Result bodes well for CMOS devices.

Photoluminescence increased by 100-fold using just oxygen and water vapour.

Soon after graphene sheets were being produced on a laboratory scale routinely, researchers began producing the hydrogenated version graphane (with a hydrogen atom on each carbon). This step is one of many approaches aimed at harnessing graphene’s powerful conductivity and is also being explored for hydrogen storage and other potential applications (more info in this 2009 ScienceDaily article From Graphene to Graphane…). Despite the divergence from planarity which naturally accompanies the shift from sp² to sp³ hybridization, graphane is considered a 2D material.

Brought to our attention by Christine Peterson, a new addition to the family of 2D honeycomb-lattice materials has arrived: germanane. Structurally analogous to graphane, germanane comprises hydrogenated, hexagonally arranged germanium atoms in single (or few) layer sheets. Like silicane and silicene (see companion post Silicene: silicon’s answer to graphene), germanane should have a band gap, possibly allowing it to be implemented sooner than graphene.

While bulk germanium was semi-successfully used to make the first transistors, its low resistivity at higher temperatures and high production costs limited its practical use, and silicon soon became the semiconductor of choice. But going nanoscale may be a game changer, if the right combination of performance, cost, and ease of manufacture can be found.

For most 2D materials, getting stable sheets is the first hurdle. In an important step toward production of germanane sheets, a research team led by Joshua Goldberger at Ohio State University has devised a method for chemical synthesis of germanane crystals, which can be exfoliated down to single layer sheets. The work is published in ACS Nano (abstract) and is described in a Gizmag article:

“…we’ve been searching for unique forms of silicon and germanium with advantageous properties, to get the benefits of a new material but with less cost and using existing technology.”

The resulting material has been shown to conduct electrons ten times faster than silicon (and five times faster than conventional germanium), meaning that it could carry a proportionately higher load if used in microchips. It’s also more chemically stable than silicon, not oxidizing in the presence of air or water, plus it’s much better at absorbing and emitting light – this means that it could prove particularly useful in solar cells.

Ordinarily, germanium takes the form of multilayered crystals. The single-atom-thick layers are bonded to one another, and each one is quite unstable on its own. The OSU researchers created their own germanium crystals, in which calcium atoms were inserted between the layers. That calcium was then dissolved using water, leaving empty chemical bonds in its absence. Those bonds were subsequently plugged with hydrogen, resulting in much more stable layers that could be peeled from the crystal while remaining intact.

A down side of germanium-based technologies may still be cost – germanium is far less abundant than silicon and carbon. From a Productive Nanosystems point of view, graphene technology may prevail in the long run due not only to performance metrics but to the abundance of carbon as well. For nearer-term, intermediate technologies, many hats remain in the ring. Although Group 14 elements are highlighted here, serious research into a broad range of 2D (especially honeycomb structured) materials has been around for a while and is growing fast.
-Posted by Stephanie C

Atherosclerosis, a buildup of cellular plaque in the arteries, remains one of the leading causes of death globally. While high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, is transferred to the liver for processing, low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, builds up in the arteries in the form of plaque.

Early detection of cellular components in the plaque that rupture and block arteries have long been held as potentially effective detection for heart diseases and their link to atherosclerosis.

A new study by University of Georgia researchers in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of chemistry, published online May 13 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, documents a technological breakthrough: Synthetic high density lipoprotein nanoparticles. A completely biodegradable synthetic version of the so-called good cholesterol, the nanoparticles represent a potential new detection and therapy regimen for atherosclerosis.


Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-synthetic-hdl-cholesterol-nanoparticles.html

Substrate defects also help.

I have a post up on the blog of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute – The failures of supply side innovation policy – discussing the connection between recent innovation policy in the UK and our current crisis of economic growth. Rather than cross-posting it here, I tell the same story in four graphs.

1. The UK’s current growth crisis follows a sustained period of national disinvestment in R&D

Red, left axis. The percentage deviation of real GDP per person from the 1948-1979 trend line, corresponding to 2.57% annual growth. Sources: solid line, 2012 National Accounts. Dotted line, March 2013 estimates from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility.
Blue, right axis. Total R&D intensity, all sectors, as percentage of GDP. Data: Eurostat.

No single measure can capture the overall performance of an economy, but the long term trajectory of real GDP per person in the UK tells an interesting story, with a clear discontinuity in 1979. From 1948 to 1979 this measure grew remarkably steadily; a best fit corresponds to 2.57% annual growth. Since 1979 we have seen two deep recessions, each followed by a period of faster growth that, in each case, didn’t quite make up the lost ground to the pre-1979 trend line, and proved unsustainable. The third recession, following the 2008 financial crisis, has been both deeper and more long lasting than previous recessions. Meanwhile, since 1980, there has been a substantial fall in the overall research intensity of the economy, measured by the fraction of GDP spent on research and development. Without claiming simple causality, my SPERI post looks at the relationship between our current growth crisis and this disinvestment in R&D.

 

2. Since 1980, the UK has moved from being one of the most R&D intensive economies in the developed world, to one of the least.

Total R&D expenditure as % of GDP. Data: Eurostat

This decline in R&D intensity in the UK has happened at a time when other countries have been increasing investment in research. These increases have been particularly marked in fast growing Asian countries like South Korea and China.

 

3. The overall decline in the UK’s R&D intensity has been driven primarily by a long- term decline in private sector R&D

Value of R&D performed by sector as % of GDP. Data: Eurostat

Most R&D is performed in the private sector, with other substantial contributions happening in Government laboratories and Universities. R&D in the combined Government and HE sectors in the UK dropped substantially in the 1980′s and then stabilised, but the largest decline has taken place in private sector R&D. One might be tempted to argue that this reflects changes in the sectoral balance of the UK economy, but a more detailed analysis by Alan Hughes and Andrea Mina shows that, even after adjusting for structural differences between countries, the business enterprise component of R&D remains low by international standards.

 

4. The relative value of R&D performed in the business sector in the UK has been falling since the mid-1980s and has slipped far behind key rivals

Value of R&D performed by the business sector as % of GDP. Source: Eurostat

The contrast between the declining R&D intensity of the UK’s private sector and its growth in competitor nations is marked. My SPERI blogpost The failures of supply side innovation policy explores what might lie behind this.

Researchers make new photovoltaic structure from 2D semiconducting dichalcogenides.

A novel way to separate metallic and semiconducting nanotubes.

3D Systems Corporation (DDD) trend seems to continue up on the short and long term.
The 3d Printer hype still looks quite strong.

Recently we pointed at a Forbe’s interview with Eric Drexler, in anticipation of his pending new book Radical Abundance.

The book  has shipped, and Drexler’s tour schedule now includes a few stops on the coasts of the U.S:

New York: May 6th

Los Angeles: May 8th & 9th

Seattle: May 9th

Find exact times and locations on Drexler’s website, and find more information about the book from publisher Public Affairs and/or from your favorite book store.

If you’ve been imagining an updated version of Nanosystems, you’re in for a surprise. The book invites us to take a remarkable journey through the personal and educational experiences that led Drexler to contemplate the global future and to develop the foundations and concepts of atomically precise manufacturing, through a surprisingly accessible tour of the nanoscale world, and through a deeply thoughtful discussion of not only crucial realities of revolutionary new technology, but of crucial uncertainties as well.

-Posted by Stephanie C

Spintronics and magnonics technologies could benefit.

Crystals reform at atomic scale to pass through narrow passages within nanotubes.

"Wonder material" is a bad spin conductor, but shouldn’t be.

But healthy cells behave differently following nanoparticle uptake.

Southampton team on track for observing Anderson localization.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering have demonstrated the novel utilisation of carbon nanotubes for making high resolution holograms.

