Nanotechnology and preventive arms control

"Nanotechnology (NT) is about analysis and engineering of structures with size between 0.1 and 100 nanometres (1 nm = 10 -9 m). At this scale, new effects occur and the boundaries between physics, chemistry and biology vanish. NT is predicted to lead to stronger but lighter materials, markedly smaller computers with immensely increased power, large and small autonomous robots, tools for manipulation of single molecules, targeted intervention within cells, connections between electronics and neurones, and more. In recent years military research and development (R&D) of NT has been expanded markedly, with the USA far in the lead. US work spans the full range from electronics via materials to biology. While much of this is still at the fundamental level, efforts are being made to bring applications to the armed forces soon. One quarter to one third of the Federal funding for NT goes to military R&D, and the USA outspends the rest of the world by a factor 4 to 10. NT applications will likely pervade all areas of the military. Very small electronics and computers will be used everywhere, e.g. in glasses, uniforms, munitions. Large-scale battle-management and strategy-planning systems will apply human-like reasoning at increasing levels of autonomy, integrating sensors, communication devices and displays into an ubiquitous network. Stronger but light-weight materials, more efficient energy storage and propulsion will allow faster and more agile vehicles in all media. NT-based materials and explosives can bring faster and more precise projectiles. Small arms, munitions and anti-personnel missiles without any metal can become possible. Systems worn by soldiers could monitor the body status and react to injury. Systems implanted into the body could monitor the biochemistry and release drugs, or make contacts to nerves and the brain to reduce the reaction time, later possibly to communicate complex information. Autonomous land vehicles, ships and aircraft would become possible mainly through strongly increased computing power. By using NT to miniaturise sensors, actuators and propulsion, autonomous systems (robots) could also become very small, principally down to below a millimetre - fully artificial or hybrid on the basis of e.g. insects or rats. Satellites and their launchers could become small and cheap, to be used in swarms for earth surveillance, or for anti-satellite attack. Whereas no marked change is expected concerning nuclear weapons, NT may lead to various new types of chemical and biological weapons that target specific organs or act selectively on a certain genetic or protein pattern. On the other hand, NT will allow cheap sensors for chemical or biological warfare agents as well as materials for decontamination. Most of these applications are ten or more years away. Using criteria of preventive arms control, potential military NT applications are evaluated. New conventional, chemical and biological weapons would jeopardise existing arms-control treaties. Armed autonomous systems would endanger the law of warfare. Military stability could decrease with small distributed battlefield sensors and in particular with armed autonomous systems. Arms racing and proliferation have to be feared with all applications. Strong dangers to humans would ensue from armed mini-/ micro-robots and new chemical/ biological weapons used by terrorists. Negative effects on human integrity and human rights could follow indirectly if body manipulation were applied in the military before a thorough societal debate on benefits, risks and regulation." (excerpt)"Die Nanotechnologie (NT) befasst sich mit der Untersuchung und Gestaltung von Strukturen, die sich in Größen zwischen 0,1 and 100 Nanometer (1 nm = 10 -9 m) bewegen. Bei dieser Größenordnung treten neue Effekte auf, und die Grenzen zwischen Physik, Chemie und Biologie verschwinden. Die Experten sagen voraus, dass NT festere und gleichzeitig leichtere Materialien, erheblich kleinere Computer mit unermesslich gesteigerter Leistung, große und kleine autonome Roboter, Werkzeuge für die Handhabung einzelner Moleküle, gezielte Eingriffe in Zellen, Verbindungen zwischen Elektronik und Neuronen und anderes mehr hervorbringen wird. In den letzten Jahren ist die militärische Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) im Bereich der NT erheblich ausgeweitet worden. Im weltweiten Vergleich liegen die USA deutlich in Führung. Dort wird die gesamte Bandbreite von Elektronik über Materialien bis hin zur Biologie bearbeitet. Auch wenn vieles davon noch Grundlagenforschung ist, gibt es dort doch heute schon Vorbereitungen, den Streitkräften bald Anwendungsmöglichkeiten zur Verfügung zu stellen. Ein Viertel bis ein Drittel der Regierungsausgaben für NT auf Bundesebene steht für militärische FuE zur Verfügung, und die USA geben 4 bis 10 mal so viel dafür aus wie der Rest der Welt. NT-Anwendungen werden alle Bereiche des Militärs durchdringen. Hierzu zählt der umfassende Einsatz sehr kleiner Elektronik und Computer, z.B. in Brillen, Uniformen, Munition. Komplexe Schlachtführungs- und Strategieplanungssysteme werden zunehmend autonom funktionieren und menschenähnliche Überlegungen anstellen, wobei sie Sensoren, Kommunikationsgeräte und Anzeigeeinheiten zu einem allgegenwärtigen Netzwerk verbinden. Festere und dabei leichtere Materialien, effizientere Energiespeicher und Antriebe ermöglichen den Bau schnellerer und beweglicherer Land-, Wasser-, Luft- und Raumfahrzeuge. Des weiteren können NT-basierte Materialien und Sprengstoffe zur Herstellung schnellerer und genauerer Geschosse verwendet werden. Denkbar sind metallfreie Kleinwaffen, Munition und Antipersonen-Flugkörper. Zwar ist bei Kernwaffen keine große Veränderung zu erwarten, NT kann aber zu verschiedenen neuen Arten von chemischen und biologischen Waffen führen, die auf spezifische Organe zielen oder selektiv auf eine bestimmte Eiweißstruktur oder auf ein genetisches Muster hin aktiv werden. Andererseits wird NT billige Sensoren für chemische oder biologische Waffen sowie Materialien zur Entgiftung zur Verfügung stellen. Mit den meisten dieser Anwendungen ist erst in einem Zeitraum von zehn oder mehr Jahren zu rechnen. Mögliche militärische NT-Anwendungen müssen unter den Kriterien der Präventiven Rüstungskontrolle bewertet werden." (Textauszug

