Why Buy Our Molecular Future?

1. One of the few books that forecasted huge losses from tsunamis and hurricanes.

2. The only book to show how we can use nanotechnology to avoid it next time.

3. A straightforward explanation of nanotechnology.

4. Shows how genetics, robotics and artificial intelligence fit together.

5. Explains how those of us alive today may live for centuries.

6. See how nanotech can slash the cost of healthcare.

7. Learn how methane hydrate in the ocean could suddenly transform our climate.

8. Worried about grey goo? What is it?

9. What is "singularity"?

10. Who are the leading players in the nanotech game?

Order the book from Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Borders, your local bookstore, or in Canada from Amazon.ca or Chapters.

 

 

Nano News Stories - Technologies That Save Us Or Threaten Us?

What you're about to see are links to stories that describe the blinding pace of nanotechnology in our lives. These seemingly unbelievable advances are transforming not just what we DO but also what we ARE. In the time since Our Molecular Future was published, dramatic developments that were forecasted in its pages have already materialized. Here are links to some of those developments.

There is new evidence that "Houston, we have a problem" with natural extraterrestrial threats to survival of life on Earth. With some of the greatest minds in astrobiology screaming "wake up and smell the risk", why are we having so much trouble getting the research done? A USA Today story about the discovery of a supernova highlights this:http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2006-02-23-supernova_x.htm

Telescoping down from the macro universe to the nano world, here are some nanotech updates: A new Atomic Force Microscope has been invented at Georgia Tech that is at least ten times faster than the present ones and that for the first time allows real-time video images of nanoscale objects and of biological interactions. This is a big leap. http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=858

On that score, there has been a spate of announcements by leading scientific agencies that they have started to get the message about the risks posed by nanoparticle engineering, and are launching studies into it:
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309100321?OpenDocument
http://safety.blr.com/display.cfm/id/100694
http://www.photonics.com/todaysheadlines/article.asp?id=5997

 

WHAT MIGHT PROTECT US FROM HURRICANES, EARTHQUAKES, AND TSUNAMIS?

Here's what could save New Orleans next time: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/nano/2005-08-18-nanotube-breakthrough_x.htm.

Super-fabrics many times stronger than conventional materials have been developed. These make possible buildings that withstand hurricane and flood, as foreseen in this book. They may also prevent disasters in space especially when spacecraft re-enter the atmosphere.

For more on hurricanes and tsunamis click here.


NANO NEWS:

The "millipede" multiple cantilever, featured in Our Molecular Future, is about to take over the memory chip field, increasing the capacity of consumer electronic devices and eliminating hard drives. http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/mar05/0305mili.html

NASA discovers that nanobacteria grow five times faster in space: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1755.2005.67105.x/abs/ - For more details on nanobacteria and calcification go to www.calcify.com.

Breakthrough in solar power costs: http://www.hindu.com/seta/2005/02/03/stories/2005020300431600.htm

Say goodbye to batteries: http://washingtontimes.com/business/20050209-113142-9504r.htm

Meanwhile batteries just got cheaper: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=80729

Sensing a nerve gas attack... http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/news/4/2/6/1

NOTE: IN MANY OF THESE STORIES THE TERMS "SELF-ASSEMBLING" AND "BOTTOM-UP" ARE NOW FREQUENTLY USED - THESE ARE STEPPING STONES TO MOLECULAR ASSEMBLY - SOMETHING ONCE DESCRIBED AS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT FORECASTED IN THE ACCLAIMED BOOK OUR MOLECULAR FUTURE.

 

OTHER NEWS:

NANO AND MEDICINE:

National Cancer Institute launches $144 million nanotech initiative:
http://www.newstarget.com/z002909.html

Just how small are we talking about here ? A great example announced last week of using a nanoscale tool to operate
on a single cell: http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1387&ntid=130&pg=1

And. . .nanobacteria discovered in HIV positive mothers and their children, meaning they cross the placental barrier.
http://www.nanobaclifesciences.com/NewsRoom/PressReleases/Article.aspx?shortname=News_2004-11-15

Speaking of HIV, one of the first nanotech drugs has just been announced for HIV prevention:
http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1416&ntid=130&pg=1

Skin printing for burn victims: How about using your inkjet printer to heal a burn? Skin is already being grown by
replacing the ink in bubblejet printers with skin-growing solutions.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118815,00.asp and ink-jet printer.


