New Technique For 2D Imaging Of Nanostructures

NanotechNews.com writes: "It seems that researchers (One of those is Norm Bartelt) at the U.S. Department of Energy?s Sandia National Laboratory have created a new way to represent self-assembling nanostructures (The bottom up approach of nanotechnology). They can record in real time, real space (real time video) the nanostructures, which self-assemble and transform. They used a low-energy electron microscope (LEEM). Furthermore the core of the news is: "Theorists long have believed that competing attractive and repulsive inter-atomic interactions can lead to the spontaneous formation of ordered patterns in widely varying chemical and physical systems. Potentially, such patterns could be used as templates for nanostructure fabrications.""

Comments

Re:Matter replication?

[gnovos]

"Be fairly easy to filter these out of the economy."

How exactly? If the copy is perfect, I mean down to the exact placement of every molecule, who has the "real" dollar? For that matter, who has the "real" Picasso? Who has the "real" Ford Taurus, the "real" can of Hormel chili, or the "real" first-edition signed copy of Spiderman? Sit and think for a minute of all the physical things in your life that have some monetary value. How many of those things would suddenly become worth purely the cost of raw materials if the "Matter Replicator" becomes a reality.

I admit that this technology is a ways off, but it is feasible. It isn't just a pipe dream for the SF writers to ponder over for the next 1,000 years, it is something that may exist in the next 100.

How will we deal with it? There will be a huge paradigm shift in the world of economics when such a device exists, and we aren't going to be prepared for it...