nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu (Nanotechnology Newsgroup Nexus) (04/15/89)
[hacked, as usual, from a MAC binary file. any errors my fault. --JoSH] +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The following material is reprinted *with permission* from the | | Foresight Update No 4, 10/15/88. | | Copyright (c) 1988 The Foresight Institute. All rights reserved. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Inside: Manufacturing with Nanotechnology 3 Upcoming Events 3 Talks 4 Letters to FI 4 How Many Bytes in Human Memory? 5 Hypertext Publishing Progress 6 The Road to Nanomachine Design 7 Biostasis Research 7 Kantrowitz Joins Board 7 Books of Note 8 Media Coverage 8 Nanotechnology BBS 8 Recent Progress 9 "Human Frontiers" Advances 12 Precollege Training 12 Next issue: AI Directions Government policy affects nanotechnology, hypertext Nanotechnology course at U of T Biotechnologists introduced to nanotechnology Meet the advisors: Part 1 Technical advances A publication of the Foresight Institute Preparing for future technologies Board of Advisors Stewart Brand Gerald Feinberg Arthur Kantrowitz Marvin Minsky Board of Directors K. Eric Drexler, President Chris Peterson, Secretary-Treasurer James C. Bennett Editor Chris Peterson Publisher Fred A. Stitt Assembler Russell Mills Publication date 15 Oct 88 (c) Copyright 1988 The Foresight Institute. All Rights Reserved. If you find information and clippings of relevance to FI's goal of preparing for future technologies, please forward them to us for possible coverage in FI Update. Letters and opinion pieces will also be considered; submissions may be edited. Write to the Foresight Institute, Box 61058, Palo Alto, CA 94306; Telephone 415-364-8609. BioArchive Project Saving Species through Nanotechnology by Chris Peterson In the 1990s, over 10,000 species per year are expected to become extinct. Three-quarters of the world"s animal species may vanish in the next 25 years. Besides losing the intrinsic value of these animals and plants as part of today"s environment, we face the destruction of priceless genetic information evolved over millions of years. Nanotechnology will one day let us restore lands torn by industry and agriculture, but without this genetic information, today"s species and ecosystems will be lost forever. The simplest way to preserve species is to preserve their habitats, but the immediate survival needs of nearby human populations often make this practically impossible. An alternate way to preserve endangered species was suggested in Eric Drexler"s book Engines of Creation: preserving tissue samples in cryogenic storage. He pointed out that "preserving just tissue samples doesn"t preserve the life of an animal or an ecosystem, but it does preserve the genetic heritage of the sampled species. We would be reckless if we failed to take out this insurance policy against the permanent loss of species. The prospect of cell repair machines thus affects our choices today." To pursue this option, the Foresight Institute is initiating the BioArchive Project. This project will coordinate existing field workers with existing cryopreservation facilities to collect and store samples from endangered animal and plant species, establishing a group of low-cost gene banks distributed around the U.S. and--ideally--the world. Since the rainforest environment of the Amazon River basin is both rich in species and under intense pressure from human populations, it is a natural focus for early efforts. We are fortunate that the task of freezing species samples was begun even before understanding of nanotechnology showed how they could be restored. Germ cells of endangered species, along with other cells from common animals, are stored at liquid nitrogen temperatures at the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES) at the San Diego Zoo. This effort focuses on freezing germ cells and embryos, since when warmed up they are often viable without the need for cell repair technology. The freezers containing these treasures have been labeled "Frozen Zoo: Twentieth Century Ark." Dr. Barbara Durrant told Update that "Right now the Frozen Zoo contains cells representing virtually every mammalian species on Earth. Mostly, these are blood and skin cells for chromosome studies that help us in making breeding decisions." Dr. Durrant explained that quite a few bird, reptile, and amphibian species were included, but no insects. FI's goal is to spread awareness of the long-term value of such samples, to establish multiple sites as backups in case of disaster, and to develop a collection program so broad that even the many unknown, unclassified species are included, besides the well-known larger animals. Seeds from today's plants are protected in seed banks, but again more sites are needed for redundancy's sake. We need to verify that storage is at sufficiently low temperatures, and that non-agricultural plants and even "weeds" are sampled. To ensure that ecosystems--not just individual species--can someday be restored, we will encourage sampling of the widest possible range of plants and animals in an endangered area. This can be done far less expensively if no effort is made to identify each species or to keep them separate. With future technology to sort out the sampled cells, present day techniques can be quick and crude: To sample rainforest trees, use a helicopter to drag a bucket-rake through canopy, then freeze the leaf fragments. To sample soil insects, use standard progressive-drying techniques on soil samples to drive them out for freezing. A variety of techniques used by ecologists to sample populations will be applicable. We will need to freeze only a small volume of material from each area; this volume can be minimized (and costs reduced) by pulverizing and mixing samples before sending portions to each storage facility. To succeed, one need get only a few cells from each organism, and a cubic millimeter of tissue typically contains a million cells. There may well be sample preservation efforts of which we're unaware, but an education effort is still required: the keepers of these samples need to understand that the DNA information itself is valuable, not just viable germ cells or viable seeds. (Literature from CRES, for example, stresses that they store "living cells and tissues.") Without this understanding, samples might be discarded if they couldn't recover from freezing spontaneously. Why is the Foresight Institute the right group to start this project? First, we have the interest: our surveys show that over 95% of us see saving endangered species as an issue of "major," "historic," or "life-and-death" importance. Second, we can play a role in educating and coordinating at the start, and then step back: the project has a high payoff-to-effort ratio, so it isn't too ambitious for us to tackle. But most important, we are the only group which already sees the potential of restoring species from DNA only, via nanotechnology. Heroic efforts to save species are already underway; groups like Conservation International play a key role in the habitat-preservation effort. FI fully supports this work, but we recognize that the high cost of preserving habitats means that many species will perish unless another method is tried. We see the BioArchive as a way to save the many species which existing conservation efforts can't reach in time, and a way to restore ecosystems when (as we expect) room for natural habitat begins to expand. There may be objections to the BioArchive approach. Nature reports that "Scientists in the IUCN [Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources] argue that genetic resources are better protected in situ, by preserving species in their natural habitat to protect the full range of genetic variability, an advantage not shared by conservation in gene banks..." The IUCN advocates financing this work through a tax on commercial and industrial users of genetic material. But such an international tax would not be enough, even if it were collected: the total net profits for 1987 of the top fifteen biotechnology firms were only $7.7 million, with over half of the companies having a loss (The Economist, 30 Apr 88). These profits will increase over time, but species need preservation now. Some might claim that a BioArchive effort will encroach on habitat-preservation resources and decrease the sense of