Aug 05
A new generation of nanotech fabrics is hitting the market. Fabrics with embedded nanoparticles to detect counterfeiting devices, explosives and dangerous chemicals or to serve as antibacterials for hospitals, law enforcement or the hospitality industry are just a few of the products that a new company, launched by two Cornell researchers, will produce. The company …
Jul 10
Catalytic Clothing is a fashion innovation that’s meant to clean the air using nanotechnology. Professor and designer Helen Storey and scientist Tony Ryan have collaborated to add a photocatalytic process to fabric. This process requires Titanium Oxide and UV Light. When these two interact, the combination aggressively breaks down volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde and ammonia, turning them into carbon dioxide …
Sep 24
Ineke Malsch, with the support of nanopodium, has put together six, five minute interviews with opinion makers as part as the nanorights and peace project. They’re meant to be part of the Dutch public’s conversation about nanotech. I’ve posted one here, about nanotech and defense, and the rest can be viewed here. The others are about water purification, solar …
Aug 30
So humans can invent a fleet of autonomous solar-powered, sea-swarm robots made “with ultra-light nanowire mesh that can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil” and use these to clean up an oil spill in 30 days but we can’t figure out a way to actually use solar power to meet our energy …
Mar 06
I disapprove of all wheeled transport. It’s bad enough to contend with joggers treating our side-walks like a track-field but, when you add wheels to these twits, it makes one feel as if some steampunk, cyborg circus is in town. Whether travelling upon roller-blades, skateboards or bicycles, these people must think they’re a bunch of …
Nov 28
When one hears the term “omniphobic microhoodoo” it’s quite natural to think of tiny witchdoctors who are afraid of everything. And that isn’t too far off. Superhydrophobicity is the quality that allows water to bead up on a surface. You might say that the lady’s cheeks in the Man Ray picture are superhydrophobic. Or you …
Sep 21
pic nicked from here Scientists have discovered that gold-painted stained glass windows are actually “a photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst.“ That is, they clean the air. And not just of the sulfurous reek of your sins but of real stuff too. Like little chemical demons. Besides the 110% Super-Lucky Jesus-Power found in church …
Sep 15
Aliens are everywhere. We’ve all seen them. Eating their outlandish food when they should be picking our fruit, taking their naps when they should be cleaning our pools, wearing odd hats and driving their threatening vehicles. Sometimes they look at our women. Sometimes they are our women. Mainly they clean stuff for very little money. …
Sep 14
It would figure. I finally finished painting my room. Then I hear that scientists are developing a nanotech paint that will murder antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The trick, it turns out, is not to scare these things with a big picture of Adolph Hitler –that only works on some women– but to expose the titanium dioxide, which …
Jan 02
Scientists are hoping that they can artificially recreate the process that energizes sperm to propel nanoscale, medicine-delivering robots into the human body. It sounds like more fun than a needle. Flu vaccinations may someday resemble bukkake parties. Let’s just hope they never capture the vigor of my seed. My last load hit the ground and …
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (sci-fi), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap.
