Shell
Home | This Week's Contents  |  C&EN ClassifiedsSearch C&EN Online

 
Related Story
Nanotechnology
[C&EN Archive]

Related Sites
Army

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies

Raytheon

DuPont


E-mail this article to a friend
Print this article
E-mail the editor
 
IN BRIEF:
WHEW!
An asteroid large enough to flatten a city narrowly missed Earth on March 8, but scientists only spotted it four days later. Because it approached out of the glare of the sun, the asteroid, named 2002 EM7, was invisible to terrestrial telescopes. It passed within 300,000 miles--roughly 1.2 lunar orbits--of Earth, a near miss on cosmic scales. If it had made a direct hit, the approximately 70-meter-long rock would have impacted with a force of 4 megatons, 200 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

 
 
 
 
 
 Table of Contents
 C&EN Classifieds
 News of the Week
 Cover Story
 Editor's Page
 Business
 Government & Policy
 Science/Technology
 Concentrates
  Business
  Government & Policy
  Science/Technology
 Education
 ACS News
 Calendars
 Books
 Digital Briefs
 ACS Comments
 Career & Employment
 Special Reports
 Letters
 Newscripts
 Nanotechnology
 What's That Stuff?
 Pharmaceutical Century

 Hot Articles
 Safety  Letters
 Chemcyclopedia

 Back Issues

 How to Subscribe
 Subscription Changes
 About C&EN
 Copyright Permission
 E-mail webmaster
NEWS OF THE WEEK
MATERIALS SCIENCE
March 25, 2002
Volume 80, Number 12
CENEAR 80 12 p. 12
ISSN 0009-2347
[Previous Story] [Next Story]

FUTURISTIC FORCE
MIT aims to outfit combat troops with integrated nanoscience capabilities

WILLIAM SCHULZ

The Army has awarded Massachusetts Institute of Technology $50 million to create the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. Over the next five years, ISN scientists will create lightweight molecular materials to equip soldiers with uniforms and gear that can heal them, shield them, and protect them against such threats as chemical and biological warfare.

ILLUSTRATION BY HEATHER THOMAS
ISN will be staffed by up to 150 people, including 35 MIT professors from nine departments in the Schools of Engineering, Science, and Architecture & Planning. Using nanoscale science, researchers will focus on six key military capabilities: threat detection, threat neutralization (such as bulletproof clothing), concealment, enhanced human performance, real-time automated medical treatment, and weight-load reduction of a fully equipped soldier from as much as 145 lb to about 45 lb.

These themes will be addressed by seven research teams: energy-absorbing materials, mechanically active materials for devices and exoskeletons, detections and signature management, biomaterials and nanodevices
for soldier medical technology, process systems for manufacture and processing of materials, modeling and simulation, and systems integration.

Specific ideas researchers want to develop include a uniform that is nearly invisible, soft clothing that can become a rigid cast when a soldier breaks a leg, and chain mail made of lightweight molecular materials.

"Our mandate is to deliver for the soldier," says Timothy M. Swager, a professor of chemistry and associate director of ISN. He says ISN's multidisciplinary research teams will take "an integrated view of how to create uniforms of the future."

Industry partners for ISN, including DuPont and Raytheon, will kick in another $40 million in funding for facilities and equipment. Industry researchers will also participate along with Army specialists as well as physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital.

"We made the decision very early on to work with MIT on its proposal," says Wayne Marsh, a DuPont research manager. He says that MIT's concept of bringing in "founding partners" from industry prompted DuPont to share some of its intellectual property with MIT researchers. "We gave them some inputs on technology we knew about." As ISN develops, Marsh says, there will be a constant flow of DuPont experts to the institute to share ideas and expertise.

A number of different chemical technologies will be investigated, says Paula T. Hammond, associate professor of chemical engineering at MIT. She says nanoscience insights will be used to create uniforms that can detect threats from chemical or biological weapons, hide the infrared signal from a soldier's body, and change colors or layers of colors as needed. "We want to integrate all those abilities into one uniform," Hammond says.

At a news conference, ISN Director Ned Thomas said, "Imagine the psychological impact upon a foe when encountering squads of seemingly invincible warriors protected by armor and endowed with superhuman capabilities, such as the ability to leap over 20-foot walls."

[Previous Story] [Next Story]



Top


Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society


Home | Table of Contents | News of the Week | Cover Story
Business | Government & Policy | Science/Technology
Chemical & Engineering News
Copyright © 2002 American Chemical Society - All Right Reserved
1155 16th Street NW • Washington DC 20036 • (202) 872-4600 • (800) 227-5558


CASChemPortChemCenterPubs Page