If it walks like graphene and quacks like graphene, you don’t even need to name the graphene
Neural electrodes are used for acquiring neuron signals in brain-machine interfaces, and they are crucial for next-generation neuron engineering and related medical applications. Thus, developing flexible, stable and high-resolution neural electrodes will play an important role in stimulation, acquisition, recording and analysis of signals. Compared with traditional metallic electrodes, electrodes based on graphene and other two-dimensional materials have attracted wide attention in electrophysiological recording and stimulation due to their excellent physical properties such as unique flexibility, low resistance, and high optical transparency. In this review, we have reviewed the recent progress of electrodes based on graphene, graphene/polymer compounds and graphene-related materials for neuron signal recording, stimulation, and related optical signal coupling technology, which provides an outlook on the role of electrodes in the nanotechnology-neuron interface as well as medical diagnosis.
Elon Musk, the maverick tech entrepreneur who, after creating luxury electric cars with Tesla Motors and reusable rockets with SpaceX, plans to colonize Mars and then bootstrap an interplanetary civilization, is working to develop operational, high-speed Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) based on a family of futuristic technologies that he calls “neural lace.” Future neural lace tech could permit sending information back and forth between the brain and a computer – or the cloud – at ultra-high bandwidth.
“Your phone and your computer are extensions of you, but the interface is through finger movements or speech, which are very slow,” said Musk, as reported by Vanity Fair. “For a meaningful partial-brain interface, I think we’re roughly four or five years away.”
That might be a little over-optimistic. But last week scientists funded by the European Commission reported BCI advances based on graphene transistor arrays for high resolution brain imaging, which can be seen as precursors and enablers of full-blown neural lace tech. Other scientists are beginning to cross the bridge between life and computers in the other direction as well, with genetically engineered programmable cells that could one day act as tiny computers and robots within the body.
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We might have to wait a little while for promising research advances in neural lace and programmable cells to become medical reality for therapy and enhancement. But other forms of enhancement could become practical reality sooner and, for example, allow older women to become pregnant by having their ovaries rejuvenated.
The future is marching toward us, perhaps even running. If you find that stressful, you could talk to your doctor about medical marijuana, whose anti-stress properties have been confirmed by a recent study.
New experimental treatment seems to rejuvenate ovaries and allow older women to get pregnant. Researchers at the Genesis Athens Clinic in Greece have found ways to allow menopausal women, thought to be infertile, to become pregnant using their own eggs, New Scientist reports. The scientists have used a technique that seems to rejuvenate ovaries, but how that happens isn’t clear at the moment. The researchers are now planning clinical trials in Greece and the US. If these research findings are confirmed and shown to work in practice, a treatment could be developed to enable older women to get pregnant.
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Elon Musk’s new company Neuralink wants to develop visionary brain implants. Elon Musk, the superstar futurist and entrepreneur who founded and runs Tesla Motors and SpaceX, wants to merge human brains and computers next, WSJ reports. Tesla Motors Club has a non-paywalled copy of the WSJ article. Musk co-founded Neuralink Corp. to pursue “neural lace” technology – brain implants that may one day upload and download thoughts. A first iteration of neural lace technology could consist of thin and flexible tissue-like electronic chips rolled up in a needle, injected in the brain, and then unrolling and blending with the brain’s neural circuitry. The WSJ spoke with Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak and Boston University Prof. Timothy Gardner, who joined the company. Bryan Johnson, the wealthy founder of online payments company Braintree, launched a well-funded startup called Kernel to pursue similar developments.
Flexible graphene probes record brain activity in high resolution. Researchers associated with the Graphene Flagship project of the European Commission have developed flexible devices, based on graphene field-effect transistors, for recording brain activity in high resolution. The research work, published in 2D Materials, shows that arrays of 16 graphene-based transistors, each with an active area less than the cross section of a human hair, arranged on a flexible substrate and placed on the surface of the brain, permit recording of neural activity by detecting electric fields generated when neurons fire. The researchers suggest that this technology could lay the foundation for a future generation of in-vivo implants for therapeutic brain stimulation technologies and interfaces for sensory and motor devices. Of course, hidden between the lines of the aseptic bureaucratese favored by the European Commission, there’s the prospect of visionary technologies like Musk’s neural lace.
Synthetic biologists advance toward programmable mammalian cells. Scientists led by Wilson Wong, a synthetic biologist at Boston University, have found ways to genetically engineer the DNA of mammalian cells to carry out complex computations, in effect turning the cells into biocomputers. By cutting, pasting and reassembling DNA strands, the researchers built 113 different circuits, each designed to carry out a different logical operation, with a 96.5 percent success rate, The study, published in Nature Biotechnology, has been covered by Wired. The researchers hope programmable cells will have a big impact on medicine, for example by improving the immune system with artificial genetic circuits that detect and wipe out tumors, or synthetically generating biological tissues on demand.