Carbon nanotubes - a manmade material - have been the focus of an enormous amount of research during the last decade due to their extraordinary electrical and optical properties. These tubes are many times thinner than a wavelength of visible light which makes them promising candidates for being used as pixels.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-high-res-holograms-carbon-nanotubes.html#jCp

Next week – on the 26th March – I’m participating in a discussion event sponsored by the thinktank Policy Exchange at NESTA, in London. Also on the panel is K. Eric Drexler, the originator of the idea of nanotechnology in its most expansive form, as an emerging technology which, when fully developed, will have truly transformational effects. It will, in this view, allow us to make pretty much any material, device or artefact for little or no cost, we will be able to extend human lifespans almost indefinitely using cell-by-cell surgery, and we will create computers so powerful that they will host artificial intelligences greatly superior to those of humans. Drexler has a new book coming out in May – Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization. I think this view overstates the potential of the technology, and (it shocks me to realise), I have been arguing this in some technical detail for nearly ten years. Although I have met Drexler, and corresponded with him, this is the first time I will have shared a platform with him. To mark this occasion I have gone through my blog’s archives to make this anthology of my writings about Drexler’s vision of nanotechnology and my arguments with some of its adherents (who should not, of course, automatically be assumed to speak for Drexler himself).

To begin with, one should understand Drexler’s position by reading his own words. His first publication on the subject was a short paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in 1981, Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation. This paper demonstrated the possibility of artificial molecular machines by analogy with the protein-based molecular machines of biology, and argued that protein engineering is the natural route by which a second generation of artificial molecular machines, more powerful than their natural precursors could be made.

Drexler’s next publication was perhaps his most influential; this was his 1986 popular science book Engines of Creation: the coming era of nanotechnology. This explored the consequences of the molecular assemblers that he argued could be made from the second generation molecular machines, able to make virtually anything consistent with the basic laws of physics, atom-by-atom, with atomic precision. One consequence would be cell repair machines able to halt and reverse the effects of ageing and disease, leading to indefinite human lifespans.

Engines of Creation was not a technical book, so it did not include much more in the way of detail of how these universal assemblers would be made. This detail was provided in Drexler’s 1992 book, Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. It’s difficult to imagine a book more different to Engines of Creation than Nanosystems. It’s almost gratuitously dry and technical, a textbook for a yet-to-be-developed technology, based on the principle that “molecular manufacturing applies the principles of mechanical engineering to chemistry”.

My own thinking on nanotechnology – summarised initially in my 2004 book Soft machines: nanotechnology and life – was at the same time inspired by Drexler’s work and a reaction against it. Like Drexler, I was fascinated by the example that cell biology provided of intricate, molecular scale machines. But I was also struck by the insights that the new single molecule biophysics was providing (using the new tools of nanoscience) – insights that stressed that the principles used by the molecular machines were not the principles of mechanical engineering, but a quite alien set of design principles optimised for the peculiar physics of the warm, wet, nanoscale world – the principles of soft nanotechnology.

I dealt with the question of what nanotechnology should learn from biology in this blog post – What biology does and doesn’t prove about nanotechnology – which was a riposte to some heated discussions on the blogs of the time. I came back to this question with a more reflective discussion of the same themes in my column in Nature Nanotechnology -
Right and wrong lessons from biology.

Moving to my criticisms to the vision of nanotechnology presented in Nanosystems, the context can be found in this piece: Molecular nanotechnology, Drexler and Nanosystems – where I stand. In making and doing I argued that matter is not digital, responding to quite extensive discussion of that post in bits and atoms. I outlined some specific technical issues in Six challenges for molecular nanotechnology.

My most widely circulated critique was published in the US magazine IEEE Spectrum – Rupturing the nanotech rapture. By this time Drexler’s vision of radical nanotechnology had become a central part of the belief package of transhumanists and proponents of the secular eschatology of the technological singularity, as most notably and influentially popularised by Ray Kurzweil in his book The Singularity is Near. My article was part of a special issue exploring, mostly from a critical perspective, this idea (misguided as it is, in my opinion). Nanobots, nanomedicine, Kurzweil, Freitas and Merkle was a response to criticisms of the IEEE Spectrum article.

Lately, Drexler has been writing on his own blog Metamodern. From there it is clear that we agree about some things – the importance of the “soft” route to radical nanotechnology in the near future, the achievements and potential of DNA nanotechnology, for example – and remain in disagreement about others. I look forward to discussing these issues with him on Tuesday.

A future improvement over flash memory, next-generation nonvolatile memory called Phase-Change Random Access Memory (PRAM), has a operating speed of 1,000 times faster than that of flash memory.

"PRAM uses reversible phase changes between the crystalline (low resistance) and amorphous (high resistance) state of chalcogenide materials, which corresponds to the data "0" and "1," respectively. Although PRAM has been partially commercialized up to 512 Mb by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., its writing current should be decreased by at least one-third of its present level for the mass production of mobile electronics applications. A team of Professors Keon Jae Lee and Yeon Sik Jung in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at KAIST has developed phase-change memory with low power consumption (below 1/20th of its present level) by employing self-assembled block copolymer (BCP) silica nanostructures. Their work was published under the title "Self-Assembled Incorporation of Modulated Block Copolymer Nanostructures in Phase-Change Memory for Switching Power Reduction" in the March issue of ACS Nano."

Read more at: Phys.Org Nanotech News

3D Systems Corporation (DDD) reported earnings on February 25th. The company reported adjusted EPS of $0.39 (before split), a cent over views, but missed revenue expectations, as it reported $101.6 million, and analysts were expecting $103.86 million. Revenue was up 45% over the same quarter last year, and 54% for the year, reaching $354.6 million.

The management said on the conference call that the company introduced 16 new products, and that revenue from new products increased 70% to $131.9 million. Gross margin expanded 390 basis points to 51.2%. Organic growth for the year was 22.4% and 18.8% in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile the stock continues the downward trend with a possible short term reveral today.

PowerShares Lux Nanotech (ETF) is one of the few 'true' nanotech ETF.
Latest Weekly Chart Update:

New Research promises cheaper ultra-light thin film solar panels and the basis of a low-cost tool for 3D printing of these thin film circuits.

"Scientists from Imperial College London, working at the Institut Laue-Langevin, have presented a new way of positioning nanoparticles in plastics, with important applications in the production of coatings and photovoltaic material that harvest energy from the sun. The study, presented in Advanced Materials (cover article), used neutrons to understand the role that light – even ambient light – plays in the stabilisation of these notoriously unstable thin films. As a proof of concept the team have shown how the combination of heat and low intensity visible and UV light could in future be used as a precise, low-cost tool for 3D printing of self-assembling, thin-film circuits on these films."

Read more at: Phys.Org

Some nanotechnology related news on the Economist:

"A NEW range of televisions from Sony is the first to use minuscule devices known as quantum dots to produce colours which are more vibrant than those which appear on a conventional liquid-crystal display (LCD). Quantum dots are crystals of semiconductor material just a few nanometres (billionths of a metre) in size. They could have a big future in lighting and display technologies, but are difficult and expensive to manufacture, and use toxic materials. However, Geoffrey Ozin, from the University of Toronto, Uli Lemmer, from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, and their colleagues believe they have found a way to deal with these problems."

Read more

Carbon nanotubes now used in transistors:

"A research team from Stanford University led by associate professor Subhasish Mitra and headed by Professor Philip Wong, has demonstrated a computer chip based on transistors made out of carbon nanotubes. The demonstration took place at this year's International Solid-State Circuits Conference held in San Francisco."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-02-stanford-carbon-nanotube-based-chip.html#jCp

The future promise of nanotech factories seems now closer with the latest 3d printer technology being accessible to the retail consumer. While it is not yet the fabled nano tech printer, it does hold a lot of promises in the near future.

3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) is one of the latest stocks in the whole '3D printing' scene, fourth-quarter revenue shortfall heightened concerns Monday about 3D printer stocks.
3D Systems said Q4 revenue rose 45% to $101.6 million. That lagged consensus estimates for $103.9 million.

