Issue

When I started with Small Times five-and-a-half years ago, the potential for MEMS and nanotechnology seemed limitless.

Life is all about balancing. While we weigh the potential risks of using nanomaterials in long-lasting, super-efficient batteries for cars and electronics, for instance, we are dumping alkaline batteries into landfills, generating nuclear waste, and filling the air with toxic emissions.

This summer, DuPont and Environmental Defense released their Nano Risk Framework to guide those involved with nanomaterials to assess and document their handling.

The highly anticipated Concept Paper-for what is likely to be the EPA’s primary nano-focused tool-has drawn cheers and jeers.

Got approval? Does your nanomaterial need it? Here’s a guide to the EPA’s new paper, TSCA Inventory Status of Nanoscale Substance

Nanotube synthesis tools await electronics applications

The FDA’s Nanotechnology Task Force has declined to require labeling for the growing list of drugstore products containing nanoparticles.

Chemist Margaret Blohm and her team at General Electric cheered in February 2003 when GE Plastics sold its first commercial batch of Lexan SLX, which was a major improvement over the plastic material that had been developed 50 years earlier for use on auto body surfaces.

At last, the importance of MEMS packaging and interconnection has gained recognition.

Pencils aren’t just for writing anymore; they can be used to enhance mental capacity.

Typically, scientists and researchers are the ones who have been trying to find ways to educate the public about nanotechnology (see “Public views nanotech research on TV,” SmallTimes, July/August 2007, page 4), but now artists are getting into the act.

New wafer-bonding equipment enables rapid development

The wait isn’t over for transition from exciting research to commercial product

MEMS and nanotechnology are solving challenges in defense and security applications-and promise to further change military and aerospace operations in the future

Regarded as a golden child in the nanotechnology field as recently as a year ago, optical components firm NanoOpto announced on July 23, 2007 that it has sold its assets.

The Nintendo Wii’s use of a MEMS-enabled motion controller and the Apple iPhone’s use of accelerometers to change the display from horizontal to vertical are examples of how MEMS are creating new ways for people to interact with electronic devices.