MERGING THE STUFF OF LIFE WITH COMPUTING:

Nucleic acid transistors. Looks like the merging of biological DNA and computing is well underway:
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2003-11-20-4

And they have been doing it in Israel since last year. . .
http://www.mediaisland.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=152


SIGNS OF THE BIG CONFLICT:

Nanostudents get prizes while protesters talk about downsides: http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=1356

Evaluating ecological impacts of nanoparticles. . . a wee bit too little and too late:
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=8434&keyword=EPA&summary=1&startsum=1


TOO LATE. . .NANO EVERYWHERE ALREADY:

Wearing nano: I bought a shirt last week that had a tag on it "Nano-pel". Also used in furniture coverings. This is
the most visible example that nanoparticles are already surrounding us, next to our skin. Background:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/NewsDetails.asp?News_id=11705

And on cars: http://www.mercedes-benz.ca/index.cfm?NewsID=141&id=611

This shows that engineered nanoparticles are already everywhere in our personal environment. But while many fret
about nanoparticle impacts, scientists in China claim they are using nanopaint to clean the air:
http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/metro/userobject1ai710823.html


COMPUTING. . .

The screen is the computer: one molecule is a transistor that changes color. This means that your computer screen
could be a computer, eliminating hard disks and letting us carry supercomputers rolled up in our pocket.
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=07159


. . .LEADING TO NANO AND AI - THEY ARE HERE TOO:

Big Brother now users AI. Criminals are being ID'd with nanotech-enhanced AI:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6734


SELF-REPLICATION AIN'T SO HARD

Self-replicating nanoparticles less complex than Pentium chip: Looks like all those skeptics who said that
self-replicating nanomachines are impossible were dead wrong:
http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=8007&keyword=self%2Dreplication&summary=1&startsum=1 and http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/pdf/883Toth-Fejel.pdf


WILL NANO SHRED AMERICA'S TECHNOLOGICAL SUPREMACY OR PUSH IT FORWARD?

Collapse of patent regime: Patents are the basis for American technology dominance. Now it turns out, as forecast
in Our Molecular Future, that the glut of high tech patents created by accelerating nanotech is drowning the
patents system, when patent offices that lack the expertise to evaluate applications are being overwhelmed.: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4788834/

Taiwan to outspend U.S. on a per-capita basis for nanotech:
http://english.www.gov.tw/index.jsp?action=cna&cnaid=5346

. . .But nano could also save America from techno-decline: Nano leaders say clean energy nano research could be the
key to recovering American lead in technology: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9596_22-5492624.html?tag=zdnn.alert

OTHER EARLIER DEVELOPMENTS:

  • Computing has just sped up by a thousand fold!!! A technology known as optical processing has been used to manufacture devices that can perform up to 8 TRILLION operations per second. This has profound implications for computing.
  • Sell your diamonds--they are about to get real cheap. Diamonds may soon run computers cheaply at far faster and cooler rates. Manufacturing of diamonds that are indistinguishable from the real thing has already begun.
  • Microscopic computers are being implanted in the eye and connected to the brain to restore sight:
 

Restoring Sight - Artificial Retina is one of many forerunners of the molecular manufacturing revolution described in this book. Black dot on penny at right is actual size of implant shown at left.
Photos Courtesy of Optobionics Corporation

 

 

Could a Tsunami Hit the Pacific Northwest?

It has and can again. See this animation from a government website showing how a tsunami like the one that hit in 1700 could reach the coast in less than an hour with a surge exceeding 20 feet high in confined harbors. How prepared are residents and who knows if they live in a tsunami flood zone?