The chart shows that DDD seems to be recovering in the short-term while the mid-term trend still looks Bearish:

One of the best performers, in the last 3 years, that is in the nanotech industry stocks sector:

Patent thickets are overlapping patent rights controlled by different corporations which often act as an impedance to commercialization of new technology. One area which seems to have a big problem with patent thickets is memory resistor technology (e.g. ReRAM, CBRAM, phase change memory) in which over 3300 US patents have already issued (more information on the patent statistics available at this link). Despite this large number of patents there has been almost no indication of significant commercial development yet (other than HP's memristor hype).

At this point the large number of patents seem to indicate problems in terms of patent thickets for any start-up company interested in developing applications of memory resistor materials. I thought it might be a good idea to point out some of the broad patents which do not seem to meet the requirements for patentability (i.e. novelty or obviousness) based on uncited prior art and which may be some of the more stickier thorns of this patent thicket. A brief summary of these patents is organized below based on the listed assignee. I filed more thorough explanations with the USPTO under 37 CFR 1.501 (linked here).

AMD
US 6864522 - This patent filed in 2003 claims an ionic memory resistor with an active and passive layer. Some of the claims are broad enough to be anticipated by a chalcogenide ionic memory resistor patent filed by Micron in 2001 (US 6348365).

Axon Technology
US 6635914 and US 6985378 - These patents filed in 2001 claims an ionic memory resistor with an oxidizable electrode. The basic claimed structure was already described back in 1988 by a company called Maxdem Inc. (US 4945257).

US 7675766, US 7728322, US 7929331, and US 8022384 - These patents with priority going back to 2000 includes claims to ionic memory resistors. The basic claimed structure was already described back in 1988 by a company called Maxdem Inc. (US 4945257) and by NASA in 1991 (US 5278636).

Hewlett Packard
US 6456525 - This patent filed in 2000 includes claims to a crosspoint array of memory resistors with a serial linear resistor. The claimed structure was already described by Caltech researchers in US 4839859 in 1987.

US 6518156 and US 6891744 - These patents filed in 2000 claims memory resistor crossbar structure with nanoscale lines. The basic memory resistor crossbar structure was already described in 1983 by Energy Conversion Devices (US 4677742). Scaling to nanoscale dimensions would have been obvious using techniques such as nanoimprint lithography (US 5772905) to improve device density.

US 6625055 - This patent filed in 2002 claims storing multibit data in individual memory resistance cells. Multibit memory resistor storage was earlier described by Energy Conversion Devices such as in US 4646266 filed in 1984.

US 6870751 - This patent filed in 2002 claims a memory resistor crosspoint array with a current concentrating feature. This was earlier described by Energy Conversion Devices in US 5687112 filed in 1997.

US 7034332 - This patent filed in 2004 claims a nanoscale memory resistor array with self-aligned rectifying elements. This was earlier described by Macronix in 2002 for phase change materials (US 6579760).

US 7443711 - This patent filed in 2004 claims a nanoscale memory resistor with tunable impedance. This was earlier described by Unity Semiconductor in 2003 (US 7038935). It is notable that the attorney arguments in this case were based on misunderstanding of the definition of electrical impedance versus electrical reactance which may also affect the validity of the patent.

US 7741638 - This patent filed in 2005 for a control layer of a memory resistor for controlling electrochemical or electrophysical reaction paths. The claimed structure was earlier described by Macronix in 2003 (US 6873541) and by Sharp in 2003 (US 6972238).

US 7763880 - This patent filed in 2007 claims a 3-terminal ionic memory resistor but this concept was earlier described by NEC in 2004 (US 2006/0164880).

US 7902869 and US 7982504 - These patents filed in 2010 claim a 3D crossbar memory resistor circuit. The claimed structure was earlier described by Toshiba in 2003 for 3D phase change memory resistor crossbars (US 7335906).

US 7985962 - This patent filed in December of 2008 claims a memory resistor structure with a metal oxide electrode. This was earlier described by Samsung in US 7417271 filed in the US in January of 2007.

US 8063395 - This patent filed in 2009 claims an ionic memory resistor with an electrode formed of amorphous material. This was earlier described by AMD in US 6838720 filed in 2003.

IMEC
US 7960775 - This patent filed in 2008 claims a metal oxide memory resistor with an oxygen gradient. This was earlier described by Sharp in 2003 (US 6972238), IBM in 2006 (US 7569459), and Samsung in 2007 (US 7417271).

Micron Technology
US 6891749 - This patent filed in 2002 claims a memory resistor structure having electrodes with different electrochemical potential. This was earlier described by AMD in 2002 (US 6781868).

Panasonic
US 7369431 and US 7826247 - These patents filed in 2004 claims determining a relationship between voltage polarity and increase/decrease of resistance in a memory resistance cell. This was earlier described in 1994 for a synaptic memory resistance cell (US 5541869).

US 7577022 - This patent filed in 2005 claims a memory resistor structure having both variable resistance and diode characteristics. This was earlier described in Energy Conversion Devices in 1984 (US 4646266), Micron in 2002 (US 6891749), and Spansion in 2004 (US 7157732).

Samsung
US 7085154 and  US 7180771, - These patents filed in 2004 claims a method for setting the pulse width duration for programming a memory resistor. The claimed method was earlier described in 1994 for a synaptic memory resistance cell (US 5541869).

US 7400027 - This patent filed in 2005 claims a multilayer memory resistor cell with a resistance changing layer and a threshold switching layer. This was earlier disclosed by Energy Conversion Devices in 1985 (US 4597162) and again by Unity Semiconductor in 2003 (US 6870755).

US 7417271 - This patent filed in 2007 claims a multilayer oxide memory resistance cell. This was earlier described by Sharp in 2003 (US 6972238).

US 7656696 - This patent filed in 2006 claims a memory resistor with a resistor to control a switching window. The claimed structure was already described by Caltech researchers in US 4839859 in 1987.

US 7935952 - This patent filed in 2008 claims a memory resistor including a threshold switching resistor, an intermediate electrode, and a resistance changing layer. This was earlier described by Unity Semiconductor in 2002 (US 6753561) and by Sharp in 2003 (US 6849564).

US 8054672 - This patent filed in 2007 claims a chalcogenide memory resistor operating without phase change and with a limited electrode contact region. This was earlier described by Axon Technology in 2002 (US 6798692).

Sandisk
US 7733685 - This patent filed in 2008 claims a memory resistor structure sandwiched between distributed diodes. This was earlier described in 2006 (US 7378870).

US 8208282 - This patent with priority going back to 1998 claims a memory resistor cell including a vertically aligned steering element (e.g. diode) and state change element. This was earlier described by Energy Conversion Devices in 1991 (US 5296716).

Sony
US 7583525 - This patent filed in 2007 claims a method of driving a memory resistor by applying multiple voltage pulses to change the resistance state. The claimed method was earlier described in 1994 for a synaptic memory resistance cell (US 5541869).

Spansion
US 7183141 - This patent filed in 2004 claims a method of reversibly programming a memory resistor. This was earlier described by researchers at CalTech in 1990 (US 5272359).

US 7564708 - This patent filed in 2006 claims an ionic memory resistor including an active and passive layer. This was earlier described by Micron Technology in 2001 (US 6348365) and by AMD in 2003 (US 6864522).

US 7646624 - This patent filed in 2006 claims selecting an electrode material of a memory resistor to determine the on-state resistance. This was earlier described by Micron Technology in 2002 (US 6891749).

Unity Semiconductor
US 6870755 - This patent filed in 2003 claims a reversibly writable memory resistor. This was earlier described by Energy Conversion Devices such as in US 4597162 filed in 1985.

US 6906939 - This patent filed in 2003 claims a 3D stacked memory resistor array. This was earlier described by Energy Conversion Devices such as in US 5912839 filed in 1998.

In a new Perspectives piece in Science, my colleague +Dominique Brossard and I discuss the challenges and opportunities created by the constantly changing information environment modern science is currently facing.  Most importantly, we highlight examples of new empirical social science research that indicates that the interplay between audiences, science (journalism), and new modes of communication produces far more complex outcomes than many commentators (and scientists) initially assumed.

