SciTech

The wonder world of Nanoscale

by Dhaneshi YATAWARA

The biology and engineering of tomorrow will have to deal with dimensions of one billionth of a metre - a technology that works in nanometres. The Science and Engineering at the dimensions of one to one hundred nanometres is basically called Nano Technology (NT). Did you know that the Sigiriya masterpieces of the 5th Century were not just created by mere oil based paint, but incorporated metal nanoclusters as well? Well, shamed to say, at times we are ignorant of our grand history?

Nanorobot1 - An illustration of a nanorobot seen in the lung

The contemporary understanding of this nanoscale world seems to have developed in this modern era with the firm scientific theory brought in by the English Chemist John Dolton (1766 - 1844). Yet, as many scientists cite it was Richard Feynman (1918 - 1988), also a Nobel laureate, who inspired the modern nanotechnology. Feyman presented a lecture to the American Physical Society in 1959 titled There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom' outlining the challenges and opportunities afforded by engineering from atomic scale up.

Molecular structures with length measurements upto 100 nanometres or less are called nanomaterials. Nanotechnology is the creation, manipulation and application of such materials. Nano particles do not behave like solids, liquids or gases we are familiar with. Their behaviour is guided by the laws of quantum physics. Nanoparticles of the same chemical may have electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties quite different to the larger particles of the same chemical. NT applications may sound a bit like science fiction movie scenes yet there are many options in real life as well.

Concepts

The present manufacturing technology is based on creating the objects using techniques such as cutting, carving, molding and welding of materials - generally known as 'top down approach'. Physist Richard Feynman describes the concept of 'bottom up approach' in describing the initial concepts of NanoTechnology, in which atomic level components are used for manufacturing. Hence, the machines are made up of components of single molecules held together by covalent forces that are far stronger than the forces that hold together macro-scale components.

Scientists have found that by this method they can advance beyond the limitations of the traditional method.

About four decades after this introduction of the concept in to the world, scientists were enthusiastic to find 'smart materials' which can be used to do tasks that can not be done by the traditional methods. Other than smart materials nanorobots are the most impressive and demanding research focus throughout the world. In the recent past the research field of Robotics changed from multi tasking high end robots to single or limited number of tasks. These small in size low cost robot groups are called as swarm robotics. According to researches this concept emerged based on biological swarms - i.e. Ant and bee colonies.

Ants and bees are doing enormous teamwork to accomplish their tasks like building a nest or fighting against a threat. Nano Robots can be rated as a subcategory of these swam robots built up of nano-scale components to carry out tasks in nano-scale. The Field of nanorobotics have become highly popular in the world of researchers due to its massive number of possible applications in the fields of military, medical and space sciences.

Nanomedicine

Nanomedicine is one of the most promising applications of NT. In nanomedicine, nanobots in your veins roaming around,sniffing out and killing cancer cells and nanomachines picking up damaged cells and replacing them, may one day become a reality. Researchers predict that perhaps in the future, nanosensors inserted into your body will remain vigilant for organ malfunction.Scientists are looking at developing nanoscale tools and machines, designed to monitor health, deliver medicines, cure diseases and repair damaged tissues. Built-in nanocensors in a person's body would warn the person, by monitoring the environment, of exposure to environment radiation and toxic agents. Transplantation of encapsulated nanobots will be an effective way of treating enzymes or hormone deficiency states in the years to come. It may also be possible to implant encapsulated neurons in to the brain and then electrically stimulate them to release neurotransmitters. Such developments will open up new recoveries to treat Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

For space and military

Nano1 : an illustration of a resiprocyte - an artificial mechanical red blood cell

For example a group of nanorobots can be deployed for spying purposes into a hostile area without the knowledge of the enemies. Or they can be used to detect and detonate land mines.

The advantage, as those respective researches predict, is that they come with the ability to reproduce themselves.

In space explorations the self-replicate nature of the nanorobotics is highly desirable, because one target of the exploration is to spread vast number of nano-scale robots on the target planet surface and get the information from them. This is much advanced and reliable method compared with sending a single robot to gather information.

According to researches these nanorobots can be used for the enhanced health management and protection system for the astronauts, where the preprogrammed nano-scale robots are injected in to the body protecting the astronaut from possible health threats.

There are many research activities going throughout the world to accomplish the goal of developing first nano-scale working robot. There are still lots of research projects for developing the computational component for the nano-scale machines, and the outcomes are not published yet.

If artificial machines get abilities such as self replication and self-assemblage at nano-scale the outcome would have a question. Can a manmade machine go beyond the limitations of nature?

This is what nanotechnology has in store for the future.

(Courtesy of articles published in the 'Vidurava' magazine by Prof. S Ravi P. Silva, Nick Blanchard and Stephen Lyth of University of Surrey, United Kingdom.)

Novice inventors in limelight

A student explaining his findings to the panel of Judges

Sri Lanka Science and Engineering Fair (SLSEF) was held on January 20, 2009 at Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) auditorium with the participation of 20 competitors exhibiting their findings. With the collaboration of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), Ministry of Education and Intel, the multinational computer company.