Paper: Mapping brain activity with flexible graphene micro-transistors
Benno M Blaschke1, Núria Tort-Colet2, Anton Guimerà-Brunet3,4, Julia Weinert2, Lionel Rousseau5, Axel Heimann6, Simon Drieschner1, Oliver Kempski6, Rosa Villa3,4, Maria V Sanchez-Vives2,7
Establishing a reliable communication interface between the brain and electronic devices is of paramount importance for exploiting the full potential of neural prostheses. Current microelectrode technologies for recording electrical activity, however, evidence important shortcomings, e.g. challenging high density integration. Solution-gated field-effect transistors (SGFETs), on the other hand, could overcome these shortcomings if a suitable transistor material were available. Graphene is particularly attractive due to its biocompatibility, chemical stability, flexibility, low intrinsic electronic noise and high charge carrier mobilities. Here, we report on the use of an array of flexible graphene SGFETs for recording spontaneous slow waves, as well as visually evoked and also pre-epileptic activity in vivo in rats. The flexible array of graphene SGFETs allows mapping brain electrical activity with excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), suggesting that this technology could lay the foundation for a future generation of in vivo recording implants.
In March 2014, CureVac won a €2 million prize awarded by the European Commission to stimulate new vaccine technologies.[17] Later, in July 2014, CureVac signed an exclusive license agreement with Sanofi Pasteur to develop and commercialize an mRNA-based prophylactic vaccine.[18] By September 2014, the company licensed the global rights for its Phase I candidate – CV9202 – to Boehringer Ingelheim. Boehringer was to conduct trials using the mRNA vaccine in combination with afatinib in advanced and/or metastatic epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as well as inoperable stage III NSCLC.[19]
In March 2015, a CureVac investor, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, agreed to provide separate funding for several projects to develop prophylactic vaccines based on CureVac’s proprietary mRNA platform.[20] By September 2015, CureVac entered into a collaboration with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to accelerate the development of AIDS vaccines, utilizing immunogens developed by IAVI and partners, delivered via CureVac’s mRNA technology.[21] That same month, CureVac announced it would open a United States hub in Boston, Massachusetts.[22]
In accordance with its deal with Lilly, the company began construction on a production facility in 2016.[23]
In February 2019, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) awarded CureVac a $34 million grant from to develop its proprietary “RNA printer” prototype.[24] The technology is expected to allow the company to rapidly produce mRNA vaccine candidates at scale, from multiple locations globally, to bypass the logistical hurdles that often delay the production of vaccines in response to infectious disease emergencies, and also enable the production of personalized medicines.[24] The initial uses would be for their candidate vaccines for Lassa fever, yellow fever, and rabies.[24]
In July 2020, Tesla, Inc CEO Elon Musk announced via Tweet that Tesla and CureVac had reached an agreement to produce portable “RNA microfactories” based on this technology to manufacture CureVac’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.[24] CureVac had stated that the bioprinters would be able to produce “more than a hundred thousand doses” within approximately two weeks.[24] At approximately the same time, Tesla and CureVac filed a joint patent on the technology.[25] In August, Musk reviewed the project with Curevac while in Germany.[25]
To be continued? Our work and existence, as media and people, is funded solely by our most generous supporters. But we’re not really covering our costs so far, and we’re in dire needs to upgrade our equipment, especially for video production. Help SILVIEW.media survive and grow, please donate here, anything helps. Thank you!
! Articles can always be subject of later editing as a way of perfecting them
Since 2021, I’ve kept hearing people saying many of their vaxxed friends and relatives are not the same since the Covid shots, in terms of personality. Then I heard vaxxed people saying they don’t feel (themselves) the same since the shots. Then I heard comedians saying performing for vaxxed crowds is not the same. And, after a while, I just had to start looking for clues.
Soothing the symptoms of anxiety with graphene oxide
Researchers from Graphene Flagship partners SISSA in Italy, ICN2 in Spain and the University of Manchester in the UK, in collaboration with the Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo, have discovered that graphene oxide inhibits anxiety-related behaviours in a model study. They found that injecting graphene oxide into a specific region of the brain silences the neurons responsible for anxious behaviour.
The scientists used a common animal model: just like in the classic cartoon Tom and Jerry, a mouse lives in a hole in the wall of a small room, where it feels protected and safe. Normally, the mouse explores the room freely and without worry. But when the mouse smells a cat, it runs back into its hole, where it knows it is safe. This is a very strong defensive behaviour and the basis for the fight or flight response, which is intrinsic to most animals.
After one week in this environment, the mouse remembers this behaviour, even after the cat’s scent has gone. This is a model for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a protective anxiety behaviour that arises in response to negative memories. Millions of people around the world suffer from disorders related to PTSD or anxiety.
Laura Ballerini, lead author of the paper and Professor of Physiology at Graphene Flagship partner SISSA, Italy, explains that graphene oxide disables communication between the synapses that cause this type of fear.
“Two days after injecting graphene oxide into a specific region of the mouse’s brain, it behaved like other mice that had never experienced the smell of a cat in their home environment. In other words, graphene oxide inhibited the mouse’s anxiety-related behaviour,” Ballerini explains. She says that two days is roughly the time for memories to form and be consolidated in the mouse’s brain, which corresponds to the time for the symptoms of anxiety to subside.
“Graphene oxide interacts with the part of the brain responsible for the formation of fear-related memories, which cause anxiety. It doesn’t work like a drug, by inhibiting the function of the receptors – instead, it temporarily halts the entire mechanism long enough to disrupt the brain’s fear-related pathology, without damaging them,” continues Ballerini.