It would be naive to assume that communicating science online is about citizens consuming the equivalent of TV or newspapers through online channels.  Instead, we’re moving into a new world of audiences interacting with each other and with journalists to repurpose and reinterpret the content they encounter.  As a result, we’re no longer dealing with “mass” media in their traditional sense, but with messages that are socially contextualized through Facebook “likes,” retweets and reader comments (1).  Long story short, online communication about science produces a complex interplay of interpersonal exchanges, science journalism, and audience reactions that social scientists are only beginning to understand.

And the solution is not just about shifting more science content online.  We’re moving into an online environment that rapidly morphs blogs, microblogs, social media, web sites of traditional news outlets, video channels and a host of other tools of online communication into a constant stream of information and conversation.   Science needs to have an authoritative, fact-based voice across all of these channels, regardless of how dynamic they might be.  And it needs to enter the conversation with a clear understanding of how to best engage all members of society in a meaningful discussion about an increasingly complex set of scientific issues.

Unfortunately, the decline of traditional science journalism has to be a concern, in this context.  And news organizations are in the middle of sorting our new business models that allow them to create enough revenue online to produce high-quality science journalism.  NBC's Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log is just one successful example. But complementing science journalism with science information that is produced "by citizens for citizens" is not necessarily a bad thing.  Traditional news outlets, such as the New York Times or Nova Science, have never been targeting or able to reach general cross-section of the population with their science content.  As a result, recent research has shown widening gaps between the least- and most-educated strata of the population when exposed to similar types of traditional science content (2).  And some of the new forms of online communication about science that involve interactions among citizens, journalists and sometimes even scientists have in fact been shown to narrow knowledge gaps across different strata of society (2,3).

Similarly, the recent hype surrounding social media may be less than productive.  In fact, social media often produce “echo chambers,” as some researchers have called them (1).  As a result, Facebook groups or pages focused on science often preach to the already converted, i.e., those who like science in the first place.  And those folks tend to befriend others who are like them.  In other words, people tend to talk to people who think like them in social media environments, and social media don’t necessarily help communicators connect with many new audiences.  But again, solid social science research is only beginning to emerge, and it suggests that the processes surrounding science communication in social media environments is much more multifaceted than most of us would intuitively assume.

One thing is for certain: Traditional media will not remain traditional media for long.  They will be forced to reinvent themselves in this brave new world of communication.  We’re already seeing this for newspapers and TV stations who offer much of their content across platforms and with more and more audience involvement. We will also see new and creative ways of monetizing online content and therefore maintaining high quality (science) journalism.  But those models will only emerge if we rely on the insights from social science in fields, such as communication research, to help us understand how audiences use and interact with the information they find online.

Most commentators agree that media are in the midst of an intense period of change, but also argue that we should wait to see where the dust settles. Unfortunately, science journalism will not have that luxury.  We live in a (media) world where the dust is not going to settle for a long time.  What we really do need is a systematic collaboration between the sciences and social sciences to figure out how to use these new communication tools for a productive dialogue about science without some of the unintended consequences that our Perspectives piece is only beginning to hint at.


References:

(1)  Scheufele, D. A., & Nisbet, M. C. (2012). Online news and the demise of political debate. In C. T. Salmon (Ed.), Communication Yearbook (Vol. 36, pp. 45-53). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.) 

(2)  Cacciatore, M. A., Scheufele, D. A., & Corley, E. A. (forthcoming). Another (methodological) look at knowledge gaps and the Internet’s potential for closing them. Public Understanding of Science. doi: 10.1177/0963662512447606

(3)  Corley, E. A., & Scheufele, D. A. (2010). Outreach gone wrong? When we talk nano to the public, we are leaving behind key audiences. The Scientist, 24(1), 22. 


Additional Resources:

Slideshare presentation on the topic I gave last month at the 5. Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation in Dresden, Germany.









A Science and (New) Media primer (courtesy of UW-Madison's scimep lab; unless linked directly, reprints available upon request):

Anderson, A. A.; Brossard, D.; Scheufele, D. A. (forthcoming). Nanoparticle-related deaths: Science news and the issue attention cycle in print and online media. Politics and the Life Sciences.

Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Xenos, M., A.; Scheufele, D. A.; Ladwig, P. (forthcoming). Crude comments and concern: Online incivility's effect on risk perceptions of emerging technologies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

Cacciatore, M. A., Anderson, A. A., Choi, D.-H., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., Liang, X., Ladwig, P., Xenos, M., & Dudo, A. (2012). Coverage of emerging technologies: A comparison between print and online media. New Media & Society, 14(6), 1039-1059. doi: 10.1177/1461444812439061

Cacciatore, M. A., Scheufele, D. A., & Corley, E. A. (forthcoming). Another (methodological) look at knowledge gaps and the Internet’s potential for closing them. Public Understanding of Science.

Li, N., Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., (forthcoming). Channeling science information seekers' attention? A content analysis of top-ranked vs. lower-ranked sites in Google. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.

Liang, X., Anderson, A. A., Scheufele, D. A., Brossard, D., Xenos, M. A. (2012). Information snapshots: What Google searches really tell us about emerging technologies. Nano Today, 7, 72-75. doi: 10.1016/j.nantod.2012.01.001

Runge, K. K., Yeo, S. K., Cacciatore, M., Scheufele, D. A., Brossard, D., Xenos, M., Anderson, A. A., Choi, D. H., Kim, J., Li, N., Liang, X., Stubbings, M., & Su, L. Y. F. (forthcoming). Tweeting nano: How public discourses about nanotechnology develop in social media environments. Journal of Nanoparticle Research.

Xenos, M. A., Becker, A. B., Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A. (2011). Stimulating upstream engagement: An experimental study of nanotechnology information seeking. Social Science Quarterly, 92(5), 1191-1214. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00814.x

The following is a list of the most interesting nanotechnology patents this past year (in my opinion):

#10 - US 8093786 - Nanoscale piezoelectrics (Stevens Institute of Technology)

This patent teaches manufacturing piezoelectric nanofibers enabling the fabrication of nanoscale sensors and actuators.

#9 - US 8289352 - Erasable printing with nanoparticles (HJ Laboratories)

This patent teaches using nanomagnetic particles as an erasible ink in a printer.

#8 - US 8121162 - Nanocrystal laser (MIT)

This patent has priority going back to 2001 and includes some basic claims for nanocrystal coatings of diffraction gratings used for optical feedback in lasers.

#7 - US 8323976 - Genetic alteration using nanodiamonds (International Technology Center)

This patent includes basic claims reciting nanodiamonds as delivery particles used in ballistic DNA injection.

#6 - US 8113437 - "Memristor" RFID (Hynix SK)

Hynix SK is HP's manufacturing partner for a form of nanoscale ReRAM which HP (incorrectly) equates to the memristor theorized by Leon Chua in the 1970's. This is the first patent from Hynix mentioning memristors and may be indicative of the first commercial application.

#5 - US 8278757 - Printed graphene electronics (Vorbeck Materials Corp./Princeton University)

This patent incudes some basic claims for using graphene as an electrically conductive ink for printed electronics.

#4 - US 8182807 - Stroke treatment using nanoparticles (University of Nebraska)

Nanoparticles have a specific advantage in delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier and this patent (priority 2004) seems to include some basic claims important to this application.

#3 - US 8147791 - Graphene oxide reduction (Northrop Grumman Systems)

This patent includes basic claims to graphene production via the reduction of graphene oxide.

#2 - US 8323607 - High tensile strength CNT wire (Hon Hai Precision)

Carbon nanotubes have been measured to have the highest tensile strength of any material tested but in macroscopic and composite structures the collective tensile strength is greatly reduced. This patent includes some basic claims for carbon nanotube structures with a tensile strength which, while less than the highest measured value of individual nanotubes, is compatible with larger structures (i.e. wires, films) and is greater than that of steel.