The competitions was of two parts - i.e. the Science Research Project Competition (SRPC) conducted by NSF and the Junior Inventor of the Year (JIY) conducted by the IESL where ten projects were selected for each competition. Out of the total 20 projects, winners of the first, second and third places will attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), Nevada in USA held in May 2009.

Winners of the first and second places will compete with other competitors from other countries while winner of the third place will attend the fair as an observer.

Intel ISEF is the world's largest pre-collegiate celebration of Science, held annually in May. Intel ISEF brings together more than 1,200 students from over 40 nations to compete for over 900 prizes. There is US$ 2 million to be won including scholarships, tuition grants, internships, scientific field trips and the grand prize: a trip to attend the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. Science Service founded the ISEF in 1950 and Intel is the title sponsor of this prestigious international competition. (HP)

New evidence on Antarctic warming

By Richard BLACK

The continent of Antarctica is warming up in step with the rest of the world, according to a new analysis.

Scientists say data from satellites and weather stations indicate a warming of about 0.6C over the last 50 years.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say the trend is "difficult toexplain" without the effect of rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, scientists in Antarctica say a major ice shelf is about to break away from the continent.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf is said to be "hanging by a thread" from the Antarctic Peninsula, the strip of land pointing from the white continent towards the southern tip of South America.

Most of Antarctica's scientific stations are located along the peninsula, and scientists have known for many years that this portion of the continent is getting warmer. It's hard to think of any situation where increased greenhouse gases would not lead to warming in Antarctica But trends across the bulk of the continent have been much harder to discern, mainly because data from land stations is scarce. It is somewhat insulated from the rest of the world's weather systems by winds and ocean currents that circulate around the perimeter.

In the new analysis, a team of US scientists combined data from land stations with satellite readings

"We have at least 25 years of data from satellites, and satellites

have the huge advantage that they can see the whole continent," said Eric Steig from the University of Washington in Seattle.

"But the [land] stations have the advantage that they go back much further in time. "So we combined the two; and what we found, in a nutshell, is that

there is warming across the whole continent, it's stronger in winterand spring but it is there in all seasons."

They conclude that the eastern region of the continent, which is larger and colder than the western portion, is warming at 0.1C per

decade, and the west at 0.17C per decade - faster than the global average.

The 2007 assessment of the global climate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded: "It is likely that there has been significant anthropogenic (human-induced) warming over the past 50 years averaged over each continent except Antarctica", with the word "likely" in this context meaning "at least 66% probability".

The scientists said this study did not change that picture, with natural climatic cycles probably involved as well as elevated greenhouse gas concentrations. -BBC

Artificial intelligence

The modern definition of artificial intelligence (or AI) is "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximizes its chances of success.

John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Other names for the field have been proposed, such as computational intelligence, synthetic intelligence or computational rationality.

The term artificial intelligence is also used to describe a property of machines or programs: the intelligence that the system demonstrates. AI research uses tools and insights from many fields, including computer science, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics, operations research, economics, control theory, probability, optimization and logic.

-Sciencedaily

Partial solar eclipse on January 26

by Harshini PERERA

A partial solar eclipse will be visible to Sri Lanka on January 26, the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies informs.Accordingly, it will begin at 2:02:42 pm local time and reaches its maximum at 3:11:46 pm. The partial solar eclipse will end at 4:12:18 pm.

The Space Application Division of Arthur C. Clarke Institute will organise a public observation session at its premises to observe this solar eclipse on 26 January from 1:45 pm. A live webcast will be also available at www.accimt.ac.lk to cover this event.Parallel to the observation sessions, the Space Application Division is planning to hold the opening session of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

Minimizing the electricity consumption of computers

The Electro Technology Unit of the ITI has carried out a study on the power consumption of various brands and types of computers in order to find ways to minimize the electricity consumption of the computers of the ITI. The results of the study were found to be important even to the general public. According to the study the following should be followed to minimize the power consumption.

General Instruction for computer power saving

* Use power saving setting available in the control panel of your computer

* Proposed power saving setting for computers which are used in laboratories and offices:

Monitor off-3 to 5 minutes

Hard disk off-5 to 10 minutes

Stand by/sleep mode- 15 to 25 minutes

* Do not use screen server for long period

* Use dark colour wall paper for your computer

Courtesy of ITI

Non-alcoholic beverage from Kithul sap

Kithul or `Caryota urens' sap is widely known among the Asians from historic times for its products such as treacle, jaggery and toddy which are made from it. Kithul sap contains 5-18% natural sugars or sucrose, glucose, fructose etc. and is highly perishable. It starts deteriorating from the moment it flows out from the flower due to fermentation by the yeast in the environment.

Damitha Rajapakse and Agnes Fernando of the Food Technology Section of ITI have formulated a method to process kithul sap into a refreshing, natural, non-fermented drink and obtained the patent rights for the process.

This novel drink could be stored in sealed bottle at room temperature for more than six months. In this process they have been able to arrest the fermentation soon after tapping, and this helps the processing of the sap to make the non-alcoholic beverage.

Courtesy of ITI