Graphene oxide interrupts anxiety-related neuron signals without affecting the neurons, or the surrounding cells. In simple terms, it only ‘turns down’ the communications between specific neurons. In a disease where these communications are over-expressed, like PTSD and anxiety, targeting the synapses with graphene oxide is enough to halt the development of this pathological behaviour. This is a type of precision medicine.
Graphene oxide is naturally eliminated after a few days, as the surrounding tissue digests the material. Ballerini says that, after two days, they did not observe any inflammation, and no traces of graphene oxide remained at all. Next, Ballerini and colleagues will seek to combine the synapse-targeting behaviour of graphene oxide with its ability to attach to carrier molecules for drug delivery.
Serge Picaud, Deputy Leader of the Graphene Flagship’s Biomedical Technologies Work Package, comments: “This work provides another great demonstration of the therapeutic potential of graphene, used either alone or included in a medical device.”
Andrea C. Ferrari, Science and Technology Officer of the Graphene Flagship and Chair of its Management Panel, adds: “The healthcare, environmental and biological applications of graphene and related materials have been investigated by the Graphene Flagship since its inception. This work opens up a new avenue of research and showcases a path for a very important therapeutic use of graphene oxide – one of the most common forms of functionalised graphene.”
The Graphene Flagship is a Future and Emerging Technology Flagship by the European Commission.
With a budget of €1 billion, the Graphene Flagship represents a new form of joint, coordinated research on an unprecedented scale, forming Europe’s biggest ever research initiative.
The Graphene Flagship is tasked with bringing together academic and industrial researchers to take graphene from the realm of academic laboratories into European society in the space of 10 years, thus generating economic growth, new jobs and new opportunities.
The core consortium consists of approximately 170 academic and industrial research groups in 22 countries. In addition, the project has a growing number of associated members that are incorporated in the scientific and technological work packages.
Graphene oxide (GO) and graphene-based nanomaterials have been widely applied in recent years, but their potential health risk and neurotoxic potentials remain poorly understood. In this study, neurotoxic potential of GO and its underlying molecular and cellular mechanism were investigated using the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. Deposition of GO in the head region and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed in C. elegans after exposure to GO. The neurotoxic potential of GO was then investigated, focusing on neurotransmitters contents and neuronal activity using AFD sensory neurons. The contents of all neurotransmitters, such as, tyrosine, tryptophan, dopamine, tyramine, and GABA, decreased significantly by GO exposure. Decreased fluorescence of Pgcy-8:GFP, a marker of AFD sensory neuron, by GO exposure suggested GO could cause neuronal damage on AFD neuron. GO exposure led decreased expression of ttx-1 and ceh-14, genes required for the function of AFD neurons also confirmed possible detrimental effect of GO to AFD neuron. To understand physiological meaning of AFD neuronal damage by GO exposure, locomotive behavior was then investigated in wild-type as well as in loss-of-function mutants of ttx-1 and ceh-14. GO exposure significantly altered locomotor behavior markers, such as, speed, acceleration, stop time, etc., in wild-type C. elegans, which were mostly rescued in AFD neuron mutants. The present study suggested the GO possesses neurotoxic potential, especially on neurotransmitters and AFD neuron in C. elegans. These findings provide useful information to understand the neurotoxic potential of GO and other graphene-based nanomaterials, which will guide their safe application.
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Sometimes my memes are 3D. And you can own them. Or send them to someone. You can even eat some of them. CLICK HERE
New plan aims to accelerate research translation, advance equity
Today, on National Nanotechnology Day, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) unveiled the 2021 National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Strategic Plan. This strategy details a new framework to ensure that the United States continues to lead the world not only in nanoscience discoveries, but in translating and manufacturing its products to benefit all of America. In addition to identifying priorities for the NNI to best support the research community in the United States, the plan prioritizes efforts to expand sustainable infrastructure and advance equity in the nanotechnology workforce.
“The role of nanotechnology in our response to the pandemic—from vaccine delivery to protective clothing to testing kits—emphasizes the potential for small science to have big impacts,” said National Nanotechnology Coordination Office Director Dr. Lisa E. Friedersdorf. “This strategic plan charts an exciting path forward for the National Nanotechnology Initiative to ensure continued progress in nanotechnology research and development, and to attract students from across all of America.”
Nanotechnology research and development requires access to specialized tools and facilities. This plan emphasizes the need to expand and refresh the research infrastructure, and provide access that supports researchers and small business across all of America. This research infrastructure also plays a critical role in training the future workforce for high-paying jobs.
Since the launch of the NNI in 2000, nanoscience has transformed from an emerging area of research to a technology that is fueling real-world applications in areas as diverse as consumer electronics, water purification, infrastructure, medicine, energy, space exploration, and agriculture. Nanotechnology underpins and enables other critical technologies, including quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and will also help address the most significant challenges facing the world, including pandemic preparedness, climate change, and food insecurity. This strategic plan lays out a path to ensure continued U.S. leadership in this important area.
More on the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI): The NNI was announced in 2000 and codified on Dec. 3, 2003, through the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (15 USC §7501), to enhance interagency coordination of nanotechnology research and development; support a shared infrastructure; enable leveraging of resources while avoiding duplication; and establish shared goals, priorities, and strategies that complement agency-specific missions and activities.
More information on the NNI, including upcoming events and opportunities to engage, is available on Nano.gov. Inquiries and comments also can be sent to info@nnco.nano.gov.