urgency now felt for conservation efforts. We argue that the resources needed are minimal in comparison, and that the sense of urgency will only decrease to the extent that people are sure our approach will work--and if it will work, and if we know that it will, what would the future think of us for condemning so many species to an avoidable extinction? Our goal must be to maximize the results given the resources available, which are frighteningly modest. Besides, starting an additional effort will likely draw additional press coverage and additional funding. The benefits of the project are clear. It will: -- save species and ecosystems in the long term -- make clear the lifesaving potential of nanotechnology -- build our natural alliance with politically-powerful environmental groups -- draw attention to the potential of advanced technologies--if used well--to help us heal and restore the Earth. We're looking for volunteers to get the project off the ground. Here's what needs to be done: Research: What efforts are already underway? Do the people involved understand the value of DNA as distinct from viable germ cells? Which scientists are already collecting and freezing samples? Networking: Which environmental groups are interested? Is there another group in a better position than FI to coordinate this, and can they be convinced to take it on? Planning: We need creative ideas on how to make this happen. For example, perhaps funds could be raised through an "Adopt-a-Species" approach, in which donators are rewarded with a certificate saying "You helped save 1000 endangered species." Those interested should write FI to volunteer. Be aware that this is still in the idea stage; we are just now starting a database of volunteers. If you are experienced and concerned enough to head up the effort, perhaps to coordinate other volunteers, please call us at 415-364-8609. Nanotechnology Course About fifty students attended the ten-week course on "Nanotechnology and Exploratory Engineering" taught by FI's president Eric Drexler at Stanford during the spring quarter. The main body of the course was highly technical, drawing from the disciplines of physics, chemistry, computation, and engineering. Later sessions addressed applications in space development, warfare, and medicine, along with policy issues and an analysis of where we are today in developing the technology. The course was audiotaped, and Jim Stevenson of NASA Ames and Jim Turney of Liberty Audio have volunteered to help produce a set of tapes suitable for distribution by FI. Please do not contact us yet for copies; we'll announce when they're ready. The tapes will probably not be transcribed, since they run for about twenty hours. Many people have contacted us for further information on the course, such as which textbook was used. Engines of Creation was recommended reading, but copies of Drexler's technical papers were used as the main course notes. These are the same papers we've referenced in the FI Updates and Backgrounds. We can send you a copy of the syllabus; just send a stamped, self-addressed envelope. A molecular mechanics handout is also available, but will only be comprehensible to those who already have some knowledge of molecular mechanics. Many have also asked when the course will be taught again: there are no plans to repeat the course in the immediate future. Instead, the instructor is working on a technical book which will both contain much more information than can be conveyed in the classroom and will be available to many more people. Manufacturing with Nanotechnology by Jerry Fass Nanotechnology-based manufacturing techniques should yield great increases in productivity and wealth. Improvements in two techniques in particular will greatly decrease resource requirements: the incorporation of voids, and wearproofing. Voids Whenever possible, objects can incorporate carefully shaped voids to save cost and mass. Generally, voids are more useful for large systems or those under low loads. They can range in size from arbitrarily large down to a fraction of a nanometer wide; the upper limit is set by device size, the lower by the scale of atoms. For structures under light compressive loads, voids formed in fractal patterns can yield maximum efficiency. Today's bulk manufacturing can produce large, irregular voids at reasonable cost, as in foam rubber and insulation. Nanomachines should be able to produce uniform voids down to one atom across, thereby cutting the mass, cost, energy, and time needed for production. The biggest gains will be for objects with structural loads in pure compression or mixed compression and tension; fortunately this includes the majority of objects we use, such as furniture, doors, most walls, and appliances. The void fraction of these could be very high, perhaps 99% or more. Highly loaded objects (e.g., engine parts) will benefit less, and highly loaded tension systems (e.g., cables and pressure vessels) will benefit little. Incorporating voids, combined with scavenging heavy pre-nanotechnology parts, will allow us to recycle old systems into multiple new ones without new material resources, reducing the need for mining and refining. Wearproofing Wear limits the lives of mechanical and structural systems, which often attain a reasonable lifetime only by having worn-out parts replaced. (An annoying example is the modern automobile). Wear is cumulative and can seem exponential, as worn parts increase wear on other parts. The aim of wearproofing is to head off the wear process, with the increasingly ambitious goals of longer-lasting parts, zero-wear parts, and finally self-repair. Using nanotechnology, we can expect improvements in: -- Tribology--the science of why and how objects wear. Nanomachines should greatly aid collection of data needed to further advance this field. -- Hardness--surfaces of harder materials wear more slowly. Surfaces of ceramic or diamond, or perhaps the new form of carbon, "C8", reported by Soviet researchers, will last much longer. Nanomachines could apply such coatings, and powerful computers may allow us to design new ones. -- Friction control--lubricants and bearings. All three means of lubrication--solids (Teflon, graphite), liquids (oil), and gases (air)--are improving rapidly thanks to improved data and computer analysis. Contact bearings will benefit from ever-tighter tolerances and more rugged materials. A revolutionary non-contact bearing, the electromagnetic bearing, repulsively or attractively levitates moving parts in a magnetic or electric field, with zero friction; wear can often be practically eliminated by having such a bearing gently "land" a part after it stops moving. The new high-temperature superconductors will make such bearings smaller, stronger, and more precise; since they are often computer-controlled, nanocomputers will be helpful too. And of course, Drexler's suggested atomically-precise sigma bond and van der Waals bearings will not wear in any conventional sense. Wear on tools can be reduced even for bulk processes by forming parts using non-contact methods such as explosives, lasers, electron beams, plasma torches, water jets, and electromagnetic forming instead of drill bits, grinding wheels, and the like. There may be uses where such macro-tools forever outperform nano-tools: perhaps in well drilling, tunneling, and excavating. Synergies between the above techniques can be expected; for example, making an object with voids but covering the surface with diamond. And besides saving energy in manufacturing, we can expect to do so in transport as well: objects will last longer and so need to be delivered less often, they will weigh less when they do need transport, and with nanoproduction systems--quiet, small, flexible, and clean--manufacturing on-site becomes a possibility. But eventually, we can expect self-repair to solve the wear problem. Jerry Fass is a part-time science writer based in Wisconsin. He also coordinates FI's journal monitoring project. Upcoming Meetings: [I've deleted those that already happened -- JoSH] Second Conference on Molecular Electronics and Biocomputers, Sept. 1989, Pushchino, USSR. Contact Dr. P.I. Lazarev, Research Computing Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Pushchino, Moscow Region, 142292 USSR. 4th International Symposium on Molecular Electronic Devices, Oct. 1989, Baltimore/DC area. Contact Dr. Richard Potember, 