Well, I guess the French can kiss that American money goodbye on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The Japanese got some perks out of letting the Frogs have the reactor ($500 million worth of contracts for constructing ITER could go to Japanese companies, Japan could provide 20% of the 200 researchers in return for meeting 10% of the total cost, blah blah blah), but it just seems like another France vs. U.S. situation to me. My prediction? Look for a possible proposal of a competing reactor in the States.
June, 2005
ITER Now Scheduled for France
Posted on June 24, 2005. Written by Glenn Vance.
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Nanotech Underwear
Posted on June 23, 2005. Written by Glenn Vance.
This is not one of the products of the future that I was looking forward to, but if it gets rid of that sweaty boxer feeling (if you live/have lived in Texas, and you’re a guy, naturally, you know what I mean) then I might give it a try.
Some company called Green-shield out of Taiwan, “a Taiwanese nanotech company specializing in socks and underwear designed to protect you from the traditional discomforts that plague these items”. Now that’s ingenuity.
The article where I read about this is basically all promo-speak, but here’s some from it-
They have created articles of clothing that they claim can eliminate up to 99.99 percent of bacteria, 90 percent of odor and 75 percent of sticky moisture within the cloth as well as contributing to the overall health of the wearer.This is achieved through nanotechnology. Before the material is woven and sewn together to create garments, Green-shield’s fibers are altered through a patented process so that they begin to release a constant stream of negative ions and far-infrared rays.
The negative ions create a magnetic field that inhibits the reproduction of bacteria, thus eliminating odor and lowering the risk of skin infection or irritation. The negative ions also help to increase circulation and eliminate toxins from the blood by reacting with them and breaking them down.
Meanwhile, the far-infrared rays are absorbed by cells—not just in the skin but throughout the body—causing all the individual atoms to begin vibrating at a higher frequency, which speeds up the metabolism and the elimination of wastes. This is particularly helpful for alleviating soreness due to fatigue or injury, according to Green-shield.
Well, thank god for a constant stream of negative ions and far-infrared rays around your privates. One question though about reducing 90% of the odor – either these people need some FDS or maybe they should just wipe better, huh?
Smallest Man-Made Organic Particles Created
Posted on June 22, 2005. Written by Glenn Vance.
Don’t feel like paraphrasing. Let’s just block quote –
Scientists who have created the smallest precisely crafted organic particles are billing their breakthrough as a potential boon to medicine and technology.The tiny structures could one day be used as vehicles for delivering drugs or genes into the human body or perhaps imaging you from the inside-out, the researchers said today. They might also find uses in electronics.
The nanotechnology industry has long been making strong claims, and this latest process is in its infancy. And it is no longer a big feat to make small things. Other scientists have created molecule-sized structures and even microscopic motors in the nanometer range. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
But traditional nano-products are made mostly of metals and other inorganic materials that must be baked, etched or processed with solvents that would destroy fragile DNA or drugs.
The new structures are made of organic materials without all the harsh treament and can be constructed as spheres, rods, cones, or trapezoids. They could be made biodegradeable to disintigrate after insertion into the body.
“We believe that the particles will offer breakthroughs in the delivery of therapeutic, detection and imaging agents for the diagnosis and treatement of disease,” one of the study’s leaders, Joseph DeSimone of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told LiveScience. “In the elctronics industry, we believe we can make new materials for high speed, high-resolution optical displays.”
The new manufacturing process is called Particle Replication in Nonwetting Templates, or PRINT, and was detailed in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation.
DeSimone and his colleagues have formed a new company, called Liquidia, to attempt to commercialize the discovery.
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