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This above is probably why some people attribute this to Biden’s admin. They\ve never come out with anything new and original, not even that oxymoronic “Build Back Better” slogan. This dates back to the Clinton admin, and originates in military research:
“Mihail C. Roco proposed the initiative in a 1999 presentation to the White House under the Clinton administration. The NNI was officially launched in 2000 and received funding for the first time in FY2001.
President Bill Clinton advocated nanotechnology development. In a 21 January 2000 speech at the California Institute of Technology, Clinton stated that “Some of our research goals may take twenty or more years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the federal government.”
President George W. Bush further increased funding for nanotechnology. On 3 December 2003 Bush signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (Pub. L.108–153 (text)(PDF)), which authorizes expenditures for five of the participating agencies totaling $3.63 billion over four years. This law is an authorization, not an appropriation, and subsequent appropriations for these five agencies have not met the goals set out in the 2003 Act. However, there are many agencies involved in the Initiative that are not covered by the Act, and requested budgets under the Initiative for all participating agencies in Fiscal Years 2006 – 2015 totaled over $1 billion each.
In February 2014, the National Nanotechnology Initiative released a Strategic Plan outlining updated goals and “program component areas”, as required under the terms of the Act. This document supersedes the NNI Strategic Plans released in 2004 and 2007.
The NNI’s budget supplement proposed by the Obama administration for Fiscal Year 2015 provides $1.5 billion in requested funding. The cumulative NNI investment since fiscal year 2001, including the 2015 request, totals almost $21 billion. Cumulative investments in nanotechnology-related environmental, health, and safety research since 2005 now total nearly $900 million. The Federal agencies with the largest investments are the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The NNI cumulative investment by 2021 inclusive reached $36 billion, and nanotechnology has become pervasive in material, energy and biosystem related applications.”
Where we learn that the invention of the Lipid Nano-Containers used in Covid mRNA vaccines was publicly-funded research, Pfizer and Moderna just parasiting government’s achievements and selling it back to the people, “the owners of the Government”, at astronomical prices.
Here’s something to further support for our findings that legal drug dealers and arms dealers are not really separate cartels, but rather form a Military BioTech Complex, that also includes the Silicone Valley freaks:
This timeline features Premodern example of nanotechnology, as well as Modern Era discoveries and milestones in the field of nanotechnology.
Premodern Examples of Nanotechnologies
Early examples of nanostructured materials were based on craftsmen’s empirical understanding and manipulation of materials. Use of high heat was one common step in their processes to produce these materials with novel properties.
The Lycurgus Cup at the British Museum, lit from the outside (left) and from the inside (right)
4th Century: The Lycurgus Cup (Rome) is an example of dichroic glass; colloidal gold and silver in the glass allow it to look opaque green when lit from outside but translucent red when light shines through the inside. (Images at left.)
The South rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral, ca 1250
6th-15th Centuries: Vibrant stained glass windows in European cathedrals owed their rich colors to nanoparticles of gold chloride and other metal oxides and chlorides; gold nanoparticles also acted as photocatalytic air purifiers. (Image at left.)
13th-18th Centuries:“Damascus” saber blades contained carbon nanotubes and cementite nanowires—an ultrahigh-carbon steel formulation that gave them strength, resilience, the ability to hold a keen edge, and a visible moiré pattern in the steel that give the blades their name. (Images below.)
(Left) A Damascus saber (photo by Tina Fineberg for The New York Times). (Right) High-resolution transmission electron microscopy image of carbon nanotubes in a genuine Damascus sabre after dissolution in hydrochloric acid, showing remnants of cementite nanowires encapsulated by carbon nanotubes (scale bar, 5 nm) (M. Reibold, P. Paufler, A. A. Levin, W. Kochmann, N. Pätzke & D. C. Meyer, Nature 444, 286, 2006).
Examples of Discoveries and Developments Enabling Nanotechnology in the Modern Era
These are based on increasingly sophisticated scientific understanding and instrumentation, as well as experimentation.
“Ruby” gold colloid (Gold Bulletin 2007 40,4, p. 267)
1857: Michael Faraday discovered colloidal “ruby” gold, demonstrating that nanostructured gold under certain lighting conditions produces different-colored solutions.
1936: Erwin Müller, working at Siemens Research Laboratory, invented the field emission microscope, allowing near-atomic-resolution images of materials.
1947: John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs discovered the semiconductor transistor and greatly expanded scientific knowledge of semiconductor interfaces, laying the foundation for electronic devices and the Information Age.
1947 transistor, Bell Labs
1950: Victor La Mer and Robert Dinegar developed the theory and a process for growing monodisperse colloidal materials. Controlled ability to fabricate colloids enables myriad industrial uses such as specialized papers, paints, and thin films, even dialysis treatments.
1951: Erwin Müller pioneered the field ion microscope, a means to image the arrangement of atoms at the surface of a sharp metal tip; he first imaged tungsten atoms.
1956: Arthur von Hippel at MIT introduced many concepts of—and coined the term—“molecular engineering” as applied to dielectrics, ferroelectrics, and piezoelectrics
Jack Kilby, about 1960.
1958: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments originated the concept of, designed, and built the first integrated circuit, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 2000. (Image at left.)