#1 - US 8101149 - "Purified cage molecules consisting of carbon atoms" (Mitsubishi)

This could be the most important submarine patent relevant to nanotechnology. The priority goes back to 1990 and the patent may have a life extending to 2029 (assuming 17 years from issuance). The quote above recites in full the first claim indicating the importance of this patent to purified carbon nanomaterials.

I have made various public arguments over the past year about why Leon Chua and HP's "memristor" models are all hype rather than a legitimate scientific model for resistance switching (e.g. The Register, EETimes, New Scientist, Wired).  The response from Martin Reynolds, an electrical engineering analyst from Gartner, is that "..it doesn't matter how it works..". Recently Dr. Paul Meuffels also pointed out flaws in the memristor model and has commented to Chris Mellor of The Register that

  "We have shown by means of a thorough analysis in terms of electrochemistry that HP’s “memristor” model is misleading. Our arguments are based upon textbook electrochemistry and can be easily reproduced. There are no real devices which would operate in accordance with HP’s model because the model is by itself in conflict with fundamentals of electrochemistry. There seems to be no way out; otherwise, somebody would have tried to refute our argumentation in the meantime. Thus, HP’s memristor research group does not have found a realistic physical model for a working memristive device."

Violin Memory CTO Jon Bennet offered the response "If it works who cares?"

Now imagine if Violin Memory tried to manufacture flash memory arrays using incorrect models of transistors. Somehow I don't think that would work out too well for product development. In engineering good models are required to manufacture reliable products. The fact that Bennet (and others) do not fully grasp this point is illustrative of either their incompetence or an inability to grasp what the "memristor" argument is really about.

In response to my comments Chris Mellor created a topic on The Register Forum asking the question "Is HP delusional over its memristor technology and IP?" (link).

In a new essay in Breakthrough Journal +Matthew Nisbet and I examine the spiral of polarization that has reshaped politics in recent election cycles, and make an argument for a big “D” Democratic effort to overcome polarization, given the long-term problems that widening ideological rifts create for them.  

“As liberals, we tell a one-sided story about the complex causes of America's political paralysis. We blame the conservative movement, Fox News, libertarian billionaires, and the "do nothing" Republicans in Congress. Much of this story is true. … But there is plenty of blame to go around. Over the past decade, liberals have become more like conservatives, adopting a win-at-all-costs commitment to policy debates and elections. … 

The strategy has been dangerously misguided. Extreme polarization has served conservatives very well, driving moderate leaders from politics, promoting feelings of cynicism, inefficacy, and distrust among the public, and forcing Democrats to spend huge sums of money on canvassing, texting, social media, and celebrity appeals in order to turn out moderates, young people, and minorities on election day. Less clear is how America's escalating ideological arms race will conceivably serve liberals. Instead of going to war against the Right, liberals will better serve their social and political objectives by waging a war on polarization.”

Read the full article from Breakthrough Journal here.

It appears that some in the scientific community are beginning to catch on to the problems of HP's "memristor" models. A recent preprint was posted in arXiv by Paul Meuffels and Rohit Soni criticizing Leon Chua and HP's memristor framework on the grounds that it does not obey the "no energy discharge property" and is not consistent with principles of thermodynamics (link). Dr. Meuffels co-authored an earlier paper in Applied Physics A pointing out an incorrect assumption about ionic conductivity by the HP Labs group in one of their early memristor papers (link).

Back in 2010 I was invited to speak at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems during a special session on memristors. At the time I noted some of the inconsistencies with HP's and Chua's arguments including that it is not properly considered a fourth fundamental circuit element and it was never missing as claimed by Chua (link). Last year I also posted a paper on arXiv pointing to more realistic dynamic systems models for thin film resistance switching devices (link). Hopefully the efforts of Dr. Meuffels and others will be constructive to move beyond the hype of HP and Chua and open the doors for more realistic models applicable to ReRAM and other resistance switching technologies.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8233017.html

Xerox continues its efforts in using nanostructured materials to improve the operability of electrophotographic printers. This latest patent teaches using graphene or carbon nanotubes in forming an electrostatic image for smaller, more energy efficient printers. Claim 1 reads:

1. An electrostatic latent image generator comprising:

a substrate;

an array of pixels disposed over the substrate, wherein each pixel of the array of pixels comprises a layer of one or more nano-carbon materials, and wherein each pixel of the array of pixels is electrically isolated and is individually addressable; and

a charge transport layer disposed over the array of pixels, wherein the charge transport layer comprises a surface disposed opposite to the array of pixels, and wherein the charge transport layer is configured to transport holes provided by the one or more pixels to the surface.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8232722.html

This patent from MIT teaches using nanocrystals to form an LED structure including a lightly doped layer to improve the efficiency of photon generation. Claim 1 reads:

1. A light emitting device comprising:

a first charge transporting layer including a first inorganic material in contact with a first electrode arranged to introduce charge in the first charge transporting layer;

a second electrode;

a plurality of colloidally-grown semiconductor nanocrystals disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode; and

a lightly doped layer proximal to the nanocrystals, wherein the lightly doped layer is doped in an amount effective to minimize non-radiative losses due to exciton quenching by unbound charge carriers in the transporting layer.

It is no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I oppose the hype surrounding HP's memristor. A recent online article in Wired covers some of my concerns (link).

However, even for those who support the memristor hype I would recommend caution when using the term "memristor" in the claims of patent applications. The original definition of the memristor from Chua required a non-linear relationship between magnetic flux linkage and electric charge. HP's definition from their 2008 article in Nature suggested that thin films of metal oxides may be considered memristors if there was a linear relationship between the drift of oxygen vacancies in the thin film and an applied current (or voltage). The problem is that this linearity is not true for most resistance switching materials. If an inventor or corporation uses the term "memristor" to limit their claims they face two potential problems if they try to enforce their patent.

1) The claims may be held invalid under 35 USC 112 for lack of enablement if the materials taught in the specification do not support linearity between oxygen vacancy (or ion) drift and the applied current (or voltage).

2) During a Markman hearing the claims may be limited to only a specific type of material (such as TiO2 as described by HP) even though many other resistance switching materials may be used in the invention.

So for those who choose to use the "memristor" term in their patent claims it is a much better strategy to reserve the term for a dependent claim while using more generic terminology for independent claims (e.g. memory resistor, programmable resistor, etc.) Also, it would be advisable to include alternatives in the specification based on the known types of materials exhibiting memory resistance effects (chalcogenides, perovskites, etc.) rather than limiting to the specific memristor term.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8232074.html

This patent from Cellectricon teaches nanoelectrode arrays performing high-throughput electrophysiological recordings for drug discovery. Claim 1 reads:

1. A microfluidic system comprising:

a) at least one measurement chamber wherein the measurement chamber comprises walls and a base;

b) at least one hollow nanotip protruding from the walls or base of the measurement chamber and having an aperture at an end of the nanotip; and

c) at least one microchannel connected to the measurement chamber, the microchannel having at least one inlet positioned to receive an aqueous solution and at least one outlet positioned to deliver the aqueous solution into the measurement chamber.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8231770.html

Carbon nanotubes have been proposed to produce actuators with a greater energy density per mass but such actuators are difficult to produce since the nanotubes are expensive and are not available in 3D shapes which limits applicability. This patent from Lawrence Livermore National Security instead teaches using a nanoporous carbon material which may be used for molding 3D actuator structures at lower cost than carbon nanotube materials. Claim 1 reads:

1. An electrochemically driveable actuator, comprising:

a nanoporous carbon aerogel composition capable of exhibiting charge-induced reversible strain when wetted by an electrolyte and a voltage is applied thereto.                             

