Ed Smallest radio ever - 500 nanometers by 10 nanometers

[Molinaro]

Another interesting article in the March 2009 issue of Scientific American details the work of Alex Zettl and his collegues' creating of a radio made from a single carbon nanotube.

What is most amazing is that a single carbon nanotube can perform all 4 of the basic functions of a radio: reception, tuning, amplification, demodulation.

You can see a video of thier radio in action at:

www.physics.berkeley.edu/research/zettl/projects/nanoradio/radio.html

 

[shadron]

What...no speakers?

 

[Molinaro]

Well with speakers.. size matters, so I've heard.

 

[Soapy Sam]

I wonder if evolution could produce such a device?

 

[Darat]

That is simply astonishing.

 

[Mojo]

I had one, but I can't remember where I put it.

 

[Ashles]

I hear Apple are working on a smaller 'Shuffle' nanotube.

 

[Ernie M]

Could the Nanotube Radio be used in the $1 Million Dollar Challenge?

For example,

If the volume were turned down, could VisionFromFeeling pick up it's vibes and tell what station it's on?

 

[ChrisC]

I wonder if Clapton is as honored as I would have been? Minus the noise component, the sound quality actually seems quite good. The reduction in scale from vacuum tubes to nanotubes is amazing.

 

[RationalVetMed]

What is most amazing is that a single carbon nanotube can perform all 4 of the basic functions of a radio: reception, tuning, amplification, demodulation.

What they haven't told you is that the battery you need is the size of a bus.

Yuri

 

[PbFoot]

And you think cell phones are too small now!

 

[Soapy Sam]

One wonders about the espionage / security applications.
This makes RFID tags look positively mediaeval.

 

[Molinaro]

Interestingly, the article also states that they successfully used the same device as both a transmitter and receiver.

Their goal for 1st application is to make a device that would enter into individual cells, then release medication (chemo drugs targeting specific tumor cells) when a radio signal is recieved. That would imply that they have some small power supplies to go with it.

 

[INRM]

Soapy Sam,

Tell me about it


Molinaro,

Interesting point.

What I'm wondering is, how could you guarantee that all of these nanotube radios could be removed from a person? Are they easily trackable?

Also, aren't carbon nanotubes harmful to humans? I remember hearing they caused problems to the lungs...

 

[Soapy Sam]

Sort of makes you wonder why those super advanced aliens are still using chips, eh?

 

[Cuddles]

That would imply that they have some small power supplies to go with it.

The idea for powering small things like that is usually for them to generate power themselves. Since the power requirements are so tiny, it's theoretically possible to use things like temperature gradients within a cell to generate enough power. I'm not sure if there have been any practical demonstrations of that sort of thing working yet though.

What I'm wondering is, how could you guarantee that all of these nanotube radios could be removed from a person? Are they easily trackable?

I don't see how it would be possible to remove any of them.

Also, aren't carbon nanotubes harmful to humans? I remember hearing they caused problems to the lungs...

Inhaling any small particles causes problems in lungs. Obviously safety is an important consideration, but there's nothing to suggest this kind of thing would be any worse than injecting anything else. Vaccines, for example, are full of small particles.

 

[INRM]

Cuddles,

Don't you see that as being a small problem? If you were treating a cancer patient, you put these in and you could never remove them!??


INRM

 

[Starthinker]

Cuddles,

Don't you see that as being a small problem? If you were treating a cancer patient, you put these in and you could never remove them!??


INRM

Well, since you want cancer cells to die off they would just die and take the nano radios with them. Otherwise I'm sure they're much less intrusive than an artificial hip or pacemaker. People have artificial things placed in their bodies all the time, much larger than these things. Believe me, I know.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Hell on Earth.
An unremovable Terry Wogan implant.

 

[RationalVetMed]

Hell on Earth.
An unremovable Terry Wogan implant.