Posted on 08/28/2002 2:41:17 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:08:10 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won a $50 million grant from the Pentagon to outfit the ''soldier of the future,'' researchers used a vivid image to spark the public imagination: an armored urban trooper suited up in the high-tech battle gear the university was being paid to develop.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
8/27/2002 A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL Growing nanoknowledge [Full Text IN MANY MINDS, the question ''How safe is nanotechnology?'' is eclipsed by the more basic ''What is nanotechnology?''
Once it seemed like science fiction, a fantasy about molecule-sized machines that could build food atom by atom, cure illnesses, or turn coal into diamonds.
Today nanotechnology is hard science. Its potential still outweighs its public presence, but a great deal of research is being done by the federal government, university researchers, and companies. In fiscal year 2002, the federal government invested $604 million in nanotechnology.
Among today's nanotechnology visions is a cure for cancer. Instead of chemotherapy, which kills cancerous and healthy cells, nanotechnology could produce engineered drugs that would target only cancer cells.
Nanotechnology could be used to manufacture replacement bones and organs. Computers could be smaller and faster. Materials could be much stronger, lighter, and ''smarter,'' such as a tent that pitches itself.
Critics ask whether nanotechnology could do harm. There are ethical and scientific worries. Could nanoproducts harm people or trigger disasters? Should humans tinker with fundamentals of the way things are?
A Canadian activist organization called the ETC Group, which advocates for socially responsible technology, argues that leaders who attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development this week should declare a moratorium on the commercial development of nanomaterials. The group calls for a global assessment of nanotechnology's social, economic, health, and environmental impacts.
The reasoning is sound. Protecting people and the environment must be the priority. But a moratorium is the wrong method.
Life already exists at the atomic level. Nanotechnology is a tool that lets humans access this microscopic world, explains Mihail Roco, senior adviser for nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation. He sees a vast opportunity to advance human health.
In addition, nanotechnology relies on partnerships among government scientists, academics, and companies to bring diverse minds and funding to research and development. The ongoing challenge is for the federal government to know what's being done and what protections should be in place.
The National Science Foundation is doing a lot of this work. In 2000 it set up the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which reviews commercial activities and funds ethical investigations. The Environmental Protection Agency is funding proposals to study the societal impacts and potential harmful effects of nanotechnology.
As long as humane values keep up with technological change, scientists and businessmen alike should pursue nanoknowledge. [End]
This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on 8/27/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
At a press conference on March 13, MIT officials unveiled the five-year, $50 million contract, which will involve 35 MIT professors from nine departments in the schools of engineering, science and architecture and planning, according to the MIT News Office. Using MIT's facilities, researchers will develop state-of-the-art uniforms designed to enhance soldier survivability and protection in future wars.
In a statement released by the MIT News Office, administrators celebrated the acquisition of the ISN as an important milestone in University history.
"Now yet again the U.S. faces threats that challenge our country to capitalize on the enabling power of novel technologies," said Prof. Ned Thomas, MIT's Morris Cohen professor of materials science and engineering, who will serve as the ISN director.
"The ISN really embodies a great opportunity to create these new technologies to protect our soldiers," he added.
MIT's selection represents the culmination of a rigorous, open competition among colleges vying for the ISN contract since October. Cornell's bid, which was denied Jan. 29, proposed utilizing the area currently occupied by the Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences to host the ISN. Although future plans for the Ward site remain unclear, the decommissioning of the Center's TRIGA nuclear fission reactor is scheduled to commence on June 30, 2002.
The submission of Cornell's formal proposal to the Army Research Office in December fueled speculation among lab officials that the decision to decommission the reactor, which was approved unanimously last summer by the Board of Trustees, was induced by the University's desire to replace the Ward Center with the ISN.
Captain Amy Hannah, an Army spokesperson, said Tuesday from the Pentagon that the Army is excited about the selection of MIT and is looking forward to working with the University. Although she declined to discuss the specifics of the selection process, Hannah said that MIT was chosen on the basis of technical merit and management structure.
"MIT presented the strongest overall program and made the most compelling case," Hannah said.
While all information concerning selection procedures, including the precise number of universities that applied for the grant, remains classified, it has been widely speculated that the finalists for the contract, along with MIT, were Northwestern University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
According to Hector Abruña, the E. M. Chamot professor of chemistry and chemical biology, Cornell representatives will be debriefed about the selection process on April 23 in a conference call with Army officials. Abruña, who spearheaded the University's effort to host the ISN, requested a formal explanation concerning the reasons for Cornell's rejection immediately after notice was received from the Army Research Office.
The Army is required by law to provide a debriefing to those universities that applied.
According to Hannah, the ISN will focus on six key soldier capabilities: threat detection, threat neutralization (such as bullet-proof clothing), concealment, enhanced human performance, real-time automated medical treatment, and reduced logistical footprint. The researchers will develop ideas such as a uniform that is nearly invisible and soft clothing that can become a rigid cast when a soldier breaks his or her leg, the MIT News Office reported.
Although the initial contract spans five years, Hannah said that subsequent contracts will be awarded to MIT for the ISN based on the program's initial success and continued relevancy. [End] Copyright © 2002 by The Cornell Daily Sun, Inc. All rights reserved.
I think these two whiners ought to take it as a compliment. After all, I am sure the esteemed folks at MIT must have read dozens of comic books first, and that makes it "research", not "plagerism"!
They certainly have received a lot of publicity!
When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced in March that it won a $50 million grant to design the U.S. Army's 'soldier of the future,' the project was hailed as the stuff of science fiction and comic book heroes. MIT grudgingly acknowledged on August 28, 2002, that it copied images from the sci-fi comic book 'Radix' as part of its winning bid to host a research center that aims to make soldiers partly invisible and allow them to clear 20-foot walls in a single bound. The photo shows the similarities between the comic book's gun-toting lead character Val Fiores (R) and MIT's female warrior. (Regan Communications via Reuters)
School Admits Copying Comic Book's Soldier Image***When MIT won the grant, beating out other schools such as Cornell University, national news media used the image to illustrate the kinds of futuristic warrior gear that the institute hoped to develop. "It was an innocent use," MIT spokesman Ken Campbell said. "We didn't know it was from anyone else's artwork." The university issued a statement explaining its stance on Wednesday after an article appeared in the Boston Globe.
MIT officials have not explained how the illustration made it into their grant proposal, but Campbell said the university pulled the artwork from its Web site in April as soon as it learned of the problem. However, MIT's lawyers have argued in at least one letter to the comic book's Canadian creators that the university was within its legal right when it copied the "Radix" image and submitted it to the Pentagon. "Radix" creator Ray Lai said fans of the comic book were the first to notice the similarities between gun-toting lead character Val Fiores and MIT's female warrior. "The fans were calling our publisher saying MIT had plagiarized Val," Lai told Reuters from his home in Montreal, where he writes "Radix" with his brother Ben. "When we found out, we were shocked."***
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