Finally, some serious research will experimentally explore the possibility of diamondoid mechanosynthesis (DMS). This research will be conducted in the UK. Here’s the first paragraph of the press release:

Professor Philip Moriarty of the Nanoscience Group in the School of Physics at the University of Nottingham (U.K.) has been awarded a five-year £1.53M ($3M) grant by the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to perform a series of laboratory experiments designed to investigate the possibility of diamond mechanosynthesis (DMS). DMS is a proposed method for building diamond nanostructures, atom by atom, using the techniques of scanning probe microscopy under ultra-high vacuum conditions. Moriarty’s project, titled “Digital Matter? Towards Mechanised Mechanosynthesis,” was funded under the Leadership Fellowship program of EPSRC. Moriarty’s experiments begin in October 2008.

If reliable DMS is possible, it could eventually lead to full-fledged molecular nanotechnology, which would have diverse applications, many of them dangerous. Advocates of MNT traditionally overestimate the probability of MNT being possible at all while underestimating the negative applications of the technology.

I’ve been following the Foresight Institute, the leading molecular nanotechnology-oriented non-profit, for many years now. Looking back, I feel disappointed at the lack of emphasis on the dangers of MNT in the organization’s message and online material. I call on the Foresight Institute to focus more on the potential downsides of molecular nanotechnology. (Note: the Foresight Institute’s President, Christine Peterson, has indicated in the comments that there is indeed be a new policy focus on the topic of addressing potential downsides, through an initiative called Open Source Physical Security. She spoke about this at the 2007 Singularity Summit.)

Back to the research at hand. Here’s a summary of what’s been happening. For the last few years, Rob Freitas and Ralph Merkle have been putting together a minimal toolset for DMS. The press release describes this as a “comprehensive three-year project to computationally analyze a complete set of DMS reaction sequences and an associated minimal set of tooltips that could be used to build basic diamond and graphene (e.g., carbon nanotube) structures.” Now, Philip Moriarty, along with one postdoc and four PhD students, will experimentally test many of the predictions presented by this study.

This research will have huge ramifications for the future of manufacturing and medical technology, whether it succeeds or not. Many of the most interesting cybernetics technologies would require atomically precise manufacturing to be implemented successfully. It’s uncertain how we might get atomically precise manufacturing, but DMS is one possible route. Synthetic biology is another. If this research reveals that DMS is harder than the advocates think, then synthetic biology may start receiving more attention as a general-purpose manufacturing approach.