301-953-6251. Letters: The Foresight Institute receives hundreds of letters requesting information and sending ideas. Herewith some excerpts: One of the things that would be most helpful to me right now is a micro-hypertext system that could be used for organizing my personal and professional work. If you're going to be developing hypertext, why not plan from the beginning for a PC version to which it could interface but which could be marketed separately. John Simms Math Dept. Marquette University An interesting question for proponents of nanotechnology: The prototype products could well cost trillions in research and development. Producers are faced with bringing very expensive products to market, while new competitors, privy to many of the same memes, could bring very similar products to market literally dirt cheap. Where is the incentive for pioneering efforts? Robert J. Hurt Denver, CO I am interested in doing molecular graphics on my own computer. However, it's not a Macintosh, but rather an IBM-PC XT clone. Do you know of any (reasonably priced) molecular graphics programs for IBM compatibles? I've been working on writing my own, but I'm a better programmer than chemist. I believe that the time is ripe for a low end molecular CAD [computer-aided design] program. The hardware is adequate, if you don't require real time animation. The interest is there. It would really aid this field if a standard data format could be established, to avoid the incompatibilities found between rival mechanical CAD programs. The more people we can get hacking away at new molecular devices, and the better they can communicate, the sooner we will get assembler technology. I would just as soon have the breakthrough made by private industry or individuals [rather than governments]. Brett P. Bellmore Capac, MI Computer modeling of molecules, and eventually of molecular machines, is a key part of the path to nanotechnology. Jerry Fass has brought to our attention a shareware program called MoleculeM for building and displaying 3D models of molecular structures. It is said to have built-in bonding and ionization rules and full rotation abilities. The companion program Chemview is said to make animated 3D rotation models with each atom a different color. For a free catalog call Public Brand Software at 800-426-3475. However, much more sophisticated programs will be required to do the modeling we need. There's a commercial opportunity here. --Editor Talks Talks on nanotechnology continue to expose the concepts to critique and refinement. These have included: a presentation to an academic audience at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; a keynote talk for DEC's Futures of Computing Workshop; a talk at IBM Santa Teresa as part of their Advanced Education Series, and a presentation to Upjohn executives. Other recent talks include a talk by Dr. Ralph Merkle on "Nanotechnology: Implications for Life Extension" at a conference in early September, a talk to the Government Systems Management Club of Control Data, and a lecture to a class at the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin. Past talks at the Third International Conference on Supercomputing and the National Space Society's Space Development Conference will appear as papers in the proceedings volumes; we'll let you know when they're available. Talks on other topics of interest to FI have included a presentation by Mark S. Miller on Agoric Open Systems at the Open Systems Workshop held at Xerox PARC in June, and a talk on "Hypertext Publishing and the Evolution of Knowledge" at Sun Microsystems in July. How Many Bytes in Human Memory? by Ralph Merkle Today it is commonplace to compare the human brain to a computer, and the human mind to a program running on that computer. Once seen as just a poetic metaphor, this viewpoint is now supported by most philosophers of human consciousness and most researchers in artificial intelligence. If we take this view literally, then just as we can ask how many megabytes of RAM a PC has we should be able to ask how many megabytes (or gigabytes, or terabytes, or whatever) of memory the human brain has. Several approximations to this number have already appeared in the literature based on "hardware" considerations (though in the case of the human brain perhaps the term "wetware" is more appropriate). One estimate of 1020 bits is actually an early estimate (by Von Neumann in The Computer and the Brain) of all the neural impulses conducted in the brain during a lifetime. This number is almost certainly larger than the true answer. Another method is to estimate the total number of synapses, and then presume that each synapse can hold a few bits. Estimates of the number of synapses have been made in the range from 1013 to 1015, with corresponding estimates of memory capacity. A fundamental problem with these approaches is that they rely on rather poor estimates of the raw hardware in the system. The brain is highly redundant and not well understood: the mere fact that a great mass of synapses exists does not imply that they are in fact all contributing to memory capacity. This makes the work of Thomas K. Landauer very interesting, for he has entirely avoided this hardware guessing game by measuring the actual functional capacity of human memory directly (See "How Much Do People Remember? Some Estimates of the Quantity of Learned Information in Long-term Memory", in Cognitive Science 10, 477-493, 1986). Landauer works at Bell Communications Research--closely affiliated with Bell Labs where the modern study of information theory was begun by C. E. Shannon to analyze the information carrying capacity of telephone lines (a subject of great interest to a telephone company). Landauer naturally used these tools by viewing human memory as a novel "telephone line" that carries information from the past to the future. The capacity of this "telephone line" can be determined by measuring the information that goes in and the information that comes out, and then applying the great power of modern information theory. Landauer reviewed and quantitatively analyzed experiments by himself and others in which people were asked to read text, look at pictures, and hear words, short passages of music, sentences, and nonsense syllables. After delays ranging from minutes to days the subjects were tested to determine how much they had retained. The tests were quite sensitive--they did not merely ask "What do you remember?" but often used true/false or multiple choice questions, in which even a vague memory of the material would allow selection of the correct choice. Often, the differential abilities of a group that had been exposed to the material and another group that had not been exposed to the material were used. The difference in the scores between the two groups was used to estimate the amount actually remembered (to control for the number of correct answers an intelligent human could guess without ever having seen the material). Because experiments by many different experimenters were summarized and analyzed, the results of the analysis are fairly robust; they are insensitive to fine details or specific conditions of one or another experiment. Finally, the amount remembered was divided by the time allotted to memorization to determine the number of bits remembered per second. The remarkable result of this work was that human beings remembered very nearly two bits per second under all the experimental conditions. Visual, verbal, musical, or whatever--two bits per second. Continued over a lifetime, this rate of memorization would produce somewhat over 109 bits, or a few hundred megabytes. While this estimate is probably only accurate to within an order of magnitude, Landauer says "We need answers at this level of accuracy to think about such questions as: What sort of storage and retrieval capacities will computers need to mimic human performance? What sort of physical unit should we expect to constitute the elements of information storage in the brain: molecular parts, synaptic junctions, whole cells, or cell-circuits? What kinds of coding and storage methods are reasonable to postulate for the neural support of human capabilities? In modeling or mimicking human intelligence, what size of memory and what efficiencies of use should we imagine we are copying? How much would a robot need to know to match a person?" What is interesting about