
to atomically precise fabrication

March 12, 2010

A few days ago, I wrote a brief sketch of the status and paths forward in the molecular approach to atomically precise fabrication. It offers a sampling, not a full picture:

 

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Why fusion won’t provide power
   (at a reasonable cost)

January 20, 2010

The greatest problem with fusion power is rarely mentioned and scarcely on the research agenda: capital cost. When I discussed the problem earlier, in “Fusion Power: A New Way to Boil Water”, I hadn’t seen this quietly damning report, which I think is worth quoting:

Issues and R&D needs
for commercial fusion energy
An interim report of the
ARIES [...]

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Quantum-coupled single-electron
thermal to electric conversion

December 4, 2009

An analysis in the current Journal of Applied Physics shows how to achieve solid-state conversion of thermal energy to electrical power by exploiting the physics of coupled quantum dots, delivering high power density at an efficiency close to the Carnot limit. The work also provides an excellent example of the methodology of exploratory engineering.
The approach [...]

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Apollo+40

July 20, 2009

We are still in the prehistory of effective space technology. The problem is that we aren’t (yet) very good at making things.

See also:

The Physical Basis of Atomically Precise Manufacturing
A Telescope Aimed at the Future

Airbus 330: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmiguel/ CC BY-NC 2.0

 

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Productive Nanosystems: The Ribosome Videos

July 16, 2009

While browsing the literature on the catalysis of bond formation in protein synthesis by ribosomes*, I came across a wonderful set of videos of the ribosomal protein manufacturing system at work, shown in recent-state-of-the-art molecular detail. These videos were presented in a Chemical & Engineering News article online, but I missed seeing them at the [...]

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The Physical Basis
of High-Throughput
Atomically Precise Manufacturing

June 12, 2009

The section below, adapted from a longer work, discusses the physical basis for understanding atomically precise fabrication systems: first, a very general class of systems, and second, the specific characteristics of high-throughput systems of a kind several technology levels above where we are today. (In my previous post, “A Telescope Aimed at the Future” I [...]

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Earth Day 1970,
and a high road down to molecules

April 23, 2009

I had read Silent Spring before the first Earth Day (now 39 years ago), and I recall telling my classmates that it seemed like a bad idea to spread persistent poisons all over the landscape of a finite world. I was 14, living in a small college town in Oregon.
I read The Limits to Growth [...]

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Effective Concentration in Self Assembly,
Catalysis, and Mechanosynthesis (2)

March 27, 2009

In my post on effective concentration, I noted that the concentration of water in water (about as high as a real concentration can be) is 55 M, while observed effective concentrations are often >55,000 M. This is puzzling until you realize that, for a molecular collision to result in a reaction, it must typically hit a target [...]

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