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8231013.html

Growth in industrialization has led to a increased demands on freshwater supplies and an increased interest in wastewater recycling. This patent from the Research Foundation of the State University of New York teaches a way to use nanomaterials to form a water filtration system having a high permeation rate and a reduced fouling rate compared to filtration systems currently available. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article comprising:

a fibrous support comprising nanofibers, the fibrous support having a thickness from 5 μm to about 50 μm; and

an interfacially polymerized polymer layer disposed on a surface of the fibrous support,

wherein the interfacially polymerized polymer layer further comprises at least one hydrophilic or hydrophobic nanoparticulate filler.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8228575.html

This patent from Verizon Patent and Licensing appears to me a little bit dubious in terms of enablement but suggests that it is possible to create 3D holographic images using iron-doped nanotubes (referred to as "nanomachines" in the claims) controlled by an electromagnetic field. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method, comprising:

receiving information representative of an image;

calculating vector points representative of points on the image;

calculating information indicative of the quantity of nanomachines needed to create a holographic representation of the image;

calculating axis-specific vector data; and

transmitting vector data and nanomachine instruction data to a display device, wherein an electromagnetic field is generated from the transmitted vector and nanomachine instruction data.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8227979.html

The color of quantum dots is determined by both the semiconductor material and the size of the quantum dots. This patent from Samsung teaches how to create customized LEDs with a color matching any physical material by properly selecting a population of quantum dots. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method comprising:

detecting a color of a material;

converting the color to an RGB/CMYK value; and

matching the color comprising:

mixing at least one population of a quantum dot into a matrix material; and

placing the mixture on a light emitting diode to convert a light output of the light emitting diode to a color matching the color of the material.                             

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8227957.html

This patent from Samsung teaches the use of piezoelectric nanowires in an auxiliary power source for mobile devices which can convert light or mechanical energy into electrical energy. Claim 1 reads:

1. An apparatus for generating electrical energy, comprising:

a first electrode;

a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode;

a nanowire which includes a piezoelectric material and is disposed on the first electrode;

an active layer disposed on the first electrode;

a conductive layer disposed on the active layer; and

an insulating film disposed between the conductive layer and the nanowire, wherein the nanowire and the active layer are electrically connected to each other.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8227817.html

The light production of conventional solid state LEDs is limited to a planar growth layer so that a considerable amount of produced light will not contribute to illumination. This patent from QuNano teaches a nanostructured approach which includes bulb structures on vertical nanowires to improve the illumination efficiency. Claim 1 reads:

1. Upstanding nanostructured LED comprising a substrate and a nanowire protruding from the substrate, wherein a bulb is arranged in connection with the nanowire and at an elevated position with regards to the substrate, the bulb having a larger diameter than the nanowire, and the bulb comprising an active region to produce visible or longer wavelength light, wherein a distance from a lower end of the bulb to the substrate is equal to or greater than a quarter of a wavelength of the light emitted by the LED.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8226863.html

This patent from Empire Technology Development teaches a way to manufacture nanoporous surfaces which may be useful for culturing cells and emulating biological organs. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for producing a three-dimensional product having a nanoporous surface, the method comprising:

preparing a yarn having a surface consisting of a material in which a plurality of nanoparticles is dispersed in a matrix;

knitting or weaving the yarn to form a knitted fabric or a woven fabric; and

immersing the knitted fabric or the woven fabric in a liquid which dissolves the nanoparticles but does not dissolve the matrix.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8226015.html

This patent based on U.S. Naval research teaches a method of preparing nanocrystals for applications as biological tags so as to distinguish between concurrent cellular events. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of preparing optical barcodes, comprising:

combining a plurality of populations of quantum dots with quantities of a modulator of photoluminescence to produce a plurality of optical barcodes,

wherein the plurality of optical barcodes have at least two distinguishable colors arising from varying quantities of a modulator of photoluminescence bound to the populations of quantum dots,

wherein the modulator of photoluminescence acts to quench or enhance photoluminescence.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8225704.html

A variety of proposals have been made over the years for the use of carbon nanotubes to achieve stronger and lighter armor. This latest patent come from NanoRidge Materials and teaches pressure and heat treatment of a ceramic/nanotube mixture to form the armor. Claim 1 reads:

1. Armor comprising ceramic material, the ceramic material having therein transformed nanotube material, the transformed nanotube material produced by subjecting a matrix of the ceramic material and nanotube material to sufficient pressure and sufficient heat to transform the nanotube material, at least one layer of ballistic fabric connected to the ceramic material, the at least one layer of ballistic fabric containing carbon nanotubes.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8222190.html

This latest patent from Nanotek Instruments teaches an improved lubricant based on graphene. Claim 1 reads:

1. A lubricant composition having improved lubricant properties, comprising:

(a) a lubricating fluid; and

(b) nano graphene platelets dispersed in said fluid,

wherein said nano graphene platelets have a proportion of 0.001% to 75% by weight based on the total weight of the fluid and the graphene platelets combined.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8221934.html

This patent from GM Global teaches an improved catalyst layer for a fuel cell electrode based on titania and ionic nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A fuel cell component comprising:

an electrode having a non-carbon support material comprising nanotubes of titania and nanotubes of an ion conducting ionomer.                             

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8221716.html

Conventional carbon nanotube production processes require high temperatures and low pressure environments and produce unwanted byproducts. This patent from Samsung teaches a new way to manufacture single walled carbon nanotubes at room temperature and atmospheric pressure while reducing unwanted carbon byproducts. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes, the method comprising:

forming a solution including an organometallic compound containing catalyst particles and a solvent; adding at least one support to the solution; and

applying radiation to the solution to which the at least one support is added, after adding the at least one support to the solution,

wherein the carbon nanotubes are synthesized on a surface of the at least one support by applying the radiation to the solution and wherein the radiation includes one of ultrasonic and electromagnetic waves.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8221715.html

Carbon nanotubes are usually in the p-doped state after being prepared because electron depletion occurs due to the use of an acid for the removal of the metal catalysts used in growing the nanotubes. This patent from Samsung teaches a method for n-doping the nanotubes using reducing agents and thus enables the creation of bipolar electronics from nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for n-doping of carbon nano-tubes comprising:

n-doping carbon nano-tubes with a carbon nano-tube n-doping material comprising a compound containing at least two pyridinium derivatives in its molecular structure, the compound being in a reduced form thereof.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8220068.html

Scanning probe microscopes are used to analyze semiconductor features on a nanoscale. In order to analyze 3D surfaces and trenches carbon nanotubes have been used as the tips of the scanning probes but it is difficult to mass produce nanotube tipped probes. This patent from IBM teaches a micromachining method for producing nanowire tipped probes so as to facilitate mass production. Claim 1 reads:

1. A structure comprising an array of scanning probes located on a semiconductor wafer, each scanning probe of said array is orientated in a same direction on said semiconductor wafer and comprises:

a cantilever having a bottommost surface on an upper surface of said semiconductor wafer;

a micromachined single-crystal pyramid formed on said cantilever; and

a single-crystal nanowire extending from a top portion of said pyramid, wherein said nanowire is epitaxial with respect to said single-crystal pyramid.                             

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8218930.html

Fiber optic technology is critical to operations in spacecraft such as the International Space Station and in military aircraft and submarines. Cracks or fatigue in the optical fiber can lead to catastrophic failure in these systems. This patent teaches using a carbon nanotube coating as a hermetic seal against moisture to increase the reliability of optical fibers. Claim 1 reads:

1. An optical fiber assembly comprising:

an optical fiber; and

a film surrounding the optical fiber, the film comprising a nanomaterial,

wherein the film is a nanocomposite film comprising the nanomaterial, and wherein the nanomaterial comprises a carbon nanotube material.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8217366.html

It has been reported that carbon ions are 2.8 times higher in cancer cell kill rate than protons and are 2.5 times lower in cancer recurrence rate than X-rays or protons. This patent from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute teaches a nanotechnology approach to generating high purity carbon ions which may my enable the use of carbon ion sources in cancer therapy. Claim 1 reads:

1. A carbon ion generating device comprising:

a carbon nanostructure;

a carbon emitting structure configured to induce an emission of carbon atoms from one end of the carbon nanostructure; and

an ionizing structure configured to ionize the emitted carbon atoms;

a top electrode disposed adjacent to the one end of the carbon nanostructure;

a bottom electrode connected to the other end of the carbon nanostructure; and

a power supply unit configured to create a first potential difference between the top electrode and the bottom electrode.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8217108.html

NaturalNano, Inc. is a company developing new nanomaterials for industrial polymers, plastics and composites, additives to cosmetics, agricultural, and household products. This latest patent teaches a composite that improves the binding of clay nanotubes to a polymer matrix. Claim 1 reads:

1. A polymeric nanoparticle composite, comprising:

a polymer matrix; and

a tubular clay filler consisting essentially of surface modified mineral nanotubes,

wherein said mineral nanotubes include at least one compatibilization agent.