Landauer's estimate is its small size. Perhaps more interesting is the trend--from Von Neumann's early and very high estimate, to the high estimates based on rough synapse counts, to a better supported and more modest estimate based on information theoretic considerations. While Landauer doesn't measure everything (he did not measure, for example, the bit rate in learning to ride a bicycle, nor does his estimate even consider the size of "working memory") his estimate of memory capacity suggests that the capabilities of the human brain are more approachable than we had thought. While this might come as a blow to our egos, it suggests that we could build a device with the skills and abilities of a human being with little more hardware than we now have--if only we knew the correct way to organize that hardware. Dr. Merkle's interests range from neurophysiology to computer security. He recently spoke on nanotechnology and biostasis at the Life Against Death Conference in San Francisco. Molecular CAD A computer graphics researcher at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic (Department of Molecular Biology) would like to collaborate with others sharing his interest in computer-aided design tools leading toward nanotechnology. Interested readers with skills useful to such a project should send a letter to FI for forwarding to Scripps. Hypertext Publishing Progress by Chris Peterson Over twenty years after it was first envisioned, the goal of hypertext publishing is finally near. As late as a year ago interest in a system for publishing, not just swapping stand-alone hypertexts, was still confined to a few scattered proponents. As a last resort, FI was even considering trying to fund development of a system ourselves, since the commercial sector seemed so uninterested. But now this has changed. Why has interest in the topic bloomed after so many years? Ironically, much of it may be traceable to a misunderstanding. When Apple Computer was ready to bring out a new software construction kit named "Wildcard," they found the name already taken, and the owner unwilling to sell it. (Files created by the final program are still labeled internally as created by "WILD.") Marketing settled on the substitute name "HyperCard." Long-time hypertext proponents were annoyed by the name and by advertising which touted the product as hypertext, since HyperCard is not hypertext as the word had been used. They correctly assumed that confusion would result. But as Xanadu hypertext pioneer Ted Nelson has pointed out, the publicity has been good for hypertext: people assumed that if Apple was interested in hypertext, it must be good. Suddenly it was all the rage, and in this avalanche of interest there were a few farsighted people who focused on the original vision. And those people are making all the difference. John Walker of Autodesk, who had been interested in hypertext long before HyperCard, is said to have assumed that (surely!) some large company was funding hypertext development. He was reportedly appalled to find instead that the classical hypertext development group, Xanadu, was scraping along on volunteer labor. Fortunately, as chairman of Autodesk--a company best known for its highly-popular AutoCAD computer aided design products--he was in a position to solve this problem. Arranging for Autodesk to acquire 80% of Xanadu Operating Company was a challenge: in its many years of struggling corporate existence Xanadu had accumulated many stakeholders and piles of confusing legal paperwork. Closing the deal became a task for Roger Gregory (longtime leader of the group) working with Phil Salin of the aptly-named consulting team, Venture Acceleration. The heartfelt thanks of all of us who've longed for real hypertext go to these three people. A side note: we were pleased to hear from John Walker that FI's president Eric Drexler played a role in this as well: the vision of hypertext publishing presented in his book, Engines of Creation, helped convince Autodesk to proceed with the unorthodox deal. Now Xanadu is rolling: the company has offices, equipment, and a programming team at work turning out product. At this spring's West Coast Computer Faire they announced plans to release their first product within 18 months. This will be hypertext software for individuals and small groups of under ten people, using technology of the sort needed for a full public hypertext publishing system, and providing a stepping stone toward the larger system. The Xanadu system is divided conceptually into two parts, the backend and the frontend. The backend handles storage, retrieval, versioning, linking, and editing of data with no knowledge of the nature of the data being handled, and with no direct contact with the user. Frontends are advanced application packages that: -- interact with users, -- interface to input and output devices, -- interpret the stored data as text, graphics, or music, -- format data for display, -- incorporate numeric manipulations and other operations to be carried out on data, -- are specialized to serve particular market needs, -- create, implement, and manage the metaphors for working in hypertext and hypermedia environments. Frontends for Xanadu will be primarily produced by third party developers. Late this year, experimental versions of the backend software will begin to be licensed to researchers and advanced software developers interested in starting hands-on hypertext experience and thinking about design issues for front-end software. (The functionalities of the experimental version will be carried forward in the software product, but the syntax is expected to change.) Such developers should write for further information: Xanadu Operating Company, 550 California Ave., Suite 101, Palo Alto, CA 94306, Attn: Gayle Pergamit. Interest in hypertext publishing now extends beyond Xanadu. ON Technology--run by Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development--is developing an object-oriented software platform which could be extended to support hypertext publishing. ON is rumored to be considering this possibility, which may be within reach now that (according to MacWeek) they have obtained $3 million in venture capital. Apple has formed a working group on "collaborative hypertext." Combine this with their existing efforts in hypertext and it adds up to real interest; Apple will have a big impact on this field if it chooses. Keep an eye on Doug Engelbart & Co. too; as a hypertext pioneer he is well-placed to stimulate the creation of a valuable system. He and colleagues Howard Franklin and Christina Engelbart have not yet announced their plans, but if Doug doesn't build a new system himself, he will inspire further efforts by others. In the nonprofit sphere, software developers are aiming to incorporate hypertext publishing features into USENET, the giant international computer network running on UNIX-based computers. Several brainstorming meetings were held in the San Francisco area in May, led by Eric Raymond (eric@snark.uucp or uunet!snark!eric). Meanwhile Kirk Kelley at Sun Microsystems is working to ensure that the various hypertext systems will be able to exchange information. This is a critical effort--having conflicting standards in hypertext publishing would be like having conflicting standards for phone lines or fax machines: isolated systems would offer inferior service, hampering communication and the growth of knowledge (but eventually linking up or disappearing). There is enough known activity that there are likely to be other hypertext publishing efforts still under wraps. We'll try to keep you up to date in these pages, since so many FI participants have an intense interest in this field. Another publication to watch is the new magazine HyperAge, six issues a year for $20 in the US. To subscribe using a credit card, call 800-682-2000. The Road to Nanomachine Design by Thomas Donaldson One of the contributions by K. Eric Drexler to nanotechnology was his success with estimating the behavior of nanomachines by using simple mechanical calculations. Ultimately, however, these exploratory engineering calculations remain approximations only. Serious nanomachine design will require much more. Almost certainly it needs very powerful computers able to carry out dynamic calculations on large molecules. These calculations need lots of computer power. Specialized chemical workstations with prices