Richard Feynman (Caltech archives)
1959: Richard Feynman of the California Institute of Technology gave what is considered to be the first lecture on technology and engineering at the atomic scale, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech. (Image at right.)
1965: Intel co-founder Gordon Moore described in Electronics magazine several trends he foresaw in the field of electronics. One trend now known as “Moore’s Law,” described the density of transistors on an integrated chip (IC) doubling every 12 months (later amended to every 2 years). Moore also saw chip sizes and costs shrinking with their growing functionality—with a transformational effect on the ways people live and work. That the basic trend Moore envisioned has continued for 50 years is to a large extent due to the semiconductor industry’s increasing reliance on nanotechnology as ICs and transistors have approached atomic dimensions.1974: Tokyo Science University Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology to describe precision machining of materials to within atomic-scale dimensional tolerances. (See graph at left.)
1981: Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM’s Zurich lab invented the scanning tunneling microscope, allowing scientists to “see” (create direct spatial images of) individual atoms for the first time. Binnig and Rohrer won the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1986.
1981: Russia’s Alexei Ekimov discovered nanocrystalline, semiconducting quantum dots in a glass matrix and conducted pioneering studies of their electronic and optical properties.
1985: Rice University researchers Harold Kroto, Sean O’Brien, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley discovered the Buckminsterfullerene (C60), more commonly known as the buckyball, which is a molecule resembling a soccer ball in shape and composed entirely of carbon, as are graphite and diamond. The team was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their roles in this discovery and that of the fullerene class of molecules more generally. (Artist’s rendering at right.)
1985: Bell Labs’s Louis Brus discovered colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots), for which he shared the 2008 Kavli Prize in Nanotechnology.
1986: Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate, and Christoph Gerber invented the atomic force microscope, which has the capability to view, measure, and manipulate materials down to fractions of a nanometer in size, including measurement of various forces intrinsic to nanomaterials.
1989: Don Eigler and Erhard Schweizer at IBM’s Almaden Research Center manipulated 35 individual xenon atoms to spell out the IBM logo. This demonstration of the ability to precisely manipulate atoms ushered in the applied use of nanotechnology. (Image at left.)
1990s:Early nanotechnology companies began to operate, e.g., Nanophase Technologies in 1989, Helix Energy Solutions Group in 1990, Zyvex in 1997, Nano-Tex in 1998….
1991: Sumio Iijima of NEC is credited with discovering the carbon nanotube (CNT), although there were early observations of tubular carbon structures by others as well. Iijima shared the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience in 2008 for this advance and other advances in the field. CNTs, like buckyballs, are entirely composed of carbon, but in a tubular shape. They exhibit extraordinary properties in terms of strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, among others. (Image below.)
Carbon nanotubes (courtesy, National Science Foundation). The properties of CNTs are being explored for applications in electronics, photonics, multifunctional fabrics, biology (e.g., as a scaffold to grow bone cells), and communications. See a 2009 Discovery Magazine article for other examples
SEM micrograph of purified nanotube “paper” in which the nanotubes are the fibers (scale bar, 0.001 mm) (courtesy, NASA).
An array of aligned carbon nanotubes, which can act like a radio antenna for detecting light at visible wave- lengths (scale bar 0.001 mm) (courtesy, K. Kempa, Boston College).
1992: C.T. Kresge and colleagues at Mobil Oil discovered the nanostructured catalytic materials MCM-41 and MCM-48, now used heavily in refining crude oil as well as for drug delivery, water treatment, and other varied applications.
MCM-41 is a “mesoporous molecular sieve” silica nanomaterial with a hexagonal or “honeycomb” arrangement of its straight cylindrical pores, as shown in this TEM image (courtesy of Thomas Pauly, Michigan State University).
This TEM image of MCM-41 looks at the straight cylindrical pores as they lie perpendicular to the viewing axis (courtesy of Thomas Pauly, Michigan State University).
1993: Moungi Bawendi of MIT invented a method for controlled synthesis of nanocrystals (quantum dots), paving the way for applications ranging from computing to biology to high-efficiency photovoltaics and lighting. Within the next several years, work by other researchers such as Louis Brus and Chris Murray also contributed methods for synthesizing quantum dots.
1998: The Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN) was formed under the National Science and Technology Council to investigate the state of the art in nanoscale science and technology and to forecast possible future developments. The IWGN’s study and report, Nanotechnology Research Directions: Vision for the Next Decade (1999) defined the vision for and led directly to formation of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative in 2000.
The progression of steps of using a scanning tunneling microscope tip to “assemble” an iron carbonyl molecule, beginning with Fe (iron) and CO (carbon monoxide) molecules (A), joining them to produce FeCO (B), then adding a second CO molecule (C), to achieve the FECO2 molecule (D). (H.J. Lee, W. Ho, Science 286, 1719 [1999].)
1999: Cornell University researchers Wilson Ho and Hyojune Lee probed secrets of chemical bonding by assembling a molecule [iron carbonyl Fe(CO)2] from constituent components [iron (Fe) and carbon monoxide (CO)] with a scanning tunneling microscope. (Image at left.)
1999: Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University invented dip-pen nanolithography® (DPN®), leading to manufacturable, reproducible “writing” of electronic circuits as well as patterning of biomaterials for cell biology research, nanoencryption, and other applications. (Image below right.)