European soccer champioship in Poland and Ukraine should attract thousands of visitors interested in Ukrainian architecture and places to see.

In many cases, our views of reality are not based on personal experience.  We find politicians personable or despicable, even though we have never met them in person.  And we feel intimately familiar with landmarks in foreign countries even though we have never visited them.  For many of us, the same is true for scientists working in a lab.  We have mental images of how they act or what they look like, even though few of us have never been in a lab watching a scientist at work. The tricky part: Many of those images may have little to do with reality.

With an eye toward the 2012 election cycle, my colleague Matthew C. Nisbet at American and I recently summarized some of the recent trends in how journalists and audiences use new (social) media and what it means for the political process.  Here are a few excerpts from the pre-publication version of a chapter we wrote for the next volume of Communication Yearbook:

[Excerpt from:  Scheufele, D. A., & Nisbet, M. C. (forthcoming). Online news and the demise of political debate. In C. T. Salmon (Ed.), Communication Yearbook (Vol. 36). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. | PDF]

[W]ith more Americans saying that they get their news on a daily basis from online sources than from local newspapers (Purcell, Rainie, Mitchell, Rosenstiel, & Olmstead, 2010), the presentation, selection, and availability of news is no longer chiefly controlled by journalists.  Nor is the primary goal to attract diverse audiences to a hierarchically organized portfolio of coverage defined by an entire broadcast or newspaper edition. Instead, the objective is to lure a combination of habitual and incidental news consumers to specific online stories by way of search engines, aggregators, and social networks.  This strategy allows news organizations to maximize page views while also tracking and selling personal information about consumers via third party partners such as Facebook.  At least three related trends enable this goal.  

a. Opinionated news and niche audiences:  The proliferation of niche cable channels such as MSNBC and Fox News and highly specialized online information environments such as Huffington Post or The Daily Caller have led to an increasing fractionalization of news choices and audiences.  Driven by commercial concerns, much of this fractionalization has occurred along partisan fault lines.  Or as Rachel Maddow put it: “Opinion-driven media makes the money that politically neutral media loses.” (Maddow, 2010, p. 22).  And as more recent research shows, these fragmented news environments have the potential to produce more apathy among some segments of the electorate and more partisan polarization across the population overall (Prior, 2007). 

b. Algorithms as editors:  The increasing shift toward online presentation of news, even among traditional news outlets, has also provided media organizations with new real-time metrics of audience preference and the ability to make decisions about news selection and placement based on these metrics.  This use of “algorithms as editors” (Peters, 2010) is not without pitfalls. Increasing the influence that reader preferences have on story selection and placement also increases the likelihood of a spiral of mutual reinforcement.  In other words, stories that readers selectively attend to will be placed more prominently on news(paper) web sites, which – in turn – increases the odds of readers finding them in the first place.  This makes it easy for readers to select content based on popularity, interest, or political identity; opting out of the professional hierarchy of front page headlines and lead stories that might appear in a printed newspaper or broadcast.

c. Self-reinforcing search and tagging spirals: This notion of reinforcing spirals is exacerbated in online search environments where search engine rankings and search suggestions can heavily influence the overall information infrastructure. The process depends not only on the algorithms used by search engines but also on the tagging and optimization strategies pursued by news content providers, aggregators, bloggers, and interest groups (Hindman, 2009).  Examining the presentation of scientific information online, Ladwig and colleagues (Ladwig, Anderson, Brossard, Scheufele, & Shaw, 2010), for example, found that the “suggest” function in Google’s search results often did not correspond to the online information environment that was available to audiences (based on systematic analyses of the complete population of web sites and blogs).  As a result, the guidance provided by Google search suggestions is likely to disproportionally drive traffic, regardless of the content available, and create a self-reinforcing spiral that reduces the complexity and diversity of the information that citizens encounter online (Ladwig, Anderson, Brossard, Scheufele, & Shaw, 2010).

 

... Many of these more media-centric filters work in tandem with individual-level behaviors and choices.  Prior’s (2007) hypotheses about the polarizing effects of increasing channel diversity, for instance, are based heavily on the assumption that individuals actively make choices about the content (news vs. entertainment) that they attend to.  But the social texture that is developing in web 2.0 information environments produces a communication landscape in which at least two new modes of audience-centric selectivity that are likely to influence news choices. 

a. Automated selectivity: In online environments, news portals and aggregator sites allow for highly effective individual pre-selection of the information that reaches us. iGoogle, myYahoo and other news aggregators allow audiences to selectively receive and attend to news items, based on a set of fine-grained filters that can include medium, outlet, content, author and a host of other pre-defined criteria.  In contrast, visitors to the landing page for online newspapers may be able to skim or skip stories that they disagree with or find boring, but they will have a hard time making a selective choice without at least briefly glancing at the lead or headline.  Portals and other news aggregators – in contrast – will make sure that some stories never even reach our computer screen. Smart phones, tablets and other portable devices make it easier to skim and select when consuming news, creating further incentives for news organizations to cater to this selectivity in their design of mobile applications.

b. Networks as filters: This individual-level set of filters, however, is being complemented by maybe even more effective social filters. Based on a series of experiments about online information use patterns in various social settings, Messing and colleagues (2011), for example, predict that “social information, and especially personal recommendations, will emerge as the most important explanatory factor shaping both the media environment to which an individual is exposed, and the content that the individual chooses to view” (p. 29). 

And the notion of networks as selective filters may be more prevalent than we think. Seventy-five percent of online news consumers now say they get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites (Purcell et al., 2010), i.e., information that is passed along and preselected by people who are strongly likely to share their worldviews and preferences.  And much of this information is not presented in an isolated news environment, similar to traditional newspapers or television broadcasts, but instead is socially contextualized almost immediately by a host of reader comments, Facebook “like” buttons, and indicators of how often a story has been re-tweeted.

The potential effects of such social-level contextualization on individual news selection are less clear, and two competing hypotheses can be put forth ... The first hypothesis suggests that we may be moving toward a society where we are less and less exposed to (and less and less used to) disagreement and viewpoints that are different from our own.  Highly like-minded and homophilic networks, in other words, may exacerbate the effects of individual-level selectivity and produce an even more fine-grained filter for incoming information.  The result would be a very pronounced spiral of self-reinforcing attitude polarization ... Journalists and other professional groups such as scientists are likely to be part of this attitude polarization; since these groups tend to be disproportionately like-minded in their political outlook, are heavier users of online news sources and social media; and face greater demands on their time in managing and using information (Besley & Nisbet, forthcoming; Donsbach, 2004).  

A number of recent studies, however, provide some preliminary evidence for a more optimistic hypothesis. It is based on the assumption that friendship networks may often be more politically diverse than the individuals in these networks perceive them to be.  In other words, “friends disagree more than they think they do” (Goel, Mason, & Watts, 2010, p. 611). This also means that socially homophilic networks may be characterized by more political diversity than we often assume.  Messing et al (2011), in fact, infer that socially-networked information environments can “create at least marginally more cross-cutting exposure to political information” (p. 30) than situations where individuals select news items without additional social cues.  