in the range of $200,000 already exist. To speed nanotechnology along what we really want is lower price computers, ideally costing no more than a Mac II. There is a wide open road to just such a computer. Technology for chemical design workstations costing about $40,000 exists right now, for the trouble of assembling a system from standard boards (unfortunately not done yet). The same parts will cost far less in a few years (so Popular NanoMechanics may start publication soon). The technology depends on the Transputer, a chip specially designed for parallel processing. Computer System Architects sells IBM PC boards with 16 Transputer chips and 16 megabytes of memory for $28,000. Chemical Design Ltd, a British company, already sells a chemical design workstation, the MITIE 1000, which can contain as many as 36 independent Transputers. The smallest MITIE 1000 sells for $170,000. The MITIE calculates as much as 72 times faster than a VAX 8600, analyzing the conformation and dynamics of large molecules at supercomputer speeds. The MITIE contains a microVAX as a host machine; the remaining modules run on the VAX. Chemical Design has about 250 customers around the world, including Glaxo, Rhone-Poulenc, Fisons, Dupont, American Cyanamid, Merck, and Hoffmann-LaRoche. The program ChemX contains specific modules for building and displaying the molecule (ChemCore), modelling molecules (fitting, analyzing the conformation: ChemModel), designing proteins (ChemProtein), and carrying out calculations to find minimum energy states (ChemQM). There are also library modules to maintain a large database (ChemLib: the recommended size of hard disk for a single-user system is 70 Megabytes). Any molecular machine we design must be chemically stable in the environment for which we design it. We must therefore make sure not just that the molecule would be stable if isolated from all other chemicals but also that the system will withstand likely chemical attack. Molecules will try to attain minimum energy states, and their excited states are also of interest. To resolve all of these issues will require very fast chemical design software. Ultimately software for nanomachine design will do much more, but even existing chemical design software running on an affordable workstation puts us far ahead. What about the software? Unfortunately, porting software to a parallel computer usually requires a total rewrite of any modules in which you expect to use parallelism. Porting should be a cooperative effort between someone versed in parallel computing and someone versed in chemical design software. When someone will get a chemical design show on the road, porting software to a MAC II-transputer system, isn't clear to me. My own expertise lies in parallel computing. Anyone interested can reach me through Foresight Update. Dr. Thomas Donaldson currently writes software for a transputer machine for the FEM market. He pioneered the idea of artificial enzyme systems as an approach to cell repair. Biostasis Research Biostasis research at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation has been disrupted by a grandstanding local official who, presumably in an effort to generate media coverage to help his re-election, has been harassing Alcor. This intimidation has ranged from confiscation of equipment and records to threats of criminal charges. To our knowledge Alcor has done nothing to merit this treatment, but this fact doesn't lessen the legal bills they are accumulating as a result of defending against these bogus charges. Those who are interested in ensuring the continuation of state-of-the-art biostasis research and services should send their contributions to Alcor Life Extension Foundation, 12327 Doherty St., Riverside, CA 92503, phone 714-736-1703. Thanks As usual there are too many people who deserve thanks for all to be listed here, but the following is a representative group: Michael Whitelock, John Alden, and Ray Alden for budget help; Gayle Pergamit, Brian Quig, and Dennis Gentry for help in our Executive Director search; Jeff Soreff for technical work; Marvin Minsky for encouragement; Gerald Feinberg for talking to the press; Stewart Brand and Nils Nilsson for spreading the word; Blair Newman for making valuable contacts; Ed Niehaus for marketing advice; James Dinkelacker for strategic advice; Steve Hyde for setting up the Colorado Springs talk; Jerry Fass (and many others) for sending information; Pat Wagner and Leif Smith for book recommendations. Books are listed in order of increasing specialization and level of reading challenge. Your suggestions are welcome. --Editor Prisons We Choose to Live Inside, by Doris Lessing, Harper & Row, 1987, paper, $6.95. A small book with high impact, as asserted on the cover. An eloquent plea for integrating what little we know of the social sciences into education, to help us primates stop repeating Milgram experiment-type horrors. Moving Mountains, by Henry M. Boettinger, Collier Macmillan, 1975, paper, $5.95. A practical treatise on convincing others to share your ideas. "The first truly modern and truly searching essay on rhetoric--in the classical meaning of the term--in the last three or four hundred years."--Peter Drucker The Social Brain, by Michael S. Gazzaniga, Basic Books, 1987, paper, $8.95. A neuroscientist argues that the brain is more a social entity, a vast confederacy of relatively independent modules, each of which processes information and activates its own thoughts and actions. This view has some similarity to Minsky's Society of Mind theory. The writing is anecdotal and enjoyable. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte, Graphics Press, 1983, hardcover, $34. A beautiful book explaining the right ways (and ridiculing the wrong ways) to present numerical information. Amusing and visually enjoyable, it inspires the reader to support Tufte's high standards. Fun to browse; makes a great gift. How Superstition Won and Science Lost, by John C. Burnham, Rutgers, 1987, paper, $16. Tracks the decline in the quality of science popularization by the media over the past century and shows how this has undermined the impact of science and strengthened the forces of irrationalism. What Sort of People Should There Be?, by Jonathan Glover, Pelican, 1984, paper, $5.95. An Oxford philosopher looks at the emotional and ethical issues raised by (hypothetical) advanced technologies able to alter the human form, control the brain, and create artificial intelligences. Covers such topics as possible abuse of the technologies, and what people will do once there is no need to "work." Neurophilosophy, by Patricia Smith Churchland, MIT Press, 1986, hardcover, $29.95. Begins with the neurosciences, then proceeds through AI, connectionist research, and philosophy to give a picture of how the brain works. Skillfully written and very readable. Evolutionary Epistemology, Theory of Rationality, and the Sociology of Knowledge, ed. by Gerard Radnitzky and W.W. Bartley, III, Open Court, 1987, paper. A collection of essays on a powerful theory of how knowledge grows: by evolution through variation and selective retention. Treats knowledge as an objective evolutionary product, and offers insights into evolutionary processes in general. Authors include Sir Karl Popper. Neural Darwinism, by Gerald Edelman, Basic Books, 1987, hardcover, $29.95. Having won a Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, the author now examines how the brain works, presenting his theory of neuronal group selection. A difficult book with significant ideas. Nanotechnology BBS For those with access to computers on the USENET, there is now a Netnews group, sci.nanotech, for the discussion of nanotechnology. (The USENET newsgroups form a large, distributed, hierarchical electronic bulletin board.) If your site receives some Netnews groups but not sci.nanotech, tell your system administrator that it is a "moderated, technical, low-volume" group. The moderator is J. Storrs Hall (rutgers!klaatu.rutgers.edu!josh or josh@klaatu.rutgers.edu), who can answer specific questions about the group by electronic mail. There is also a newly formed biostasis mailing list, run by Kevin Q. Brown. Send queries to ho4cad!kqb@att.att.com. Copyright Policy FI's standard arrangement with our writers is as follows: we copyright the material and may use it in the future, including in other forms such as recordings, videos, and