1999–early 2000’s:Consumer products making use of nanotechnology began appearing in the marketplace, including lightweight nanotechnology-enabled automobile bumpers that resist denting and scratching, golf balls that fly straighter, tennis rackets that are stiffer (therefore, the ball rebounds faster), baseball bats with better flex and “kick,” nano-silver antibacterial socks, clear sunscreens, wrinkle- and stain-resistant clothing, deep-penetrating therapeutic cosmetics, scratch-resistant glass coatings, faster-recharging batteries for cordless electric tools, and improved displays for televisions, cell phones, and digital cameras.
2000: President Clinton launched the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to coordinate Federal R&D efforts and promote U.S. competitiveness in nanotechnology. Congress funded the NNI for the first time in FY2001. The NSET Subcommittee of the NSTC was designated as the interagency group responsible for coordinating the NNI.
2003: Congress enacted the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (P.L. 108-153). The act provided a statutory foundation for the NNI, established programs, assigned agency responsibilities, authorized funding levels, and promoted research to address key issues.
Computer simulation of growth of gold nanoshell with silica core and over-layer of gold (courtesy N. Halas, Genome News Network, 2003)
2003: Naomi Halas, Jennifer West, Rebekah Drezek, and Renata Pasqualin at Rice University developed gold nanoshells, which when “tuned” in size to absorb near-infrared light, serve as a platform for the integrated discovery, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer without invasive biopsies, surgery, or systemically destructive radiation or chemotherapy.2004: The European Commission adopted the Communication “Towards a European Strategy for Nanotechnology,” COM(2004) 338, which proposed institutionalizing European nanoscience and nanotechnology R&D efforts within an integrated and responsible strategy, and which spurred European action plans and ongoing funding for nanotechnology R&D. (Image at left.)
2004: Britain’s Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering published Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties advocating the need to address potential health, environmental, social, ethical, and regulatory issues associated with nanotechnology.
2005: Erik Winfree and Paul Rothemund from the California Institute of Technology developed theories for DNA-based computation and “algorithmic self-assembly” in which computations are embedded in the process of nanocrystal growth.
2006: James Tour and colleagues at Rice University built a nanoscale car made of oligo(phenylene ethynylene) with alkynyl axles and four spherical C60 fullerene (buckyball) wheels. In response to increases in temperature, the nanocar moved about on a gold surface as a result of the buckyball wheels turning, as in a conventional car. At temperatures above 300°C it moved around too fast for the chemists to keep track of it! (Image at left.)
2007: Angela Belcher and colleagues at MIT built a lithium-ion battery with a common type of virus that is nonharmful to humans, using a low-cost and environmentally benign process. The batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars, and they could also be used to power personal electronic devices. (Image at right.)
(L to R) MIT professors Yet-Ming Chiang, Angela Belcher, and Paula Hammond display a virus-loaded film that can serve as the anode of a battery. (Photo: Donna Coveney, MIT News.)
2009–2010: Nadrian Seeman and colleagues at New York University created several DNA-like robotic nanoscale assembly devices. One is a process for creating 3D DNA structures using synthetic sequences of DNA crystals that can be programmed to self-assemble using “sticky ends” and placement in a set order and orientation. Nanoelectronics could benefit: the flexibility and density that 3D nanoscale components allow could enable assembly of parts that are smaller, more complex, and more closely spaced. Another Seeman creation (with colleagues at China’s Nanjing University) is a “DNA assembly line.” For this work, Seeman shared the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience in 2010.
2010: IBM used a silicon tip measuring only a few nanometers at its apex (similar to the tips used in atomic force microscopes) to chisel away material from a substrate to create a complete nanoscale 3D relief map of the world one-one-thousandth the size of a grain of salt—in 2 minutes and 23 seconds. This activity demonstrated a powerful patterning methodology for generating nanoscale patterns and structures as small as 15 nanometers at greatly reduced cost and complexity, opening up new prospects for fields such as electronics, optoelectronics, and medicine. (Image below.)
A rendered image of a nanoscale silicon tip chiseling out the smallest relief map of the world from a substrate of organic molecular glass. Shown middle foreground is the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. (Image courtesy of Advanced Materials.)
2012: The NNI launched two more Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives (NSIs)–Nanosensors and the Nanotechnology Knowledge Infrastructure (NKI)–bringing the total to five NSIs.
2013: -The NNI starts the next round of Strategic Planning, starting with the Stakeholder Workshop. -Stanford researchers develop the first carbon nanotube computer.
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A plethora of sources have confirmed, since my 2021 warning, that the establishment did the human testing on the general public, without consent, deliberately misleading the general population, in absolute defiance of the main Nuremberg Code tenant: no medical procedures and experimentation without informed consent.
Here’s just the most recent, nailing the Nazi Swastika on the walls of every government and every Pharmafia institution that participated in this, as much as on the walls of every vaxxer that helped the genocide efforts in any way.
Our governing people are proven to be inhuman, immoral, and most probably illegal occupants of their public / professional positions.
Their sole true position right now is unconvicted convicts. They occupy other chairs only by force and deception. We can fight both, but let’s start with the deception, which can be ended by means of spreading awareness of the real situation. And non-collaboration.
These facts have no “Undo” button, only severe consequences for everyone, even the uninvolved.
