Nano Mona Lisa

Much in the same fashion as the nanoguitar, which was made in 1997 by the Cornell NanoFabrication Lab, scientist have continued the craze of real, tiny objects by making a nano Mona Lisa, where each pixel is 125nm in width and length..

Mona Lisa

This Mona Lisa, which is 30 microns in width, was made by controlling the number of molecules in each pixel. They did this by either heating each pixel (which would increase the concentration and make a lighter cool) or decreasing the temperature (which would do the opposite). 

This has been concluded to being the easiest way to manipulate molecules, nanoparticles, and other materials. It is also advantageous because atomic force microscopes (which were used in making it) are fairly common, making this an effective method in industrial and educational labs.

(Source)

ALD NanoSolutions

This company is the heart of Nanotechnology and everything that it stands for. This company is presenting ideas that were not thought to be possible a few years ago, and is creating jobs that did not exist before.
ALD NanoSolutions makes individual atoms adhere to themselves and other atoms, at our will. This obviously opens the possibility of using properties only available at the nanoscale. Normally, this process takes a long time, but ALD has perfected the procedure, and is now able to do it almost instantly, by utilizing gas deposited and reactions. They are able to make aluminum oxide, a nanoparticle that is capable of blocking UV radiation (so it is used for sunscreens),  of being used as a catalyst, cosmetics, paint, as an abrasive, and as a way to remove water from a gas stream. They make the particle by layering an aluminum compound onto an oxygen containing compound, and do so sereveral times to make an atomically thin sheet.

The Process

  

Resource: NanoTechnology Resource map

This is an excellent resource for those interested in going into nanotechnologies. It is a map created by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and is useful to find the number of Nanotechnology programs in your individual State. Specifically, it says the number of PHD, Master, Bachelor, programs and the Schools and Training Programs, NNI Centers and Networks of Excellence Regional, State, and Local Initiatives in Nanotechnology.
The Website is: http://nanodashboard.nano.gov/nanomaps/map.aspx

Quantum computing; D-wave

As many people are beginning to realize, the future of computing lies in the utilization of quantum properties.

Traditional computers like macs and PCs run using bits, which can either be a 1 or a 0, to store or process information. In the past we have increased the speed of our computers by creating hardware that can move and decode these strings of bits faster than before.

However, computers that run in this fashion are beginning to reach a limitation in crunching numbers and finding the best solution to a problem because of one factor; the computer needs to run every single possible outcome, one after another, and then compare to see which was the best solution. Quantum computing solves this problem because an electron, and every other subatomic particle, has the property of being in two places at once when not being directly observed. This is proven by the double slit experiment (read more on this).

Due to the fact that a subatomic particle can be in two places at once, there is now a gray area for the quantum computing world. With this gray area, quantum computers reject the traditional, on/off, yes/no, up/down approach, and embrace the ability to be both up and down, both 1 and 0. Thus, in principle, a quantum computer is able to run many of the possibilities at the same time, instead of one by one.

Whereas traditional computers use bits to store pieces of information, quantum computers use a qubit. Originally, developers aimed for quantum computers to work in the same style as traditional computers, with the sole difference being the possibility of checking multiple solutions at once. However, this early idea failed to be conceived with accuracy because the qubits were so sensitive to changes in the world around it (such as movement and temperature changes).

This was cleverly solved through the creation of "adiabatic quantum computing", which, instead of solving for a solution, solves for the best answer to a problem with certain criteria. For example, it would find the most energetically efficient way to fold a protein where (criteria) various amino acids attract or repel each other.

In 2007, a company called D-wave launched the first quantum computer ever that used this technique. This prototype used only 16 qubits, but was still powerful enough to search a database of molecules to find a molecule similar to a given drug. Today, D-wave has not doubled or tripled the computer's processing power, but made it 32 times faster. It now uses 512 qubits. This quantum computer, called the D-wave two, is now on the market and commercial. A model has already been bought by Google.

The D-Wave two is housed in a 10x10 meter room. The quantum chip itself is the size of a finger nail. The rest of the space is taken up by cooling systems.

The company hopes to double its computers' processing power every year. Everybody is hopeful that these quantum computers will take over our classical computers in the very near future.

(source: Nature, June 20 edition, pages 286-288)

Like many others I believe that this is a huge step to the near future of powerful computers. There is much work to be done, though, before the average american can have a quantum computer. This is especially true for the cooling industries, as that is what is taking up all the space in the machines. if it is not possible to shrink the cooling systems, it is obvious that we should find a way to utilize the quantum chips at room temperature. Despite these obstacles, I am confident that we will overcome these challenges with time, and I hope that there will soon be a day where we can have quantum chips in our cell phones; or even embedded in our brains (to either have a super mobile device or to elevate our brain capacity.