electronic publications. The writer also is welcome to use the material; we ask that the credits indicate where it was first published. Writers desiring different arrangements can be accommodated; please consult the editor. We urge those who write for commercial publications to retain electronic publishing rights for your own use on future hypertext publishing systems. Help Many libraries do not have Engines of Creation indexed under the subject "nanotechnology." Readers are asked to check their favorite libraries, especially those at universities, and if necessary ask the librarian to correct this omission. Kantrowitz Joins Board Arthur Kantrowitz has joined Gerald Feinberg, Stewart Brand, and Marvin Minsky on FI's Board of Advisors. Now a professor of engineering at Dartmouth, Dr. Kantrowitz is the founder and former CEO of the Avco Everett Research Laboratory. His technical interests have ranged from space transportation to power generation to artificial hearts, but FI readers may know him better as the originator of the Science Adversary Procedure, popularly known as the Science Court. Dr. Kantrowitz is also active in the space development movement and served for years as Chairman of the L5 Society. We plan in future issues to give profiles of all four Advisors. The Materials of Nanotechnology by Russell Mills The road to nanotechnology consists of several converging paths, each leading independently to the Assembler Breakthrough -- the building of the first general molecular fabricators. Biotechnology is one of these paths, but not necessarily the shortest one. Biotechnology seeks to understand and manipulate the molecules we have inherited through traditional evolutionary processes, focusing particularly on two chainlike molecules: proteins (chains of amino acids) and nucleic acids (chains of sugar and phosphate molecules with pyrimidine and purine bases attachments). Nanotechnology, by contrast, deals with any material, chainlike or not, that can be designed and assembled atom-by-atom. In this sense nanotechnology is broader than biotechnology. What materials will form the basis of the Assembler Breakthrough? One could argue that proteins and nucleic acids have the best (in fact, the only ) "track record" as substrates for nanomachinery, and that these are therefore the materials of choice for building nanomachinery. But the qualities that made nucleic acids and proteins good choices as biological materials on the Earth several billion years ago are less relevant to nanotechnology today. Evolution selected them because of their chainlike structure and the ready availability of their component parts on prebiotic Earth. Molecular chains are favored over other structures because they can be copied and repaired by relatively simple molecular machines; Earth's evolutionary process places a premium on simplicity by emphasizing individual self-reliance -- each individual organism is forced to contain most of the machinery needed for its own maintenance and replication. Nanotechnology presents a very different situation: we do not want self-reliant assemblers. We will build assemblers that rely on us for support, and cannot function without externally supplied information, energy, or assistance in replication. This freedom from traditional evolutionary constraints opens up design possibilities that have never been exploited biologically. Even if, for historical reasons, the easiest route to nanotechnology turns out to lead through protein-based assemblers programmed with information conveyed by nucleic acid molecules, we should expect a rapid transition to better materials. Let's look at where we stand in understanding and using traditional nanomachinery, then look at some developments in less traditional areas. Protein structure & applications The ability to redesign existing proteins (e.g., enzymes, regulatory proteins, receptor proteins), or to design new ones, depends on understanding the detailed relationship between function and configuration. The amino acid sequences making up proteins are determined by direct analysis or from translation of the DNA or RNA sequences that encode them. These methods generate data rapidly. On the other hand, 3D maps of proteins in their functional configurations are obtained by X-ray crystallography, sometimes with the aid of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These are time-consuming methods. The different rates at which these techniques can be used has given rise to a growing gap between the availability of sequence data and its interpretation and application: -- Sequence data is available for more than 8000 proteins and is accumulating at an exponential rate (doubling time about 2 years) [1]. -- Only about 400 proteins have been spatially mapped. The number of these maps increases linearly (about 40 proteins per year). [1, 4] Sequence data alone gives little indication of function. Progress in understanding protein function requires spatial maps, but proteins are difficult to crystallize in forms suitable for X-ray crystallography. This obstacle is now being surmounted by growing protein crystals on a mineral substrate, such as magnetite. The atomic spacing in the mineral surface seems to affect the pattern of deposition of protein molecules; the result has been the ability to grow some protein crystals with unprecedented ease, and in forms never before seen [5]. THE FOLDING PROBLEM. Proteins fold up into their functional conformations with little or no outside help; this implies that the amino acid chain itself contains the information needed to specify the folding pattern. A fast way to acquire useful data on protein function might therefore be to compute the most stable spatial configuration of protein chains from energy considerations and sequence data alone. This approach, known as "the folding problem", has slowly been yielding to efforts to solve it [7]. The general case has proved too difficult to carry out with present-day computers, but the problem size can be reduced in several ways [1, 4]: -- For proteins with sequences similar to proteins of known structure, take parts of the known structure as givens. -- Statistical properties of a sequence can identify segments that lie inside or outside the folded protein, or segments that make contact with a lipid matrix (suggesting a protein destined for a cell membrane). -- NMR data can put constraints on distances between specific amino acids residues in the folded protein. -- Exon shuffling (the swapping of DNA segments within the genome that is known to occur in genes associated with the immune system, and may turn out to be a much more general phenomenon) suggests that proteins are actually composed of a relatively small number of modular units. A number of such modules have already been identified, but it is not known to what extent all proteins are modular in this sense. To the extent that they are, the folding problem would reduce to a calculation of the packing configuration of a given set of prefolded modules. THE ACTIVITY PROBLEM Some investigators, ignoring spatial conformation, are trying to determine the functions of proteins from statistical properties of their sequences. They have determined, for example, that antigenic activity correlates with certain periodic variation of hydrophobic residues along a sequence. [4] THE DESIGN PROBLEM Despite difficulties with the folding problem and the activity problem, progress has been made (as predicted in 1981 [17]) in solving the design problem: to design a protein sequence that will give rise to a given activity. Several approaches are being pursued: -- Limit the design to include only those aspects of protein folding which are already understood. For example, W. DeGrado at duPont has designed and built a protein that self-folds into a 4-helix bundle. It might be modified to incorporate biological functions [7]. -- Design a protein from native components. T. A. Jones of Univ. of Uppsala has used this approach to build retinol-binding protein by fitting together 22 fragments from other proteins. The resulting protein has a different amino-acid sequence than the protein it mimics, but has the same shape [1]. Similar modeling of triose phosphate isomerase and lactate dehydrogenase has been done by S. Wodak of l'Universite Libre de Bruxelles. -- Modify existing proteins. One recent effort at protein modification involves a redesign of the