Nano - The Next Big Thing

Scientists predict it could have as much of an impact as the industrial revolution did.
Michael Franco

First there was plain old small. The Japanese perfected that with the transistor radio, then the Walkman. Then we had mini - Alex Issigonis shrunk the car down to city-friendly proportions. Next came micro, as Gordon Moore introduced the microprocessor and founded Intel on the strength of it. Now we have gone even smaller: nano.

Derived from the Greek word for "dwarf," nano refers to all things that take place at the sub-microscopic level. The usual measure of length at this level is the nanometre, which equals one one-millionth of a millimetre. That's small - very small

If you shrunk human beings down to this size, you could easily line up every single person on the planet from one side of an average bedroom to the other - with plenty of space left over.So while things at the nanoscale are tiny indeed, many expect the work being done in this field will have a gargantuan an impact on society. Scientists predict it could have as much of an impact as the industrial revolution did. You could almost say small size matters big.

Nanoparticles

Because they can enter and be absorbed by the body more effectively, nanoparticles - which have at least one dimension of less than 10 namometre - are now appearing in a whole host of consumer goods. This includes hairsprays, bug repellents, moisturisers, sunscreens and deodorants. And thanks to a company in China, you can even drink nanoparticles of pulverised leaves in a bottle of nano-tea.

Ironically, the super-absorbability of nanoparticles has consumer watch groups uneasy, and several have called for studies to track the effects of such tiny particles inside the human body.

Sometimes though, the theoretical risks of nanoparticles are outweighed by the tangible benefits. That's certainly the case at the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center where scientists have linked gold nanoparticles to antibodies which are drawn to cancer cells. Once inside the rogue cells, the golden hitchhikers can be beamed with a laser to determine tumour size and location, acting as an early detection system

Other researchers find silver more attractive than gold because of its natural ability to resist and fight bacteria. They're embedding silver nanoparticles into everything from soaps to mobile phones. Pooghe Laundry in the United States has even created germ-resistant nanotech underwear.

And soon, movie-goers might be able to enjoy a ring-free entertainment experience - once the theatre walls are coated in a new nanoparticle paint that blocks mobile phone signals.

Nanofibres

Nanofibres are defined as fibres with diameters less than 100 nanometres, roughly one-thousand times thinner than a human hair.

These liliputian filaments have already woven themselves into our lives in the form of substances like Nano Tex, used by clothing manufacturer Eddie Bauer to keep shirts and pants stain resistant. Researchers at Ohio State University, by treating nanofibres with certain chemicals, can alter their properties to attract or repel various substances like oil. Coating a sheet of glass with such dirt-repelling fibres, which are invisible to the human eye, could mean never having to wash windows again

Nanofibre bandages that would heal wounds faster and fight infection harder than traditional wraps have already been through clinical trials and may be on the market later this year.

And, most significantly, Northwestern University science professor Samuel Stump has just developed a method of restoring the mobility of paralyzed mice. He injects them with a liquid that assembles itself into a nanofibre scaffold along which nerves can grow to repair damaged spinal cords. Which proves once and for all that sometimes, the biggest things really can come in the smallest of packages.

And, most significantly, Northwestern University science professor Samuel Stump has just developed a method of restoring the mobility of paralyzed mice. He injects them with a liquid that assembles itself into a nanofibre scaffold along which nerves can grow to repair damaged spinal cords. Which proves once and for all that sometimes, the biggest things really can come in the smallest of packages.

Buckyballs

If you've ever seen a dome-shaped house, then you have some idea of what a buckyball looks like. These tiny particles are named after the inventor of the geodesic dome home - architect and engineer R. Buckminster Fuller - and are also remarkably similar to traditionally-stitched footballs. Just like their inflated cousins, buckyballs can bounce and spin. But crush one under extreme pressure, and it snaps back into shape when the pressure abates.

What makes buckyballs so tough? The lines that make up their cage-like structures consist of carbon bonds - the strongest molecular bonds found in nature.

Because of their incredible might, researchers at Rice University have figured out a way to use them as mini-crates to store compressed hydrogen. Before this discovery, there was simply no way to compact this potential fuel-of-the-future for efficient storage in a car's gas tank.

Medically, buckyballs are being studied for their sneeze-stifling abilities because they can prevent certain cells from releasing histamine into the body. They're also great free radical sponges and may someday work to soak up these cancer-causing substances in our blood streams.

In a truly futuristic development, buckyballs have been used as the wheels of the world's smallest car which measures just 3x4 nanometres. The hope is that one day small vehicles like this could work as pick-up trucks delivering atoms around molecular-sized nanofactories.

