Problems With Nanotechnology

Drexler's book Engines of Creation created quite a stir and lots of excitement. It made the term nanotechnology well known as it's meaning was evolving. By 1992, Drexler was using terms including molecular nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing to set apart his ideas from simpler product-focused concepts that were borrowing the word nanotechnology.

Right now, molecular manufacturing has been successfully applied to products in the cosmetics industry, optical manufacturing, surface coatings and protective garments. There are also numerous potential medical applications being explored by marrying certain nanometer-sized products with others such as lasers. And while the critics continue to publish opinions filled with risk and cautions, it seems likely that the field of nanotechnology will continue to grow and expand and thus to produce some valuable new processes and products in the years ahead.

Nanotechnology is a field where the study, fabrication and manipulation of structures in nanometer sizes take place. The 1 to 100-nanometer range covers the gap between atoms and molecules (which are both less than one nanometer in size) and larger materials and requires the application of quantum physics and basic chemistry. It requires highly-trained people who understand not only the natural laws govern how these particles function, but also natural or man-made nanoscopic and mesoscopic structures including fullerenes, clusters, nanotubes, macromolecules, nanorobots and nanosystems.

In nano-biosystems, we see the molecular manipulation of biological materials including peptides, DNA, cell chips and proteins.

Molecular nanotechnology article, Molecular nanotechnology is the process of engineering mechanical systems that will function at the molecular level between 1 and 100 nanometers. Such systems are obviously very small, since one nanometer is merely one billionth of an inch. To work at such levels, new, ultra-powerful atomic and scanning microscopes had to be developed. These have opened atomic and molecular size levels to many practical research and manufacturing possibilities.

Nanorobots would be an even more important contribution arising from molecular nanotechnology. These nanorobots might well be capable of construction other nanorobots in an artificial environment where special molecular building blocks are present. Critics suggest that unwanted mutations of such nanorobots might create unwanted problems. What scientists are seriously considering are nanorobots designed for medical applications that would have applications in controlling and eliminating disease and painless recovery from trauma. They might also be able to correct genetic defects and improve overall health over time.

Nanotechnology agriculture article

Nanotechnology agriculture, or the atomic modification of food, is one of the most hotly contested areas in the entire nanotechnology field. People clearly fear the safety and possible health ramifications from eating foods that have been genetically modified in any way. Despite the loud voices of critics, many feel that the benefits to be derived from nanotechnology agriculture cannot be ignored, especially those that benefit the poor and hungry. These benefits include sustainable energy, clean production, clean water and the increased availability of affordable foodstuffs.

When it comes to food, the worries are again about possible toxicity of genetically engineered items. Food additives are also now being produced in nanoscale sizes and these have not yet undergone rigorous testing by any regulatory group. An example lies in lycopene, which is a naturally occurring nutrient that a major company, BASF, is now marketing in a synthetic nanodispersed formula. BASF claims that their version of lycopene behaves exactly the same way in the stomach as it's naturally occurring sister product. Critics still warn that manufacturers should take changes from natural to nanoscale-manufactured versions carefully.

There is certainly no doubt that nanotechnology agriculture will become more commonplace over time. And it is also proper that some regulatory standards be put in place for this emerging industry. Such things are well into discussions and both will occur in time.

To date, nanotechnology research has made meaningful strides such as the development of artificial corneas in Europe; a nanotechnology water pump that imitates the action of cell pores; breakthroughs toward the industrial scale production of nanodevices; the world's smallest functioning radio; new nanoparticle responses that have important possibilities in electronics; heftier atoms that reduce friction at nanosizes; developments for better diagnosis of prostate cancer; applications to aid the natural gas industry; major progress toward developing infinitesimal machines; nanotubes that knit bulletproof armor; better dry adhesives; processes that are predicted to replace computer hard drives in ten years; terabyte storage for cellular phones and many more. Nanotechnology is already in use in the latest cosmetic products, and in the manufacturing processes for various surface coatings and plastics. Many breakthroughs are pending with important medical applications as well.

In our new nanometer universe, electrons don't flow like streams through electrical conductors. At this size range, an electron's quantum mechanics appears as a wave, which enables the electrons to do wonderful things such as instantly tunneling through an insulator that under regular circumstances would have brought it to a dead stop. This a action has already been used to build new solid-state lasers that emit light at wavelengths that are suitable for tasks such as monitoring pollutants, optical communication and tracking chemical reactions. If quantum-based computers can ever be developed, they would be billions of times faster than today's best digital machines.

If there is any difference in these analogies, it lies in the scale being worked with, 1-to100 nanometers or at the level of atoms and molecules. Working effectively with anything this small required the development of new instruments such as the atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes that bring tiny bits of matter into view. These tools were needed as computers needed the advances in integrated circuits. Now, they are reality.

We can reasonably expect future nanotechnology to produce very-meaningful contributions to many important fields. We are currently focused on nanostructures that can change their size, shape and other characteristics such as electrical conductivity during their use. In medical applications, we are developing new particles for drug delivery that can release therapeutic particles inside the human body only after they have reached specific areas of diseased tissues. In electronics, transistors and amplifiers having adaptive functions might be reduced to single molecules having the same functions.