BASF Shows Off Some Tantalizing Nanotech

Dan B. writes "The Technology section in The Age today is running a story on the current 'Next Generation' nanotech coming to a store near you from BASF. Interesting read, but I'd like some more info on the 10 hour batteries the size of a cigarette lighter."

Comments

What?

[kruetz]

From the article

Imagine never having to polish your shoes again, having glistening white teeth without visiting a dentist, or owning a mobile phone powered by a miniature battery. These are not just idle fantasies, but a reality where small things could make your wildest dreams come true.

wow! this guy's pretty darn wild! I bet for a big night out he turns on the TV and drinks a whole light beer. I mean, c'mon - with all the possibilities for nanotechnology, having self-polishing shoes is the best he could come up with?

it looks that just as with other technologies (www, e-commerce, ...) we're gonna have to wait for the pron industry to break new ground and lead the way ... oh, the possiblities!!! Wait a minute, don't. Eughh!

Re:What?

[Anonvmous Coward]

"wow! this guy's pretty darn wild! I bet for a big night out he turns on the TV and drinks a whole light beer. I mean, c'mon - with all the possibilities for nanotechnology, having self-polishing shoes is the best he could come up with? "

Ugh. Did you even read the F'n A? It's really frustrating when somebody takes the time to understand the capabilities of something they understand only to have the listener get all disappointed because he didn't invent a replicator or something.

The whole point of what he was saying was that nature has solved a LOT of problems we have today, and on the nano-level we can understand what it's doing and incorporate reserach that nature has already done into modern society. His example wasn't cool because it could make the dir resistant shoes, it was cool because it meant that they could emulate nature. The result is future materials would be longer lasting. Dare I say: mold-proof houses?

I'd normally concede that they could have presented their case better, but in this example they described the bits of it that were interesting enough that the application was merely an example.

Re:Uh Oh

[goatasaur]

I thought the same thing when I read the article. Prey was a pretty cool book.

This is a bit OT, but does anyone else think Crichton is a shill for some conservative/religious organization? Almost all his books are about how new technology can go catastrophically wrong and kill people in gory, fascinating ways. Jurassic Park (and sequel), The Andromeda Strain, Airframe (to an extent), and now Prey.

I smell conspiracy.

What are the real applications?

[Amsterdam Vallon]

From the article:
Imagine never having to polish your shoes again, having glistening white teeth without visiting a dentist, or owning a mobile phone powered by a miniature battery.

When my work shoes need polishing, my wife does it or I pay 50 cents and have them done at the Mall Foodcourt or something.

I got glistening white teeth by using Colgate Gel. It's $14.99 and quite a bargain.

And my mobile phone gets 6 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is plenty since I don't really talk to many people.

So, honestly, could someone point me toward some practical real-world applications of this supposed "Next Generation" of nanotechnology?!

Re:10 hour batteries..

[Anonymous Coward]

The article used the words small appliance suggesting that these were not merely electronic devices like laptops, PDA`s etc. I have heard tales of nanotech (well, etched silicon microtech) turbines which burn butane to make electricity. Aparently if you cram all the circuitry needed to run it and a gas cell into a container the size of a AA batery it will give you 300 (three-hundred) times the power than a conventional AA. Maybe the author was refering to something along these lines and just got confused (I read about these about a year ago).

Re:BASF

[AssFace]

my aunt is a patent law attorney (and her father was a partner at one of the best patent law firms in the country) and I can recall her talking about BASF one day.

She said that their ads are amusing to her because they "make it better" by paying a lot of money to keep track of new patents that are made by smaller people (not big companies), then steal them and use them to generate money for themselves and other companies that employ them.
They then just absorb the lawsuits and tie them up in the courts until the person or small company fighting them runs out of money.

but that is a lot harder to describe in a catchy way in an ad.

blast processing

[QEDog]

If I hate something more than a buzzword (remember Blast Processing and the Sega Genesis?), is an article that is just about a buzzword.

Re:Uh Oh

[syd02]

No conspiracy necessary. If you look around, you'll notice that market-driven media entities are constantly fearmongering. And they love this president, because his popularity too is positively correlated with popular fears. Boogymen abound. The end result is going to be (already is getting) ugly.

Why are handguns (for personal protection, obviously) so popular in America? Too many people watching their local evening news. We're a bunch of irrational sissies.

Re:ig farben

[Tempelherr]

IG Farben itself has quite an extensive history for anyone interested, especially with regard to its member's roles in WWI (manufacturing chlorine gas and potassium nitrate, which helped to alleviate Germany's dependance on Chilean imports) and WWII (producing poison gases, running work camps, ie Auschwitz). It was an incredibly huge and productive industry, also producing many other things, such as artifical rubber.

After WWII, most of the assets of the IG were transferred to Agfa, Hoechst, Bayer, and of course BASF. If I recall correctly though, the IG is actually going to be dissolved some time in 2003, though I am not sure when. Anyone know when this is scheduled to happen?

I'm definitely looking forward to some of the products that BASF is developing, especially the hydrogen gas battery. That is going to nice if/when it ever reaches the masses.

Drexler

[nanobug]

At the last Foresight Conference Eric Drexler expressed his frustration at the amount of hype and effort going into research and development on this psuedo nanotechnology. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and getting "nano" into their products.

Real nanotechnology, often called molecular nanotechnology, consists of actual manipulation of atoms into molecules and structures with useful properties, and will make most of the current claims of nano products look extremely weak. But no-one knows exactly how to do it just yet!

Lots of progress is being made on the research front, and they will get there, but anyone who tells you they have nanotechnology products available now or in the near future are talking about the weak versions of nanotechnology that have been around for thousands of years. See here for a better description of the distinction between weak and strong nanotechnology.

Re:"real" nanotechnology

[Sdrawcab]

The imaginary "molecular nanotechnology" is like having a fully automatic 3-axis CNC mill, while the current "nanotech" is like a blacksmith hammering away. Its all a matter of sophistication.