Carbon Nanotubes

If you held a piece of paper on its edge and tried to balance a teacup on it, the results would be obvious, and messy. Roll that paper into a tube however and then put the teacup on it. Voila, you have something very light supporting something relatively heavy.

This is the idea behind carbon nanotubes which are formed by rolling up a sheet of honeycomb-like carbon molecules. The process creates the strongest substance on earth - tiny tubes that are 100 times stronger than steel, yet six times lighter.

Researchers at the University of California have exploited the electricity-producing ability of carbon nanotubes by using them in artificial muscles that can not only repair themselves but can generate enough power through their expansion and contraction to actually charge your iPod.

Nanotubes can also channel sound frequencies and, in fact, one has been used as the world's smallest radio, appropriately broadcasting "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys.

Scientists at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in America have even produced a darker colour black by stacking carbon nanotubes on end like bristles on a brush. Because light slips between the tubes and gets swallowed instead of reflected, the colour appears much darker than any black to date. This new material can store energy from light sources, including the sun, and militaries worldwide are interested in its ability to make the "cloak" part of "cloak-and-dagger" even more clandestine.

Discover More:

http://www.nanotechia.co.uk/content/aboutus/

http://www.crnano.org/

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2008/04/SpinalCordInjury.html

Unfair Advantage

Today’s stealth technology is close to making every warrior’s ultimate goal of being invisible to the enemy a reality. Using plasma clouds, radioactive paints, light-bending cloth and deadly-silent power plants, the prospect of war could turn into a decidedly one-sided proposition.
By Mark Davis

(Stealth technology also known as LO technology (low observable technology) is a sub-discipline of military electronic countermeasures which covers a range of techniques used with aircraft, ships, submarines, and missiles, in order to make them less visible (ideally invisible) to radar, infrared, sonar and other detection methods.)

Barricaded behind the rubble of a shattered village, heavily armed fighters watch as enemy troops pick their way down a distant hillside. It is daytime and the glaring sun can easily play tricks on even the most experienced eyes, but the defenders watch in bewilderment as one by one, the approaching soldiers reach up to their helmets, flip a switch and seem to vanish from sight. Without the slightest warning of any sound, there are suddenly a half dozen helicopters, bristling with weapons, hovering above the encampment like a swarm of deadly insects, soundless and fading in and out of sight behind shimmering waves of heat.

Off balance, unsure where to shoot first, one of the better-hidden fighters takes aim at a still-visible foot soldier. The instant his bullet leaves its barrel, a cluster of geo- metrically arrayed microphones on an approaching vehicle triangulates the shock wave and delivers 3D co- ordinates to a soldier's aiming aid. One shot, threat eliminated.

Sounds far-fetched, but the world's major military powers aren't just dreaming about such systems.

"Take Michael Callahan of the Pen- tagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He is tasked with making the futuristic scenario hap- pen today for the US military. "It is my goal to provide our men and women with an unfair advantage over the enemy," he says.

Up in the Air

While military technology co-opted the term "stealth" 40 years ago, the first large-scale attempt to hide armies and weapons goes back to World War II, with the introduction of patterned camouflage uniforms.

"Stealth," as weapons expert Da- vid Hambling puts it, "comes down to not being spotted by whatever is most dangerous to you.

"This is as easy as sticking grass in your helmet for infantry soldiers, but WWII aircraft engineers grap- pled with ways to minimise airframe silhouettes against the daytime sky.

At first they tried painting the underbelly of the airplanes white, or pale blue, to match the sky. They soon realised, however, it was the shadow - not the colour - that made the dark dot in the sky. To get rid of the incriminating shadow, engineers attached fluorescent lights under the fuselage and wings that pilots could dim or brighten to match the time of day. It wasn't perfect, but gave pilots some virtual invisibility.

The quest to make planes invis- ible received an unexpected boost when US space programme scien- tists from NASA noticed that early spacecraft went dead to radar and radio waves upon re-entering the atmosphere. This occurs because the friction heating on re-entry creates a plasma "bubble" around the craft, making it vanish from radar screens. Called plasma aerodynamics, the concept seems right out of an episode of "Star Trek," but several inventors say they have a way to cre- ate "cloaking devices" for real.

One suggestion involves an on- board particle accelerator that zaps the atmosphere immediately in front of the aircraft, laying down "a carpet of invisibility" to fly into.

Another method advocates us- ing an on-board super-conductor magnetic coil to engulf the craft in a radar-absorbing plasma cloud. A third suggestion involves painting warplanes with radioisotopes that would ionise the surrounding atmo- sphere, creating a plasma sheath.

