Cells and Shape Memory

Since I know not everyone shares my love of epitaxy, I thought I'd mention some of the interesting talks I attended this week that are outside my own area.  I attended an invited talk on how nanotechnology is being used to make artificial cells.  The first step in doing so is finding materials that can closely mimic cell components, i.e. cell walls.  Researchers are using silica coated nylon membranes as a template for lipid bilayer placement.  I think the applications of nanotechnology to biology is fascinating, this was no exception!  There were also a few nice talks on shape memory alloys and their applications to MEMS devices that I found interesting.