International Space Station: UnderConstruction. After years on the drawing board, construction finally began on the International Space Station (ISS) a little over two and a half years ago.
And for the last nine months, astronauts have been living and working there. When completed in 2006, the ISS will house seven scientists roughly 220 miles above the Earth. Inside, pressurized living quarters and six laboratories will be spread over a volume about the size of a 747 jetliner's passenger cabin (43,000 cu ft). And by the time the station is completed, more than a million pounds of equipment will have been launched into orbit and assembled into a structure that stretches more than 360 ft from end to end. Self-Assembling DNA Makes Super 3-D Nano Machines. William Shih has a bridge to sell, but you’ll need a powerful microscope to see it: It’s built entirely from DNA strands, handrails and all.
The bridge is just one of a whole range of intricate three-dimensional shapes Shih has crafted using DNA’s unique capacity for precise self-assembly. In a study Thursday in Science, his team has shown they can even control the precise curvature of these tiny structures, which is key to making wheels, hooks and gears. Explanation of Nanotechnology and Ecology. Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence. Nanotechnology.
Responsible Nanotechnology: Nano-ecology.