Nano News

An electronic biosensor using nanotechnology techniques could help companies to develop the right smells for their foods, or to sniff out rotting ingredients in the receiving area.

Nanotechnology has been touted as the next technology revolution, transforming everything from communications to medicine, water decontamination to homeland security. But scientific progress has been accompanied by fears over unknown consequences of nanotechnology, with one pressure group even calling for a moratorium on all research until more is known. More specific concerns have been voiced by various parties – including the UK Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering – about exposure to manufactured nano-sized particles and the possible harmful effects on human health.

Citing research suggesting that some invisibly small engineered nanoparticles might pose health risks, a coalition of consumer and environmental groups petitioned the Food and Drug Administration yesterday to beef up its regulation of nanoparticle-containing sunscreens and cosmetics and recall some products.

ARM, Freescale and National Semiconductor are among a group of companies working with researchers from five UK universities on a project to investigate the feasibility of new types of semiconductor transistor which are significantly smaller than those used in current ICs.

Diamon-Fusion International, Inc. (DFI Nanotechnology), global developer and exclusive licensor of the Diamon-Fusion® patented hydrophobic nanotechnology, has signed a supply and co-branding agreement with global faucet manufacturer MOEN Incorporated. Moen recently unveiled its newest Powder Room Faucet Collection, “Vivid™”, under its luxury line ShowHouse® at the national kitchen and bath trade-show in Chicago (KBIS 2006). As part of this agreement, Moen became DFI’s newest Global Strategic Partner, a list of highly reputable companies (all distributors of DFI innovative technologies) that includes DuPont and Alcoa among others.

The European nanotechnology network Frontiers will gather in Sicily on May 16 and 17 to stimulate and discuss the integration of science amongst its members. Jointly, future research directions will be determined and new international initiatives and collaborations will be launched.

In April the Capsulution NanoScience AG, a Berlin based nanotechnology company that is specialised in the development of intelligent “packaging” systems for active substances has become a member of the European Nanotechnology Trade Alliance (ENTA). As a leading organization and opinion leader in nanotechnology, ENTA aims at mentoring, networking and contacting among nanotech providers such as Capsulution and with potential customers and investors. Members of ENTA already include companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever or Shell Technology Ventures and many others.

A team of chemists from France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US are working together to bridge the gap between nanoscience and nanotechnology. They have now devised a method that could allow them to organize tiny molecular machines on a surface and so build devices that pack in thousands of times as many switching units, for instance, than is possible with a conventional silicon chip.

EUROPE could lag behind the US and the Far East when it comes to making cash out of nanotechnology, according to a report by patent and trade mark attorneys Marks & Clerk.

The UK’s Royal Society has called for companies developing products containing nanoparticles to disclose how they are tested for safety.