Structure, stability and elasticity of DNA nanotube

DNA nanotubes are tubular structures composed of DNA crossover molecules. We present a bottom up approach for construction and characterization of these structures. Various possible topologies of nanotubes are constructed such as 6-helix, 8-helix and tri-tubes with different sequences and lengths. We have used fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study the structure, stability and elasticity of these structures. Several nanosecond long MD simulations give the microscopic details about DNA nanotubes. Based on the structural analysis of simulation data, we show that 6-helix nanotubes are stable and maintain their tubular structure; while 8-helix nanotubes are flattened to stabilize themselves. We also comment on the sequence dependence and effect of overhangs. These structures are approximately four times more rigid having stretch modulus of ~4000 pN compared to the stretch modulus of 1000 pN of DNA double helix molecule of same length and sequence. The stretch moduli of these nanotubes are also three times larger than those of PX/JX crossover DNA molecules which have stretch modulus in the range of 1500-2000 pN. The calculated persistence length is in the range of few microns which is close to the reported experimental results on certain class of the DNA nanotubes.Comment: Published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physic

The Changing Scientific and Technological Basis of the CBW Proliferation Problem

Ye

Nanomedicine in the making: Expectations, scientific narrations and materiality

Starting from the theoretical debate about technoscientific expectations, and based on the data collected doing ethnographic research in a laboratory of nanomedicine (in Northern Italy) operating in the field of experimental and clinical pharmacology, the paper explores in detail the relationship between anticipatory knowledge, scientific forward-looking statements and the situated practices of biomedical research in nanomedicine. In particular, I will focus on the processual dimension of scientific narrations on nanomedicine, in order to understand how future-oriented abstractions may represent a fundamental element for the local practices of nanomedical research. In doing so, and referring in particular to a socio-technical artefact called “triangle Dna origami”,I develop the notion of promissory bio-object, as a conceptual device to improve the understanding of the engagement of anticipatory knowledge in biomedical research

The Art of Designing DNA Nanostructures with CAD Software

Since the arrival of DNA nanotechnology nearly 40 years ago, the field has progressed from its beginnings of envisioning rather simple DNA structures having a branched, multi-strand architecture into creating beautifully complex structures comprising hundreds or even thousands of unique strands, with the possibility to exactly control the positions down to the molecular level. While the earliest construction methodologies, such as simple Holliday junctions or tiles, could reasonably be designed on pen and paper in a short amount of time, the advent of complex techniques, such as DNA origami or DNA bricks, require software to reduce the time required and propensity for human error within the design process. Where available, readily accessible design software catalyzes our ability to bring techniques to researchers in diverse fields and it has helped to speed the penetration of methods, such as DNA origami, into a wide range of applications from biomedicine to photonics. Here, we review the historical and current state of CAD software to enable a variety of methods that are fundamental to using structural DNA technology. Beginning with the first tools for predicting sequence-based secondary structure of nucleotides, we trace the development and significance of different software packages to the current state-of-the-art, with a particular focus on programs that are open source

A Modelling and Simulation Tool for DNA Strand Displacement Systems

DNA is the hereditary material in almost all organisms, and the sequence of its monomers efficiently conveys essential biological information. Although DNA is well known for its biological functions, the unique material properties of DNA also motivate scientists to design and manufacture DNA complexes for technological purposes. This research field is termed DNA nanotechnology, and it aims to construct arbitrary biomolecular structures using DNA molecules as building blocks. DNA nanotechnology initially focused on programmable static structures, but it has further inspired the designs of engineering systems with dynamic properties such as logic circuits and catalytic systems. This dynamic variant of DNA nanotechnology is enabled by the DNA strand displacement (DSD) mechanism. The design of a DSD system involves discreetly designed initial species that can execute expected sequential reactions. However, such task is hard to be accomplished by hand as the complete reaction network of a large-scaled DSD system can be intractable. In this thesis, we study the problem of modelling DSD systems, i.e., enumerating combinatorially the full space of molecular complexes reachable from the initial species and transferring the resulting chemical reaction network to a simulation engine. We present a rule-based modelling pipeline RuleDSD for generating and simulating reaction networks of DSD systems. RuleDSD is implemented as a software package DSDPy, a tool that automatically generates a complete reaction network for a described DSD system and integrates with the PySB framework for further simulations using the BioNetGen engine. The reaction networks produced by DSDPy show that it is suitable for modelling various DSD systems from existing literature