It remains to be seen if these findings are replicated in future work and socially-networked information environments can in fact increase exposure to non-likeminded views.  If they do, they could produce some of the same beneficial outcomes that we outlined in our work on heterogeneous face-to-face networks (Scheufele et al., 2006; Scheufele et al., 2004) ... It is clear that communication researchers have only begun to fill in parts of a large grid of research questions which will have to be answered in the near future. …  Whatever the answers may be that we as a discipline provide, they will have important implications for how we conceptualize and measure communication effects, effectively design online media, educate professionals and the public, and regulate media content and platforms. But more importantly, they will raise normative questions about the future of a media system that – driven by media-centric or audience-centric shifts – no longer provides a commonly shared and professionally defined hierarchy of stories and ideas.

References: 

Abramowitz, A. (2009).  The disappearing center.  New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 

Bennett, W. L., & Iyengar, S. (2008). A new era of minimal effects? The changing foundations of political communication. Journal of Communication, 58(4), 707-731. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2008.00410.x 

Besley, J., &; Nisbet, M. (forthcoming). How scientists view the public, the media and the political process. Public Understanding of Science. First published online August 30, 2011 as doi:10.1177/0963662511418743.  

Bishop, B., & Cushing, R. (2008).  The big sort: Why the clustering of like-minded America is tearing us apart.  New York: Houghton Mifflin. 

Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., Kim, E., & Lewenstein, B. V. (2009). Religiosity as a perceptual filter: Examining processes of opinion formation about nanotechnology. Public Understanding of Science, 18(5), 546–558. doi: 10.1177/0963662507087304

Donsbach, W. (1991). Medienwirkung trotz Selektion: Einflussfaktoren auf die Zuwendung zu Zeitungsinhalten [Media effects despite selection: Influences on attention to newspaper content]. Köln, Germany: Böhlau. 

Donsbach, W. (2004). Psychology of news decisions. Journalism, 5(2), 131. 

Downie, L. & Schudson, M. (2009, Oct. 19). The reconstruction of American journalism. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.cjr.org/reconstruction/the_reconstruction_of_american.php?page=all. 

Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). The structure of foreign news. Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64-91.  

Gans, H. (1979). Deciding what’s news New York: Pantheon Books. 

Goel, S., Mason, W., & Watts, D. J. (2010). Real and perceived attitude agreement in social networks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(4), 611-621. doi: 10.1037/a0020697 

Hindman, M. (2009). The Myth of Digital Democracy. Princeton, NJ: University Press. 

Ho, S. S., Brossard, D., & Scheufele, D. A. (2008). Effects of value predispositions, mass media use, and knowledge on public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 20(2), 171-192.  

Kim, E., Scheufele, D. A., & Han, J. Y. (2011). Structure or predisposition? Exploring the interaction effect of discussion orientation and discussion heterogeneity on political participation. Mass Communication & Society, 14(4), 502-526. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2010.51346 

Kunda, Z. (1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108(3), 480-498. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480 

Ladwig, P., Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., & Shaw, B. (2010). Narrowing the nano discourse? Materials Today, 13(5), 52-54. doi: 10.1016/s1369-7021(10)70084-5 

Maddow, R. (2010). Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics [transcript]. Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University.  Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/prizes_lectures/th_white_lecture/transcripts/th_white_2010_maddow.pdf 

McLeod, J. M., Scheufele, D. A., & Moy, P. (1999). Community, communication, and participation: The role of mass media and interpersonal discussion in local political participation. Political Communication, 16(3), 315-336. 

McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 415-444. doi: 10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415 

Messing, S., Westwood, S. J., & Lelkes, Y. (2011). Online media effects: Social, not political, reinforcement. Unpublished manuscript. Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/~messing/PopRecSrcNews2.pdf 

Mutz, D. C. (2002a). The consequences of cross-cutting networks for political participation. American Journal of Political Science, 46(4), 838-855.  

Mutz, D. C. (2002b). Cross-cutting social networks: Testing democratic theory in practice. American Political Science Review, 96(1), 111-126.  

Nisbet, M. C. (2005). The competition for worldviews: Values, information, and public support for  stem cell research.  International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 17(1), 90-112. 

Nisbet, M. C. & Scheufele, D. A. (2004).  Political talk as a catalyst for online citizenship.  Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(4), 877-896. 

Peters, J. W. (2010, July 5, 2010). At Yahoo, using searches to steer news coverage, The New York Times, p. B1. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/business/media/05yahoo.html 

Prior, M. (2007). Post-broadcast democracy: How media choice increases inequality in political involvement and polarizes elections. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. 

Purcell, K., Rainie, L., Mitchell, A., Rosenstiel, T., & Olmstead, K. (2010). Understanding the participatory news consumer. Pew Internet & American Life Project.  Retrieved August 10, 2010, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Online-News.aspx. 

Scheufele, D. A. (2011). Modern citizenship or policy dead end? Evaluating the need for public participation in science policy making, and why public meetings may not be the answer. Paper #R-34, Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy Research Paper Series. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. Retrieved from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/publications/papers/research_papers/r34_scheufele.pdf 

Scheufele, D. A., Hardy, B. W., Brossard, D., Waismel-Manor, I. S., & Nisbet, E. (2006). Democracy based on difference: Examining the links between structural heterogeneity, heterogeneity of discussion networks, and democratic citizenship. Journal of Communication, 56(4), 728-753.  

Scheufele, D. A., & Nisbet, M. C. (2002). Being a citizen online - New opportunities and dead ends. Harvard International Journal of Press-Politics, 7(3), 55-75.  

Scheufele, D. A., Nisbet, M. C., & Brossard, D. (2003). Pathways to participation? Religion, communication contexts, and mass media. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 15(3), 300-324. 

Scheufele, D. A., Nisbet, M. C., Brossard, D., & Nisbet, E. C. (2004). Social structure and citizenship: Examining the impacts of social setting, network heterogeneity, and informational variables on political participation. Political Communication, 21(3), 315-338.  

Tuchman, G. (1978). Making news: A study in the construction of reality. New York, NY: The Free Press. 

Vallone, R. P., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the Beirut massacre. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 577-585.  

White, D. M. (1950). The 'gatekeeper':  A case study in the selection of news. Journalism Quarterly, 27(3), 383-390. 

Molecules can be delivered through a tiny channel templated by one strand of DNA.

Here's the article.

The developers are using this to deliver precise amounts of chemicals through the membrane of individual cells. This is highly cool, with all sorts of research implications. And eventually, perhaps therapeutic implications - they're talking about scaling it up to process 100,000 cells at a time.

So I got to wondering: If someone loaded up these reservoirs with two kinds of molecules, that would stick to each other but not to themselves, could this be used as an ink-jet printer at the nanoscale?

For starters, use one kind of molecule that will stick to a surface. Squirt it on and see if it worked. Then, scan the tip while you squirt.

Once you start using multiple kinds of molecules, you can perhaps build 3D structures. And with a patterned surface, it might be possible to get atomic precision.

With a million addressible reservoirs, and 10 ms per 1-nm voxel, it would be possible to build the volume of a human cell in a few hours.

Hat tip to Next Big Future.

Chris Phoenix

$MTEntryPermalink$>')+'&title='+encodeURIComponent('$MTEntryTitle$>'), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" target="_blank" title="Bookmark and Share">

The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters just posted my talk from last week on the political and societal impacts of nanotechnology:

"Recent scientific breakthroughs, such as nanotechnology, are changing the world as we know it. Gold nanoshells, for both imaging and targeting tumors, have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatments. At the same time, nanotechnology has raised concerns about what it means to create and manipulate materials at the molecular scale that do not occur in nature. With over 1,000 nano-based consumer end products entering the market in the past few years, consumer advocates, academics, and policy makers are scrambling to weigh the risks and benefits of this new technology and its applications. How do we form opinions even though most of us lack a comprehensive scientific understanding of emerging scientific fields? How do we use our personal values and moral standards to make sense of scientific facts? And why does all of this matter for the global leadership role of the U.S.--both economically and technologically--in a rapidly changing post 9-11world? Join Dietram Scheufele at the 2011 Wisconsin Science Festival for a crash course on making sense of breakthrough technologies that have the potential to transform virtually all aspects of our everyday lives."

Academy Evenings with Dietram Scheufele from Jason A. Smith on Vimeo