News Commentary - January 3, 2005
TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEMS "WON'T BE SUFFICENT" TO PREVENT MASSIVE LOSS

The type of tsunami warning systems now being discussed by governments in news reports will not be sufficient to prevent massive economic loss, because new construction methods are also essential, according to a natural disaster prevention expert whose book describes defenses against catastrophes such as the Asian tsunami.

"It would be a serious error to think that by dropping a few buoys into the ocean and hooking them up to satellites we can prevent the kind of massive economic dislocation that occurred with the Asian tsunami," said bestselling natural disaster author Douglas Mulhall. "This will require a whole new way of approaching coastal development in tsunami risk zones, and a lot of retrofitting for what is already in place."

Mulhall has already urged the tourism industry to act, as shown in the attached earlier news release, but today expressed "alarm" at the lack of attention to construction standards, with only a narrow focus by authorities on warning systems.

"Warning is a good first step but on its own it completely insufficent."

Mulhall's book Our Molecular Future examines such new designing methods. For more information email or contact Jill Maxick, Prometheus Books 1-800-421-0351.

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News Release - January 1, 2005
TOURISM INDUSTRY MUST ADOPT TSUNAMI TECHNOLOGY TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE

The international tourism industry must forge an alliance with scientists "without hesitation," to help Asian economies recover, and prevent more mass death from tsunamis around the world, according to a natural disaster prevention expert whose book describes defenses against catastrophes such as the Indian Ocean tsunami.

"The tourism industry must recognize what scientists have said for years," said bestselling author Douglas Mulhall. "Resorts in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean are seriously at risk from tsunami. The technology to protect tourists from these is available now, and the tourism industry can't wait for governments to introduce them."

Mulhall wrote Our Molecular Future (Prometheus Books 2002) that describes how new technologies can protect us from natural disasters.The book is on the New Scientist 'must-read' list. He managed a scientific institute in Hamburg, Germany specializing in flood prevention and water purification.

He said that measures can be taken right now to protect millions of tourists from tsunami, and that this can be done inexpensively through an alliance between resorts, the telecommunications industry, and tsunami scientists.

"The first thing: establish emergency communications lines with the tsunami warning centers."

"Then put inexpensive tsunami detection devices off the coast near major seaside resorts."

"Finally they can support research and development of nanotechnology-based tsunami sensors that could slash costs for tsunami detection."

"The tourism industry can lead this recovery instead of running behind it," Mulhall urged, "This is a pittance in cost compared to what has just been lost by the industry and the world."

Mulhall added that resorts in the affected Indian Ocean region must be "completely redesigned" when rebuilt, to take account of what happened, and existing resorts in other regions must be modified.

"So often things are just rebuilt the way they were, and we can't afford to do that in this case," he urged.

"Tourism is the economic driver of many of these regions, and to avoid these areas being thrown into a depression, the industry must act quickly."

"Tourism will be the backbone of recovery, but only if confidence in safety is restored," Mulhall observed.

For more information email or contact Jill Maxick, Prometheus Books 1-800-421-0351.

-30-

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GLOBALIZED TSUNAMI WARNING NETWORK MUST INCLUDE ATLANTIC AND MEDITERRANEAN

The Atlantic may be next. One of the great natural disasters of our time has occurred from a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. But it is a mistake to blame local governments alone for failing to build early warning systems, or to think this couldn't happen on the Atlantic shoreline. Such a catastrophe was forecasted in the book Our Molecular Future. So was an inexpensive way of saving lives. Western governments, industries, and aid agencies could have paid "an ounce of prevention" for a cheap globalized tsunami warning network.

 

NEWS RELEASE: ATLANTIC COAST ALSO AT RISK

December 28, 2004 - The Atlantic shorelines of American and Europe are just as much at risk from a catastrophic tsunami as the Indian Ocean was, says the author of a technology book about high-tech defenses against giant earthquakes and tsunamis.

