"Turn it up, but keep quiet about it. A group of anonymous dance music DJs are here to inject the S.F. scene with a desperately needed dose of renegade flavor -- on FM radio, pirate style. The tech-savvy team recently launched Pressure FM -- seven years in the making -- on 88.1, where it pumps out top-notch styles of house, U.K. garage (2-step), and broken beat every Friday from 6 p.m. to midnight. We can't disclose the details of the operation, but like a map point for an old-school underground, the actual location will provide you with everything you need to know: that quality dance music is at the people's disposal. ..."

'Pressure FM' is new Pirate Radio Station in SF

From the Jan 17 2002 edition of Financial Times.

Names of high-technology clusters around the world taking inspiration from America's Silicon Valley range from the geographically obscure to the truly unlikely. ... "Countries that have any pretence of joining (or for that matter remaining in) the ranks of the world's most advanced economies have no choice but to imitate (the Valley)."

Yet if non-US clusters had been more successful in "cloning" the Valley, they would arguably now be in worse shape than they currently are. For nowhere has the boom and bust been as dramatic as in northern California. ...

Moving beyond the Silicon Valley Model | FT.com

Link and summary below obtained from nanodot:

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology have found a way to attach a wide range of molecules to the surface of a virus, enhancing the virus with the properties of those molecules. The researchers say their technique may find applications in materials science, medicine, and molecular electronics, including the possibility of building circuits of conducting molecules on the surfaces of the viruses and form a component of a molecular-scale computer, or a new type of "nanowire." The work is reported in the 1 February 2002 issue of Angewandte Chemie.

The researchers found a method of putting a chemically reactive cysteine residue (a type of amino acid) on the surface of each of the 60 identical protein modules that make up the viral shell. The shell has an icosahedral shape, which provides 60 equivalent sites for attaching molecules. The researchers report they have been able to attach fluorescent dyes and clusters of gold molecules to the cysteine residues, which could be easily imaged. They also have successfully attached biotin (Vitamin B), sugars, and organic chemicals. The technique can be used to immobilize large molecules on the viral surface -- whole proteins even. In addition, the virus particles can self-organize into network arrays in a crystal, which may make it a useful building block for various applications in nanotechnology. "You can, in principle, determine the type of assembly you get by programming the building blocks," says one researcher.

For more info, also visit:
    http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=29012002-052646-7431r

Viral Shells as Nanochemical Building Blocks

"SPECIAL FOCUS AREA: ENGINEERED TISSUE CONSTRUCTS (ETC). The Defense Sciences Office is interested in innovative proposals to develop the technologies and science for supporting efforts leading to the creation of a three-dimensional ex vivo human immune system. This system will be used for testing new vaccine constructs and immunomodulators that provide superior protection against threat agents. The ETC program seeks to develop reliable methodologies that will accelerate the science and technology base necessary to achieve 3-D tissue engineering and to define the spatial and temporal requirements necessary to expand its applicability. This program intends to encourage multi-disciplinary teams, bringing together a combination of science and engineering communities to achieve its goals. The ability to fabricate functional 3-D ex vivo tissue constructs is limited by current methodologies and materials in 3-D printing, culture methods, bioscaffolding, stem cell biology, and the controlled differentiation of cells. ETC is a two-phase program addressing these limitations. Phase 1 will establish proof-of-concept that human stem cells can be reliably differentiated into multiple immune functions within an in vitro 3-D culture system. ... Phase 2 will focus on continuation of Phase 1 technologies and on producing interactive engineered tissue constructs of the functional elements of the immune system required for both cellular and humeral responses and its appropriate validation."

Engineered Tissue Constructs (ETC) | DARPA

This 448-page book is due out later in February 2002.

Description: "Among the most exciting developments in science today is the design and construction of the quantum computer. Its realization will be the result of multidisciplinary efforts, but ultimately, it is mathematics that lies at the heart of theoretical quantum computer science.

Mathematics of Quantum Computation brings together leading computer scientists, mathematicians, and physicists to provide the first interdisciplinary but mathematically focused exploration of the field's foundations and state of the art. Each section of the book addresses an area of major research, and does so with introductory material that brings newcomers quickly up to speed. Chapters that are more advanced include recent developments not yet published in the open literature.

Information technology will inevitably enter into the realm of quantum mechanics, and, more than all the atomic, molecular, optical, and nanotechnology advances, it is the device-independent mathematics that is the foundation of quantum computer and information science. Mathematics of Quantum Computation offers the first up-to-date coverage that has the technical depth and breadth needed by those interested in the challenges being confronted at the frontiers of research."

