Programmable Matter

Eh? That's what I said when my bro sent me the following:
I just read in the Discover about a scientist / engineer name of Wil McCarthy who has invented matter that can change properties on the fly, in real time.
They are developing it for building material right now.
Anyhow he is also a prolific sci-fi writer.
He has an audio book on his web site that is free.
"The Wellstone" is about the future of programmable matter. Might be an interesting read.
The theory is in tiny semiconductor objects called quantum dots that can hold different numbers of electrons.
Change the number of electrons, you instantly change the properties.

http://www.wilmccarthy.com/bookstor.htm

NIOSH Science Blog

We are very excited about the new NIOSH Science Blog – our most recent tool for sharing NIOSH research and communicating with our stakeholders. If you haven’t already visited the blog I encourage you take a look at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/. Our latest post on Stress at Work went live yesterday. Other topics posted since the creation of the blog in November include Preventing Firefighter Deaths from Cardiovascular events and Truck Driver Safety and Health.
I hope that the NIOSH Science Blog will become an important channel through which NIOSH research can be seen, read, discussed, understood and used to improve worker safety and health throughout the world. Through robust scientific discussion with our stakeholders, I also hope that we can sharpen our own thinking about various occupational safety and health issues and learn how best to communicate with all segments of our stakeholder community.
I look forward to hearing from you on the blog.
Sincerely,John Howard, M.D.Director National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health