Enabling nanotechnologies are those that may represent significant steps toward the eventual realization of exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing.
These kinds of technologies are not yet molecular manufacturing, in the classic sense, and in fact their developers may not be actively working in that direction. However, progress made by these technologies can bear watching, because they may enable, or make easier, the development of significant portions of molecular manufacturing’s full range of needed technical capabilities.
Here are a couple of good examples…
THE TECHNOLOGY:
DNA ‘Fabricator’
The goal of being able to program biochemical reactions as precisely and easily as computers crunch numbers and process words has moved a giant step closer.
A group at the California Institute of Technology, led by biomolecular engineer Niles Pierce, has created a DNA-based fabricator.
This is a system that allows the team to specify a piece of DNA with a desired shape and function, and then execute a molecular program to assemble it in a test tube. As an example, they used their system to construct a piece of DNA that walks along another strip of.
Just as computer languages let programmers create any number of applications, the researchers behind the approach predict that biochemical programming “languages” inspired by their work could let bioengineers create any number of desired molecular products and processes. . .
“We have shown that you can actually program the interactions between these molecules to implement different dynamic functions using the same components,” says Pierce. . .
Pierce admits, however, that the group has taken just the first few steps towards programming biological structures and functions at will.
Still, he says, a few years ago audience members laughed when he said he wanted to create a compiler to automate the process of encoding desired functions into DNA sequences. “Our field has now progressed to the point where the real question is not whether it can be done, but how far it can be pushed.”
WHY IT’S ENABLING:
This is significant for two reasons. First, because it is an important ‘proof of concept’, a clear indication that molecular processes can be operated under programmed control. And second, because much of the learning process taking place here may later be applied to diamondoid nanomachinery operating in vacuum, instead of nucleic acid machines operating in solution; many of the programming principles should be the same.
It’s important to note the enormity of this step. If nanomachinery can be programmed to reliably carry out specific functions, that should allow for the deployment of vast arrays of identical or similar machines performing their tasks in unison—which is moving close to the ultimate goal of a nanofactory, where trillions of operations could take place simultaneously in order to build powerful products quickly, cleanly, and inexpensively.
THE TECHNOLOGY:
‘Darkest Ever’ Material
The “darkest ever” substance known to science has been made in a US laboratory. The material was created from carbon nanotubes - sheets of carbon just one atom thick rolled up into cylinders.
Researchers say it is the closest thing yet to the ideal black material, which absorbs light perfectly at all angles and over all wavelengths. The discovery is expected to have applications in the fields of electronics and solar energy. . .
Commenting on the study, Professor Sir John Pendry, who first predicted that such a discovery might be possible, said the results were promising.
“They’ve made the blackest material known to science,” the theoretical physicist from Imperial College, London, told BBC News. “The application will be to things like more efficient solar cells, more efficient solar panels and any application where you need to harvest light,” he added.
WHY IT’S ENABLING:
If this initial finding holds up, it could be very good news for the future of solar energy, which in turn will likely be an important component of molecular manufacturing infrastructure. It is expected that nanofactories will be highly energy-efficient—especially in comparison to the macroscale factories they will replace—but they still will require significant amounts of energy input.
CRN has often promoted the idea that molecular manufacturing will make solar energy collection and storage far more efficient and cost effective. This news about the unique absorption properties of carbon nanotubes is a meaningful step toward the realization of CRN’s hope that solar power can play a vital role in meeting the world’s energy needs without pouring more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Mike Treder is a fellow of the IEET, and the Executive Director of the non-profit
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology, an organization working to raise awareness of the issues presented by advanced nanotechnology.
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