_Mathematics of Quantum Computation_ | CRC Press

Description: "The development of micro- and nano-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) foreshadows momentous changes not only in the technological world, but in virtually every aspect of human life. The future of the field is bright with opportunities, but also riddled with challenges, ranging from further theoretical development through advances in fabrication technologies, to developing high-performance nano- and microscale systems, devices, and structures, including transducers, switches, logic gates, actuators and sensors.

MEMS and NEMS: Systems, Devices, and Structures is designed to help you meet those challenges and solve fundamental, experimental, and applied problems. Written from a multi-disciplinary perspective, this book forms the basis for the synthesis, modeling, analysis, simulation, control, prototyping, and fabrication of MEMS and NEMS. The author brings together the various paradigms, methods, and technologies associated with MEMS and NEMS to show how to synthesize, analyze, design, and fabricate them. Focusing on the basics, he illustrates the development of NEMS and MEMS architectures, physical representations, structural synthesis, and optimization.

The applications of MEMS and NEMS in areas such as biotechnology, medicine, avionics, transportation, and defense are virtually limitless. This book helps prepare you to take advantage of their inherent opportunities and effectively solve problems related to their configurations, systems integration, and control."

_MEMS and NEMS: Systems, Devices, and Structures_ | CRC Press

This 432-page book is due out in March 2002.

Description: "Supramolecular chemistry is the outburst topic of the next generation of science. While the majority of biomedical research efforts to date have centered on utilizing well-known polymeric materials, the recent progress in supramolecular chemistry has introduced a fascinating new field of macromolecular architecture.

Supramolecular Design for Biological Applications focuses on modulating, altering, and mimicking biological functions with a new family of molecular assemblies. The authors provide innovative ideas and concepts for developing novel biomaterials that could be applied in diagnosis, drug carrier operations, and environmental protection. This reference is comprehensive, providing readers with principles, applications, recent advances, and future direction. Each chapter includes clear and informative illustrations of molecular architectures. The writing is scientific but allows for easy comprehension of the differences in molecular interactions, dimensions, and supramolecular architecture.

Supramolecular Design for Biological Applications will advance the understanding of supramolecular-structured biomaterials and associated issues regarding biological functions. By explaining recent trends and molecular interactions, this book will enable you to initiate new research for nano-scale science and technology in the 21st century."

_Supramolecular Design for Biological Applications_ | CRC Press

John Markoff in Monday's NYT.

News from the IEEE ISSCC suggests the rate of growth is increasing, not decreasing. Intel has room-temperature subsystems at 10 GHz, and feature size is down to 0.09 micron. IBM and Analog Devices also have spiffy new stuff to show off. Tidbit: Intel's McKinley will include 221 million transistors.

For a taste of the conference taking place right now is SF, check out these PDFs.

Advance Program
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/ap/ap/AdvProg.pdf

Plenary Session
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Session01_OV.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_1D.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_2D.pdf
    http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2002/plen/Paper1_3.pdf

The Increase in Chip Speed Is Accelerating, Not Slowing

Tiny electrical circuits with a single molecule for each wire have been created in the United States. These grids could replace silicon chips, making computers and memory devices much more compact and powerful than they are today. The grids comprise carbon nanotubes ... The grids practically build themselves ... This raises hopes that a nanotube lattice could form a computer memory ... with a storage density around 100,000 times greater than that of a Pentium chip.

Cylinders make circuits spontaneously

by Philip Aigrain, of the European Commission, and formerly of UC Berkeley. 14 pages.

Abstract: This paper proposes a reversal in how to consider the rights associated with information, media contents, software and other intellectual entities. Intellectual property, forgetting its original purpose, now mostly focuses on granting the ability to restrict usage of intellectual entities. It then defines a number of exceptions to cope with the adverse effects of such a restriction. On the contrary, the proposed approach sets as its basis a number of positive intellectual rights, defined as to enable wide societal production and exchange of intellectual entities. It then defines how granting of specific attributes of property is necessary as to ensure that the positive rights are not abused to the detriment of some basic values, and are implemented in reality.

Such a reversal allows [us] to exploit the benefits of information and communication technology, for instance the much greater plurality of creators and information sources, the much greater and quicker visibility and accessibility of intellectual entities, or new tools and processes for the assessment, the criticism and the analysis of intellectual productions. More generally, it [creates rights] for the technology of the intangible, whether biotechnology or other technologies based on the manipulation of information entities in complex processes. To derive practical features of intellectual rights, one has to differentiate in detail between varieties of intellectual entities (according to how they can be produced, used and exchanged) and between facets of intellectual rights. By doing so, one is able to propose a framework that truly serves creators without unduly restricting information exchanges.

(Forwarded throuh RRE; this document was translated/rewritten by the author from the original in French)

Positive Intellectual Rights and Information Exchanges [PDF]