The beauty of flying your airplane in a plasma sheath is that it also sig- nificantly reduces drag, by as much as 3 percent. The one drawback of painting a fighter, bomber or recon- naissance plane with radioactive isotopes is that they will glow in the dark. There is speculation that some of the glowing in the night skies over the notorious "area 51" in the US state of Nevada, widely speculated as being caused by UFOs, might instead have been the result of the US Air Force's top-secret experi- ments using radioactive paint on U-2 spy planes.

Other stealth approaches involve using high-tech materials that could either scatter incoming radar waves, or even switch their wavelengths, thus confusing the trackers by turn- ing the aircraft's radar signature into random noise.

Lost at Sea

The Swedish Navy leads the way to invisibility on the high seas with its corvette-class Visby warship. Made from the same ultra-hard, carbon- fibre material used in Formula One racing cars, the Visby is light and quick and uses less fuel than more conventional ships in its class.

NAIR-SAN

Pic:orginal Nair-san with his family

AN INDIAN FREEDOM FIGHTER IN JAPAN
A.M.Nair known as NAIRSAN

Youth leader, patriot, colonial Britain’s Bete Noir, technocrat, linguist, advisor to the Indian diplomatic mission in Tokyo and eventually a business entrepreneur, Ayyappanpillai Madhavan Nair.

Following his schooling in his home state of kerala, he graduated as a civil engineer from Kyoto University in Japan. After a short stint as an engineer he was drawn inexorably into Japanese politics in which he functioned sometime as a Ronin, that character of rightwing activists who sought no personal rewards but wielded the highest influence in the country.

Nairsan, as he is commonly known, has lived in Japan for over half a century and also spent several years in Manchuria. Here he was an unofficial advisor to the Manchukuo government and the Kwangtung army and also conducted anti-colonial movements against British imperialism in India and other parts of Asia.

His advisory function was invariably marked by complete objectivity, integrity and independence, quality which earned him deep respect all round. For various purposes of his dealings with them the Japanese government recognized him as a personally equivalent in status initially to a major general and later to a lieutenant general.

Waging a most hazardous one-man crusade against the wool trade from Mongolia and Tibet to England, he successfully stopped the shipment of the goods to Manchester and Lancashire. During his Mongolian adventures which took him to regions some of which no other Indian has ever visited, he assumed many secret identities - a living Buddha, a camel caravan expert and a Muslim priest among them.

With Japan’s entry into the second world, Nairsan joined the Indian independence league in Japan and the south East Asian countries under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose – the legendary revolutionary in exile. Here he served as co-founder of the league and the chief link between the Indian freedom movement and the Japanese government.

In their forthright approach these memoirs constitute a valuable contribution to the history of India’s freedom struggle abroad.

In recognition of his dedicated and sustained contribution to the strengthening of friendly and cordial relations between India and Japan, Mr. Nair was awarded the exalted decoration of the order of merit of the sacred treasure (Kun zuihosho) by emperor Hiorohito in November 1984.

NAIR SAN: The legendary indian patriot in world cinema

1964 Japan Olympics. It was a thrilling moment for India when Indian Hockey Team won the Gold. But when the National anthem was being played at the medal distribution ceremony one among the crowd began shouting at the Japanese Government only because of the fact that instead of India ’s National Anthem the authorities played Pakistani National Anthem. Even though there were many officials and great personalities from India who were witnessing the incident none raised their voice other than this great Indian. That was the Indian legendary hero Ayyapan Pllai Madhavan Nair famous as Nair San in Japan. This is only one of the incidents which show the patriotism of this great man who became the reason for ending the Asian exploitation by the British during the freedom struggle.

For those who know Nair san personally he is special in different ways. Nair San had to leave his native land Kerala at the age of 18 as he campaigned among the students and led protests and marches against the social injustices of the British. He rebelled against the Education tax polled by English rulers. Being settled in Japan he struggled hard to root out the imperialism in Asian Countries. At the same time freedom fighters in India assembled men against English rulers. His efficiency in Japanese, Chinese and Spanish languages lifted him above all other Indian freedom fighters in Japan such as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Rash Behari Bose, Pratap Singh, Barkathullah etc. Thus Nair San became an ever lively presence in the strong and well arming agitation organized by Indian National Army and Indian Independence League.

Many thrilling moments in the life of Nair San are unknown.. His strange experiences and dangerous encounters taking the roles of a trader, a Holy lama and a Soofi during his one man expedition and exploration through the deserts and Plateau of Manchukia , Ala Shaan , Mongolia , Tibet , and China in 1933 paved the way for ending the illicit wool trade of the British which contributed the major source of their income.