P.S.: They need those health passports to keep track of the batches, among others, the experiment can’t work otherwise. So you can’t be sure they won’t ever get rid of them, we have to get rid of these people first.
update july 15, 2023: this is finally starting to get some steam, but it needs more!
They are also starting to reflect something I forgot to highlight:
It seems like the most damaging batches targeted mostly the seniors. Same as the mass-murdering ventilator protocols. Which binds into my point that the whole Great Reset has been long planned, but it was triggered by the pensions Ponzi-scheme collapse. It wasn’t Covid that preferred pension-age people, it was the elites.
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Congress and US Presidents legalized and funded the overthrow of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. government and the American people, through a massive domestic bioterrorism program relabeled as a public health program, conducted by the HHS Secretary and Secretary of Defense on behalf of the World Health Organization and its financial backers.
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Pharmafia and Rockefeller Medicine’s best posterboy since Fauci. At least this one’s funny.
In case you were wondering what “scientism” is: a religious dogma and a polar opposite to science, prime incarnation being, once again, Peter Hotez
Game over, Pharmafia!
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You get 1000 Internet points if you find a definition for “criminal” that Bourla doesn’t fit.
this is huge and I thought it will blow up without my help, but it has actually kind of sank under the many smoke grenades launched lately, and even I forgot about it, luckily for social media, where no crime goes forgotten or forgiven. So it’s my duty to stir this some more, I hope you will share my feeling.
On December 2nd 2021, the BBC published on its website, its popular news app and in the BBC News at One programme a video interview and an accompanying article under the headline ‘Pfizer boss: Annual Covid jabs for years to come’.
The interview by the BBC’s Medical Editor, Fergus Walsh, conducted as a friendly fireside chat, gave Dr. Albert Bourla, the Chairman and CEO of Pfizer, a free pass promotional opportunity that money cannot buy — as the U.K.’s national public service broadcaster, the BBC is usually prohibited from carrying commercial advertising or product placement.
Pfizer CEO Bourla commented on “vaccinating” British children under 12:
“There is no doubt in my mind that the benefits, completely are in favor of doing it [vaccinating 5-to-11-year-olds in the UK and Europe].”
“Immunizing that age group [children under the age of 11] in the UK and Europe would be a very good idea.”
“Covid in schools was thriving.”
“So, there was no doubt in my mind that the benefits completely were in favor of doing it.”
The interview was conducted before the vaccine was approved for children between the ages of five and 11 in the UK.
After the interview was published, parent campaign group UsForThem filed a complaint with the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA). The complaint accused Dr. Bourla of making “disgracefully misleading” comments about vaccinating children and that the comments were “extremely promotional in nature,” and that he violated several clauses of the code of practice by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
“There is simply no evidence that healthy schoolchildren in the UK are at significant risk from the SARS COV-2 virus and to imply that they are is disgracefully misleading,” the complaint said.
PMCPA convened a code of practice panel that found that Dr. Bourla had indeed violated the code of practice in a few ways, including failure to present information to the public in a factual and balanced manner, misleading the public, and making claims that cannot be substantiated.
The Appeal Board considered that the subsequent strong opinion statements, including ‘So, there was no doubt in my mind that the benefits completely [completely] were in favour of doing it [vaccinating children against Covid-19]’ and ‘I believe it’s a very good idea’ might infer to the ultimate audience, including members of the public, that there was no need to be concerned about potential side-effects of vaccination in healthy children aged 5-11 which was not so. The Appeal Board considered that this implication was misleading and incapable of substantiation. The Appeal Board therefore upheld the Panel’s rulings of breaches of the Code.
The Appeal Board considered that the CEO’s opinion statements, including ‘So there is no doubt in my mind about the benefits completely are in favour of doing it’ might infer to the ultimate audience, including members of the public, that the benefits outweighed the risks when the UK regulatory authorities had not yet made any conclusions in relation to the vaccination of 5 to 11 year olds; no Covid-19 vaccine was licensed in the UK in that age group when the article at issue was published and the Appeal Board therefore upheld the Panel’s rulings of breaches of the Code.
The process took a year to complete. The group published its story here.
The Telegraph reported Pfizer appealed against the findings of the panel and strongly disagreed with UsForThem’s claims that the CEO violated the code of practice. The company argued that Dr. Bourla’s remarks were based on “up-to-date scientific evidence” and they could be proven through “publicly available independent benefit-risk assessments.”
An appeal board upheld that Dr. Bourla misled the public, made claims that were unbalanced, and made unsubstantiated claims.
However, it ruled against claims that Pfizer discredited the industry, encouraged reckless use of a treatment, and did not maintain high standards.
Now, I would also like to bring to your attention this expose that’s too massive to copy/paste here and I don’t even want to deprive independent citizen journalist Anthony Colpo of his well deserved website hits, so please follow these links:
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No money for energy? Warm yourselves with some billion-dollar biotech research!
ARPA-H is modeled after similar agencies that advance innovation in their sectors, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is known for contributing to achievements such as the internet, GPS and even Moderna’s vaccine for COVID-19.
If you’re not familiar with DARPA yet, please see these posts first.
What all these ARPAs do is one thing: spend countless billions from public money to do research that’s later handed to private companies through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scam. Universities used to provide these services, they still do to a smaller scale, but they can’t be as secretive and can’t be involved in some highly sensitive projects from a national security perspective.
