The conventional wisdom on nanomanufacturing says that we either work "top-down", using lithography and other techniques to arrange molecules into useful patterns, or "bottom-up", using chemical or electrical stimulation to encourage self-organization of molecules.

Tihamer Toth-Fejel has a different idea. He will speak on "bottom-to-bottom" manufacturing techniques for "assembling modular molecular building blocks into nanotools that build other nanotools" at The Next Industrial Revolution: Nanotechnology & Manufacturing, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers conference August 23-24, 2006 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Attendees can also get a tour of the Center of Nanophase Materials Sciences and Spallation Neutron Source Laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (photo ORNL)