When a renowned film Director from Kerala like Albert honored with awards for his debut film decided to take up the story of Nair San for his next film it is a prestigious moment for the whole of India as the film is being designed in such a way so as to attract the aesthetics of the International audience. Albert’s passion and vision on Nair San is complemented by his tremendous urge to discover new eras on the subject and to create a truly international class Asian film spanning different cultures, languages and religions. The adventurous life of Nair San lighted the flame in Albert’s mind to create such a film where the Director’s creative concept is used more than the mere historical approach. The story is based on ‘Memories of Nair San’ the biography of A.M.Nair and the creative concept is developed by Albert himself.

Padmasree Mohanlal acts the lead role in the first Japanese film directed by an Indian. The other two famous actors in the film are selected from Bollywood. The leading Japanese actress is preferred to be the heroine of Mohanlal. As Nair San married a Japanese lady it is the perfect recreation by the director himself to select a Japanese actress as the heroine.

The world action hero Jackie Chan also in this film to play the role of a Cameo”,

Music maestro A.R.Rahman will be doing music for the film. The traditional Mongolian & Japanese songs included in the film will be a different experience for the music lovers. The $7.5 million budget film is said to be a different experience for the film lovers worldwide as it is the result of the hard work and enthusiasm of a handful of talented artists. As Japan is the second largest film market in the world the revenue calculated from the movie will be much more than the budget of the film. The major location of the film is Japan, Mongolia and India . The schedule of the film is planned within 145 days and it is expected to release by the end of 2008. Albert had been in hazardous attempt to secure all the detailed knowledge for the perfection of the film.

Data faked on Hitachi-built atomic plants

Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it has discovered that data were falsified in connection with equipment at two nuclear plants in Shizuoka and Shimane prefectures, but shrugged off any safety concerns

The falsified data relate to the heat-treatment process used by another company responsible for the pipe welds on the moisture-separator heaters, Hitachi and its group company said. The heaters increase thermal efficiency by removing moisture from steam sent to turn the turbines and heating it.

Hitachi admitted that the equipment used at Chubu Electric Power Co.'s No. 5 reactor at the Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture and at Chugoku Electric Power Co.'s No. 3 reactor under construction at the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture, were not operating as specified. But Hitachi claimed that "there is no problem with its material or safety."

Hitachi is checking for any similar data falsification incidents at its 17 other nuclear reactors.
Hitachi outsourced the heat treatment work, which was intended to make the pipes more resistant to cracking, to Japan Industrial Testing Co.
Although Hitachi was reprimanded by the government over a similar incident involving a subcontractor in 1997, it does not appear that the company is facing harsher punishment.
Instead, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told Hitachi and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., to investigate whether other incidents of falsification had occurred and to submit plans to prevent a recurrence. Hitachi-GE Nuclear was formed by the merger of the nuclear businesses of the Hitachi and U.S. giant General Electric Co.

During the work, the pipes' temperatures fell faster than specified because of inappropriate temperature management, but that data was erased from the records using a bleaching agent, according to Hitachi, its group company and other sources.

The incident at the Shimane reactor occurred last December when a person in charge of the work wrongly operated the heat treatment equipment and failed to spot the irregularity quickly enough, they said.
The person in charge was quoted as saying: "If (the mistake had been) found, I would have had to do the heat treatment process again at the yearend when I was supposed to be off. I didn't want to do that."

An official at Japan Industrial Testing apologized and vowed that the company will train its employees appropriately. Hitachi has also apologized and said it will work to prevent a recurrence.

Hitachi started to investigate after Chugoku Electric Power in March found possible data falsification related to the heat treatment work of the Shimane plant's No. 3 reactor.

AR Rahman teams up with Japanese music composer Joe Hisaishi

AR Rahman has added another feather to his cap. The composer has now tied up with Japanese music composer Joe Hisaishi for the music of their forthcoming Indo-Japanese venture. Our source said, “Rahman, Bharat Bala (director) and some people from Disney (who are producing the film) met Joe Hisaishi in Tokyo on April 6 to discuss the film. Apart from Kamal Haasan and Asin, the film also stars Japanese actor Tadanobo Asano (Mongol,Wind Up Type,Last Life In The Universe).The movie will trace the origin of martial art in India.” According to our source, the film deals with Kalaripayattu, the martial art form of Kerala. The source added, “Kamal was very keen to work with a Japanese actor after he met Jackie Chan during the music release of Dasavataram. This is a $ 50 million (250 crores approx) project by Bharat Bala who will also be directing the film. Research work on the martial art form is currently on. The film will show that martial arts originated in India and not in Japan.” Bharat Bala and Rahman remained unavailable for comment.