The NNI Debate of 2014: Focus, funding, strategy
Foresight Update 27.05—August 15, 2014
ISSN 1078-9731
Nanotech News
Discuss these news stories at http://foresight.org/nanodot.
In this issue:
Investment in the ultimate promise of advanced or molecular nanotechnology, that is, molecular manufacturing or atomically precise manufacturing, may well rest upon the success of current nanoscale science and incremental nanotechnology. Computation represents a major area of investment for current nanotechnology. One researcher who has contributed greatly to both atomically precise devices leading toward molecular manufacturing, on the one hand, and current commercializable nanotechnology, on the other hand, is James Tour of Rice University, winner of the 2008 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize in the Experimental category. …
We’ve suggested that biotechnology could serve as an enabling technology for the development of atomically precise manufacturing … Whether or not the confluence of biotechnology and nanotech advances the development of atomically precise manufacturing, this confluence has already opened a path to new products and new markets. …
Recently we cited an alliance between Foresight and parts of the Bay Area biotech community to build an opensource biological parts repository, and we expressed the hope that spreading the meme that biological machines are indeed machines that can be engineered might seed efforts toward the open source development of molecular manufacturing. We thank Desiree D. Dudley of the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, MIT for letting us know of another Bay Area biotech initiative that might also speed development of molecular manufacturing (also known as atomically precise manufacturing). Emerald Therapeutics, whose co-founder DJ Kleinbaum spoke on “Democratizing Biotechnology” at the 2014 Foresight Technical Conference, has just announced The Emerald Cloud Laboratory, “a web-based life sciences lab, developed by scientists for scientists.” …
Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT media lab and the One Laptop Per Child program, gave a TED talk in March 2014 titled A 30-Year History of the Future. Click to access the talk or the TEDBlog article discussing the talk.
Negroponte highlights some cutting-edge technological developments of the past that had been openly scorned by nay-sayers, including early touch screens and the prediction that books and newspapers would be widely accessed via the internet. …
A popular added event at the February 2014 Foresight Conference was the B.R.AI.N.S Immortalist Audit focusing on what self-described “Life-Extensionists” are doing to cure disease and extend healthy human life, and how attendees could help. Photos from the Conference present a who’s who of principal players in biotechnology-, and life extension-related startups and research organizations. An April 16 B.R.AI.N.S salon on Human Biology and Freedom capped a successful Crowdtilt community fundraising campaign to build a strategic alliance between B.R.AI.N.S., Berkeley BioLabs and Foresight Institute to build an opensource biological parts repository and design and distribute a line of “How-to Build Biological Machines” educational kits. …
Rejuvenation Biotechnology Conference
August 21-23, 2014 · Santa Clara, California
Conference brochure (pdf)
Registration details
We are in the midst of a transformation in the way we search for cures to the diseases of aging. The prevalence of age-related diseases is spiraling and the socioeconomic impacts are a constant source of debate. Subsequently, interest in preventing such diseases through novel approaches to drug development is at an all-time high.
The Rejuvenation Biotechnology Conference is the latest SENS Research Foundation Conference and will be held on August 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California. Join the growing rejuvenation biotechnology industry and hear the latest scientific and policy developments from leading experts in research, industry, policy, finance and regulatory fields. …
Just when it seemed like debate over the National Nanotechnology Initiative was a thing of the past (see Foresight’s disappointment in 2008 here), disagreements regarding re-authorization and budget cuts are prompting politicians and researchers to take a detailed look at what the program supports and what it is achieving. …
—Nanodot posts by Stephanie C and James Lewis
Foresight Events and News
2014 Foresight Institute Feynman Prize Nominations Are Open
Nominations for the 2014 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes: Experimental and Theory are due on September 30, 2014. More information and details for nominating yourself or someone else can be found at http://www.foresight.org/prize/feynman.html.
The winners of the 2013 Feynman Prizes …
Media Partner Events
Rejuvenation Biotechnology Conference
August 21-23, 2014 · Santa Clara, California
Conference brochure (pdf)
Registration details
We are in the midst of a transformation in the way we search for cures to the diseases of aging. The prevalence of age-related diseases is spiraling and the socioeconomic impacts are a constant source of debate. Subsequently, interest in preventing such diseases through novel approaches to drug development is at an all-time high.
The Rejuvenation Biotechnology Conference is the latest SENS Research Foundation Conference and will be held on August 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California. Join the growing rejuvenation biotechnology industry and hear the latest scientific and policy developments from leading experts in research, industry, policy, finance and regulatory fields.
To Foresight members and friends,
Ever since the longevity research conference series called SENS — Strategies for Engineering Negligible Senescence, chaired by Aubrey de Grey — began in 2003, I've longed to attend, but never could, because it's held at Cambridge University in the UK, putting the cost out of reach.
Now, finally, SENS Foundation has started a conference in the U.S., with the first one this August 21-23 here in Silicon Valley!
To get your costs down further:
- Use the discount code FORESIGHT25 to get 25% off.
This is a ground-breaking meeting featuring true "rock stars" of longevity research, including George Church, Judith Campisi, Michael West, and 37 others.
To round out the event, there's a keynote by Ajay Royan of Mithril Capital Management, and even appearances by leaders from the entertainment world: comedian Hal Sparks, actor Edward James Olmos, and Cecilia Noel, the "Latin Tina Turner."
This promises to be the most informative and engaging longevity research event ever held. I wouldn't miss it, so please join Foresight president Paul Melnyk, Gayle Pergamit, Tanya Jones, myself, and other friends this August in Santa Clara.
Hope to see you there!
—Christine
Christine Peterson
Co-Founder, Foresight Institute
About the Foresight Institute
Foreseeing Future Technologies
Advancements in technologies such as nanotech, robotics, and biotech are promising to make major differences in our lives in the not-too-distant future, as the Industrial Revolution did to the agrarian world — to do for the physical world what the computer and Internet have done to the world of information.
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