nanotech

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set.

The Subcommittee on Research and Science Education of the Committee on Science and Technology holds a hearing to review the need and motivation for research on the environmental, health and safety (EHS) aspects of nanotechnology, determine the current state of planning and implementation of EHS research under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), and explore whether changes are needed to the current mechanisms for planning and implementing EHS research.

Slate's Daniel Engber worries about (ahem) overkill on viewing the military’s latest bizarre gizmos, now on display at the DARPATech Conference in Anaheim. Engber notes there is a plethora, if not a surfeit, of robotics technology now enabling the military to do their fighting remotely. And, the new kid on this block is ‘StickyBot’, a robotic lizard that appears to already incorporate the latest nano research on gecko feet.