antimicrobial drug trimethoprim (TMP) to make it less toxic. Toxicity results from TMP attacking human dihydrofolate reductase (dHFR) in addition to bacterial dHFR, its intended target. The strategy being taken is to reduce the floppi-ness of the TMP molecule, so that it fits only its target and not human dHFR. [1] Another example is a redesign of glucose isomerase (commercially important in corn syrup production) to improve its efficiency, by taking cues from the structure of triose phosphate isomerase, an enzyme that catalyzes a different reaction but does so 10,000 times faster. [1] Genex has developed a technique for redesigning antibody molecules. The result is a much smaller antibody that consists of a single chain instead of four chains, is much easier to produce in quantity, elicits fewer side effects when used in patients, is more stable, and binds better to the target molecules. The trick is to use computer-designed sequences of amino-acids to link together binding sites which formerly were located on separate protein chains. The technique may lend itself to the redesign of many other useful protein molecules besides antibodies. [15] Nucleic acid structure Nucleic acids are sequenced either by chopping them into pieces of all possible lengths, or by causing them to grow into such a set of pieces in the first place, and then separating the pieces by electrophoresis. The sequencing procedure is even easier than that of proteins, and some of the steps have been automated. -- About 20 million nucleotides from hundreds of organisms have been sequenced and the number is increasing exponentially. The doubling time, currently 2 to 3 years, is expected to decrease sharply soon. A sequencing rate of one million bases per day is anticipated by 1996. [4] As with proteins, to know the sequence is not to know the function. Some of the most interesting and useful biological information resides in the local geometry of nucleic acids: information about gene boundaries, regulatory binding sites, polymerase binding sites, ribosomal sites, posttranslational modification sites, etc. While the average spatial architecture of nucleic acids is known in detail, local variations in this architecture are hard to study and data is sparse [4]. -- The number of nucleic acid structures known from crystallographic studies is less than 40. -- Statistical analysis of nucleic acid sequences can identify some of these structures in DNA, and can be done by computer. Reliability varies greatly, but is as high as 90% in some cases. Nontraditional materials SELF-ASSEMBLING MEMBRANES A traditional cell membrane is like a sea of inert material with, here and there, a floating island of protein machinery. The sea is a mixture of fatty molecules (phospholipids, like lecithin) and cholesterol molecules, the relative proportions of which determine how wavy and flexible the surface is. Typically the protein machines extend all the way through the cell membrane, providing specialized communications links (or in some cases pores) between the inside and outside of the cell. By determining what goes in and comes out of a cell, the cell membrane defines the relations a cell has with the external world. It is therefore intriguing to think of what might be possible if such membranes could be deliberately altered, or if entirely different kinds of active membranes could be designed and synthesized. At the Weizmann Institute of Science a group led by Israel Rubinstein is making membranes from molecules chosen for their ability to mimic one function of biological membranes: the ability to recognize ions in the solution surrounding the cell. These investigators have found that a mixture of 2,2'-thiobisethyl acetoacetate (TBEA) and n-octadecyl mercaptan (OM) will spontaneously assemble into a layer one molecule thick on a gold electrode. TBEA is the active element; OM plugs gaps between TBEA molecules preventing direct access to the gold substrate. When the coated electrode is put in a solution with copper and iron ions, it is found that copper ions are reduced to elemental copper, whereas iron ions are unaffected. The mechanism depends on the fact that TBEA molecules have two arms that open just wide enough for a copper ion to slip in and bind to four oxygens projecting from the arms. This brings the copper ion to within 7 angstroms (.7 nm) of the gold substrate -- close enough for electrons to pass by quantum-mechanical tunneling from the substrate to the copper. Because of their geometry, iron atoms are not accepted into the arms of TBEA. [13, 14] SYNTHETIC NANO-EFFECTORS A group at UCLA led by Donald J. Cram has launched a full-scale attack on the problem of nano-effector design [16]. Working entirely away from the protein/nucleic acid path blazed by terrestrial evolution over the past several billion years, this group has designed hundreds of molecules of varying shapes, hoping to learn how to make molecules with desired catalytic properties. Cram's co-workers synthesized more than 75 of these designed molecules and subjected them to X-ray crystallography to check the correspondence between design and actual structure. A series of compounds of gradually increasing complexity was then tested for the intended activity: in one case the ability to selectively bind certain ions (lithium, sodium, potassium, and others). The compounds performed extremely well. In another set of experiments, the aim was to build molecules able to discriminate between D- and L- amino acids and ester salts -- a task that seemed intractable earlier in this century. So successful were their efforts that the investigators were able to build a machine based on the designed molecules; when a 50-50 D-L mixture was poured into the machine, the machine delivered two solutions with 86 to 90% separation of the two substances. In yet another branch of their work, Cram's group is designing molecules that mimic the actions of enzymes. Free of the requirement to build everything out of amino acids, they have been able to come up with molecules far smaller (though not easier to make) than the enzymes being imitated. Their mimic for the enzyme chymotrypsin has been synthesized and tested; it proved to have some, but not all, of the functionality of chymotrypsin itself. DIAMOND Diamond is in the news, and this is good news for nanotechnology. Diamond is a prime candidate material for building nanomachines for several reasons: the tetrahedral geometry of its bonds lets it be shaped in three dimensions without becoming floppy; it is made of carbon, the chemistry of which is well understood; and carbon atoms make a variety of useful bonds with other types of atoms. Diamond research may therefore advance nanotechnology even when it is pursued for its short-term commercial potential. Progress in understanding and making diamonds has been driven mainly by work done in the Soviet Union [8, 9]: -- In the 1930s Soviet scientists calculated a phase diagram for diamond and began looking for easy ways to synthesize diamond. -- In the 1950s, while American industry started manufacturing diamonds at 2,000 C and 55,000 atmospheres pressure, Soviet scientists developed a vapor deposition method for growing diamond fibers at 1,000 C and low pressures. -- During the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet group improved on this process, aiming to produce diamond films. The technological implications of diamond films have recently been realized in Japan and the U.S., and so a race has begun to develop this technology. Dramatic discoveries are being made: -- At the University of Texas 10-nanosecond laser pulses are being used to vaporize graphite, which then deposits as a film 20 nm thick over areas as large as 10 square centimeters. The film is diamond-like, but may turn out to be something new. [3] -- Soviet researchers report the discovery of a new form of carbon much harder than diamond, called C8. They use an ion beam of low energy to produce thin films of the substance. Carbon atoms in C8 appear to have tetrahedral bonds, but the lattice is somehow different than in diamond--it may simply be somewhat random, resembling a glass rather than a crystal. [8] Much of the new interest in diamond is motivated by near-term commercial applications like diamond-coated razor blades, scratch-resistant windows and radiation-resistant semiconductors for nuclear missiles. The C8 results, however, are of special