ARPA-H launches path to speed public-private partnerships
The mission of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is to advance better health outcomes for everyone. To realize this mission, innovations sparked by ARPA-H must be able to transition into the real world. Transition strategies are often left to the last phase of a program, which significantly reduces the likelihood of a solution to reach the people that need it. ARPA-H seeks to facilitate public-private partnerships for accelerating technology transfer and transition by launching an effort to form Partnership Intermediary Agreements (PIA) that will make transition resources available throughout the entire program life cycle.
“Since the launch of ARPA-H almost a year ago, we have been building the team, tools, and capabilities that each program manager will need in order to launch audacious programs capable of advancing the state of the art in health innovation,” said Renee Wegrzyn, inaugural director of ARPA-H. “The PIA capability is critical to ensure that incoming program managers can hit the ground running and pursue big challenges in health.”
A PIA is an agreement established with a nonprofit partner with deep commercial sector and transition expertise, to engage academia and industry on behalf of the government. Speed and flexibility are the two main advantages of PIAs. PIAs allow for novel approaches that mirror commercial practice to get solutions to market. PIAs are authorized under 15 U.S.C. §3715 to create public-private partnerships.
“We at ARPA-H care deeply about getting solutions to everyone, and this is a powerful tool to ensure those solutions survive in the wild,” said Craig Gravitz, director of ARPA-H’s Project Accelerator Transition Innovation Office (PATIO). “This ensures ARPA-H programs address the market dynamics that matter for success, early and often.” PATIO is ARPA-H’s transition and commercialization office and focuses on ensuring that technologies developed through ARPA-H programs are readily accessible and scalable.
ARPA-H’s PIA application is designed to be easy to understand and implement, enabling potential intermediaries from all eligible communities who may not have deep government expertise to rapidly submit.
The PIA application is now closed. Awards will likely be made approximately 30 days from release date.
Dr. Renee Wegrzyn serves as the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), appointed on Oct. 11, 2022, by President Joseph R. Biden.
Previously, Wegrzyn served as a vice president of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks and head of innovation at Concentric by Ginkgo, where she focused on applying synthetic biology to outpace infectious diseases – including COVID-19 – through biomanufacturing, vaccine innovation, and biosurveillance of pathogens at scale.
Wegrzyn comes to ARPA-H with experience working for two of the institutions that inspired the creation of the agency – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).
As a Program Manager in the DARPA Biological Technologies Office, Wegrzyn leveraged the tools of synthetic biology and gene editing to enhance biosecurity, support the domestic bioeconomy, and thwart biothreats. Her DARPA portfolio included the Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules, Safe Genes; Preemptive Expression of Protective Alleles and Response Elements (PREPARE); and the Detect it with Gene Editing Technologies (DIGET) programs.
Wegrzyn received the Superior Public Service Medal for her work and contributions at DARPA. Prior to joining DARPA, she led technical teams in private industry in the areas of biosecurity, gene therapies, emerging infectious disease, neuromodulation, synthetic biology, as well as research and development teams commercializing multiplex immunoassays and peptide-based disease diagnostics.
Wegrzyn served on the scientific advisory boards for the National Academies Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs, National Academies of Science Board on Army Research and Development, Revive & Restore, Air Force Research Labs, Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Innovative Genomics Institute. She holds doctoral and bachelor’s degrees in applied biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, was a fellow in the Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative and completed her postdoctoral training as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Heidelberg, Germany.
With ARPA-H’s billions in Congressional funding and broad mandate to solve intractable health challenges, several audience members asked Wegrzyn what success might look like for the nascent agency. In addition to accelerating breakthroughs in disease prevention and health care delivery, “We want to create tools and products that people want to use,” Wegrzyn said. “We want it to be so obvious to the rest of the world why ARPA-H is here. … So that’ll look like success.” “And paradoxically,” she added, “success should also look like failure.” If the agency doesn’t experience failure, she argues, it may not be taking big enough risks. Another key indicator of success for ARPA-H will be in its diversity — in the problems it solves, in the communities it serves and in the program managers it hires. Spreading the word to people around the world, including those in underrepresented communities, will be pivotal.
The acceleration of COVID-19 testing platforms and vaccine development has demonstrated the possibility of expediting research for similar biomedical breakthroughs. However, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) lacks a framework to regularly sustain this type of research. A new federal agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), offers a unique opportunity to capitalize on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and drive federal investment into high-risk, high-reward biomedical research. ARPA-H will mirror the flat bureaucratic structure of the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the employment of independent project managers. ARPA-H is also unique in how it centers equity in the agency’s core mission. These unique traits could enable the agency to fill the gaps in current biomedical research under the NIH. Nonetheless, ARPA-H’s implementation is not without challenges: its incorporation within the NIH has raised concerns regarding its ability to specialize in high-risk research and the diversion of funding away from the rest of the NIH. These worries can be mitigated through the separation of ARPA-H and the NIH. Successful implementation of the ARPA-H framework would supplement current NIH work, diversify the US federal research strategy, accelerate promising breakthroughs, promote equity in health, and transform the nature of biomedical research in the US.
And this is not the last ARPA you’ll hear about. We’re in a world of ARPAs.
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