Slashdot Mirror
Walking Molecule Now Carries Packages
Roland Piquepaille writes "Chemists from the University of California at Riverside designed two years ago a molecule which could move straight on a flat surface — a nano-walker if you wish. Now, they've found a way to force this walking molecule to carry packages. The nano-worker can now carry two CO2 molecules. And like yourself when you carry two heavy bags, this nano-worker is slower when it carries other molecules. The researchers think their discovery will lead to reliable ways of carrying molecules, an equivalent of the conveyor belts in today's factories."
They'll unionize & all your research will be useless and futile against their nano-unions.
What powers this thing?
From a previous article on the walker:
"Activated by heat or the nudge of a scanning tunneling microscope tip, DTA will pull up one foot, put down the other, and thus walk in a straight line across a flat surface. The planted foot not only supplies support but also keeps the body of the molecule from veering or stumbling off course."
Think of the organized crime opportunities! Yeah stuff in the warehouse does really just walk off.
Though if walkers get a collective consciousness it would self-organized crime.
"Cutbacks have forced us to introduce the Imperial Nanowalker"
So what's the big deal? I can carry a lot more than two C02 molecules around and make turns and my parents are still kicking themselves for creating me, why should these scientists be proud of their inferior creation?
If you have complaints about the article, why did you post it?
Good, inexpensive web hosting
"What did the first nano-walker water molecule say to the second nano-walker water molecule who'd just tripped while carrying his load of CO2?" "Up and ATOM Mister!". (sorry. been a long day)
"Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchet
Actually if you would have taken the time to mouseover the link you would have seen that it didn't go to his blog or column, it went to the university's website. Not that I'm a huge Roland fan, but your statement is just flat out wrong.
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs
and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!
Everyone knows it's Slinky.
It's Slinky, it's Slinky,
it's fun, it's a wonderful toy.
It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun,
It's a wonderful toy.
It's fun for a girl or a boy.
-- your Web browser is Ronald Reagan
should read Nanosystems by K. Eric Drexler. Roughly speaking, Drexler is the father of nanomanufacturing. I bought it on a whim when I read about him in the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (of Cryptonomicon, Baroque Cycle, In the the Beginning was the Command Line, and Snow Crash fame). Interesting times ahead.
"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
Perhaps he commented on his own story with some half-baked comment/question hoping to generate even more traffic to his well known ad site, therefore generating even more revenue. This guy has quite the history on slashdot, look into it...
- Design lil nanowalkers
- Pave path directly to target with copper. Design another lil nanowalker that walks in front of the rest, clearing debris out of the way.
- Set the one carrying flammable stuff going, and wait a few thousand years for it to get to the destination. Have a few flaming nano-walkers to let go a few minutes after you let the first one go.
- Multiple by a few million for an explosion that people can actually see.
If this doesn't say "DoD grant" nothing does.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
The problem a lot of people have with Roland is:
1) For a while a year or two ago, it seemed like every other story posted was submitted by him
2) He used to always link *only* to his own blog, not to the actual article in question
3) He (used to?) sells his consulting services on how to drive traffic to your website
4) Despite numerous complaints and comments, neither he nor the admins were listening to us
Now they're not necessarily all his fault, but all together it lead to an awful lot of speculation, including about whether or not he was paying for his stories to be posted. It was this uproar, when the admins finally took notice, that lead to the "nofollow" attribute being added to the submittor's URL when a story is posted.
I can't blame him for shamelessly seeking a little bit of publicity on Slashdot in order to make some money with his blog.
That's just it though - for a while, he was shamelessly seeking - and getting - a lot of publicity. It started to look an awful lot like advertising to a lot of people, some of which pay not to get adverts here.
It's official. Most of you are morons.