relevance to nanotechnology, showing us that diamond is just the default form of more general tetrahedral bonding patterns for carbon. Choosing from among the many possible departures from crystalline regularity may turn out to be an important of nanomachine design. Speaking of crystallinity ... a "new state of matter" has been announced, called the nanocrystal [6]. The nanocrystalline state is one in which roughly half the atoms occupy sites in crystal grains, while the other half are free to move between and around the grains. Both populations of atoms have the same chemical composition (titanium oxide, for example), and atoms are easily exchanged between the grains and the matrix. The response of such a material to strain is plastic rather than brittle, because grains can change shape quickly instead of hammering against each other or being forced apart (cracking). This flow of atoms and restructuring of grains does not turn the material into a liquid or a putty; at macro scales, nanocrystalline materials are as solid as their ordinary counterparts. Nanocrystallinity is a function of grain size. In nanocrystals the grains are about 10 nanometers across -- 1000 times smaller than in ordinary materials. Small grain size implies large surface-to-volume ratio and short diffusion "circuits" around the grains -- hence, rapid response to strain. In the case of nanocrystalline copper, self-diffusion at 20-120 C is increased by 19 orders of magnitude over ordinary copper! J. Israelachvili and collaborators are studying the properties of bulk materials as one or more dimensions of a system is reduced to the size of a few molecules or less [10, 11]. Previous work has shown that some properties remain similar to bulk properties: e.g., refractive index, dielectric constant, and surface energy. Now they have undertaken to measure viscosity in thin films trapped between two solid surfaces. They report that as the liquid layer thins to less than 10 molecular diameters the liquid stops acting like a continuum and comes to resemble a series of layers; the principles of viscosity no longer describe the relationship between shear forces and sliding motion. The amount of force required to initiate sliding (the critical shear stress) is much greater in such systems than that predicted by extrapolating from bulk properties. Taken at face value this suggests that nanomachines with moving parts would get stuck unless the parts remained in continuous motion, even when lubricants are present. But a better interpretation is that the concept of liquid lubrication becomes meaningless at the nanometer scale. Liquids, the atoms of which are not tied down, evade part of the design process. This is acceptable in a bulk machine, but not in a nanomachine, the design of which must specify the behavior of every atom. "Lubrication" in a nanomachine would consist of an optimization of the chemical type, location, and orientation of each atom in the machine; it would inhere in the design of the solid parts themselves rather than in a separate liquid substance [18]. Dr. Mills has a degree in biophysics and runs a business in Palo Alto. He also assists with the production of Foresight Update. REFERENCES 1. Barbara Jasny, Science 240:722-723 (6May88) 2. Sci News 134:116 (6Aug88) 3. Sci News 134:94 (6Aug88) 4. Charles DeLisi, Science 240:47-52 (1Apr88) 5. Ivars Peterson, Sci News 133:154-155:5Mar88 6. Robert W. Cahn, Nature 332:112-113: 10March88 7. Thomas E. Creighton, Science 240:267 (15April88) 8. Mike Simpson, New Scientist p50-53 (10Mar88) 9. The Economist:92 (23Apr88) 10. Jacob N. Israelachvili, et al., Science 240:189-191 (8Apr88) 11. Ivars Peterson, Sci News 133:283:30Apr88 12. Nature 332:374-376:24Mar88 13. R.J.P. Williams, Nature 332:393 (31Mar88) 14. Israel Rubenstein, et al., Nature 332:426-429 (31Mar88) 15. The Economist p75 (27Feb88) 16. Donald J. Cram, Science 240:760-767 (6May88) 17. PNAS: K. Eric Drexler, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 78: 5275-5278 (1981) 18. Gears and Bearings: K. Eric Drexler, in Proceedings of the IEEE Micro Robots and Teleoperators Workshop, IEEE87TH0204-8 (1987) "Human Frontiers" Advances Although its technical scope has been refined and its budget cut, Japan's proposed international Human Frontiers Science Program is still relevant to development of both nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. The Economist calls the planned effort "the world's first truly international government research program." Originally budgeted at $6 billion to be spent over twenty years, with Japan contributing about half of the funds, Frontiers' initial goals were very broad and, some said, overambitious: from neural-style computing to "the elucidation of biological functions." Even Japan's former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, a strong promoter of the program, criticized its vagueness. A one-year $1.4 million study to clarify these goals was completed in spring 1988 and reviewed by scientists from the Western summit nations and the European Community, who advocated an immediate start on the program. The new refined goals are (1) to study the higher-order functions of the brain, especially its ways of visualizing objects and understanding words, and (2) molecular recognition and response functions. The new proposed budget is $60-100 million, to be spent on 30-50 three-year research grants, 100-200 post-doc fellowships, and 10-20 workshops. Frontiers got a boost from the June 1988 economic summit of Western nations, when it was endorsed in the final communique: "We note the successful conclusion of the Japanese feasibility study on the Human Frontiers Science Program and are grateful for the opportunity our scientists were given to contribute to the study. We look forward to the Japanese government's proposals for implementation of the program in the near future." Japanese officials had originally hoped to get the other six summit nations--Canada, Britain, France, Italy, West Germany, and the U.S.--to commit funds to the project at the summit, but not surprisingly these nations are waiting for Japan to make a commitment first. The communique's statement of support will strengthen the position of the program's advocates, the Science and Technology Agency and the Ministry for International Trade and Industry, when they approach the Ministry of Finance for funds later in 1988. In a move unprecedented in Japan, these agencies propose that the program be run by an international foundation to be established in Switzerland, and to be funded entirely by Japan in the initial phase (at least $20 million in fiscal year 1989). The U.S. National Science Foundation and the European Community will provide experienced personnel for the administrative secretariat, and scientists from all summit nations will participate in the governing council and peer review committees. Precollege Training Many of today's researchers were first confirmed in their vocation when they participated in an NSF-sponsored summer program for high school students. Now a guide to these programs is available: the 1988 Directory of Student Science Training Programs for High Ability Precollege Students. The Directory lists institutions in the U.S. that will be conducting student science training programs in the academic year 1988-89. The 507 programs listed are of three general types: courses, research, and combinations of courses and research. Residential and commuter programs are offered; some charge for participaion, some do not. Scholarships are often available. Programs are provided in science, engineering, and mathematics. For each copy send a $1 check made out to "Science Service Directory" to 1988 SSTP Directory, 1719 N St., NW, Washington, DC 20036. Domestic orders only accepted; those outside the US should send $4 to the Foresight Institute and we will order a copy and send it to you by airmail. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Copyright (c) 1988 The Foresight Institute. All rights reserved. | | The Foresight Institute is a non-profit organization: Donations | | are tax-deductible in the United States as permitted by law. | | To receive the Update and Background publications in paper form, | | send a donation of twenty-five dollars or more to: | | The Foresight Institute, Department U | | P.O. Box 61058 | | Palo Alto, CA 94306 USA | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+