Our Molecular Future (Prometheus Books 2002) by Douglas Mulhall describes how advanced technologies could prevent wholesale loss of life such as that seen in the Christmas catastrophe.

The book forecasted that it would take such a globalized catastrophe to shake governments and industries into using inexpensive, cutting edge technology to prevent so much death.

Thousands of fatalities from an Indonesian tsunami were "largely avoidable, and a serious warning for Atlantic Ocean nations" says Mulhall. "Around 1700 a tsunami wiped out the southern coast of Portugal, and we're about due for another such event. European countries are not adequately prepared for this, and America is not ready for other possilbe tsunamis in the Atlantic," he emphasized.

"The question is, will the Indonesian tsunami wake up everybody? We'll see if this one is big enough to force globalized solutions," Mulhall said. "We have globalized tourism, oil, and other industries - it's time for a globalized tsunami detection network. It's billions of dollars cheaper than the loss of life we've seen here" .

"The world science community has been calling for a globalized tsunami detection network for years and no one heard them, especially the tourism industry whose millions of customers are at risk, and western governments whose nationals are at risk when they visit seaside communities, or aid agencies who have to clean up the mess" Mulhall said.

"What's maddening about this disaster" he said, "is that we don't have to wait for new technologies - everything is available right now."

"The idea that tsunami preparedness is expensive is a ludicrous myth," he emphasized. "Look at how many millions of dollars the aid agencies have already come up with in a day. Just a fraction of that would have prevented such vast death."

Mulhall added that western nations as much as developing countries "must be held accountable" for the massive yet avoidable loss of life because they have billions of dollars invested and millions of citizens visiting in the region.

He chastized aid agencies for "failing to step up to the plate with an ounce of prevention to prevent a pound of cure." "This was waiting to happen" said Mulhall. "The risks have been there all along. They knew about them and had been told about them. A few million dollars would have done it."

Mulhall harshly criticized "lame excuses already being hatched" by western governments and other agencies. "It is nonsense to say that this was a surprise. Every big tsunami is a 'surprise', but that doesn't mean we can't plan to survive them. Especially in Indonesia they are regular phenomena along with earthquakes. International agencies have known that for a while."

Mulhall pointed out that thousands died in Indonesia in 1992 due to tsunami and quake.

For more information email

-30-

Another risk from earthquakes - vast gas releases:

Vast methane hydrate deposits have been discovered in an earthquake zone off North America's west coast. Violent release of such natural gases may drive climate changes and upend our theories of how the climate works.

 

"An excellent introduction to the emergence of molecular manufacturing and ...one more powerful reason...why attempting to ban the development of nanotechnology would be a grave error."

Jim Lewis, Foresight Institute Update

 

Our Molecular Future - How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics, and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World

Douglas Mulhall

390 pp. (Illustrations), Hard Cover $28
ISBN 1-57392-992-1
Prometheus Books 2002

 

Order the book from Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Borders, your local bookstore, or in Canada from Amazon.ca or Chapters.

 

 

 

******BULLETINS******

Our Molecular Future is now available in Japanese!

Mandarin and Korean speaking readers canl also read Our Molecular Future in their own language.

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Our Molecular Future selected as a finalist in the Science category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2003 (see #48).

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Our Molecular Future makes the Barnes & Noble "Best Ten of Everything" bestseller list in the "A.I." category.

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Adaptation to big environmental changes--a theme of Our Molecular Future--was the topic for the 2004 Innovation Round Table conference held by Canada's National Research Council . The theme was selected after Douglas Mulhall's keynote presentation to the Round Table last year. This marks the first time that a national science agency has focused on using technology convergence for adaptation to environmental extremes.

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And there is more:


"...desktop factories, moletronics, smart dust, genetic programming, nanobes, nanoecology, and enhanced reality..."


They are here, now, and are profoundly significant for each of us.

But what are they? Why risk using them?

Will they make our lives more safe, or be our worst nightmare?

 

Read Our Molecular Future to find out...

 

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Our Molecular Future.com
©Douglas Mulhall 2002-2006