Nanotechnology

The above term coined by Dr Eric Drexler in his book Engines of Creation (1986) was intended to be a new science which would astound the world, having the same effect as the industrial revolution and nuclear power had on us. The word nanotechnology may be a new word to you now, but within a decade or two it could be one of the most important words to know.

The word is derived from the Greek word for midget, nano, and teks (technology), meaning to fabricate, or create. In metric terminology nano is a prefix, which refers to a billionth of, and in this case that is a billionth of a meter, a nanometer (10-9).

Nanotechnology, often called molecular technology, will simply allow us to arrange individual atoms, in all the different ways permitted by the laws of physics. We will build products up from the individual atoms, perfectly, and precisely placing each atom as we desire. How we arrange theses atoms will ultimately determine what we make. If we re-arrange the atoms in coal, we can get a diamond.

Technology, as evolution has shown, progresses along a constant, but often-bumpy road. There are really only two variables on this road, and that is size versus power. You often have to sacrifice size fo

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All of the products do have nanoscale parts to them, but none has been built up from the atoms.

· Samsung’s latest washing machine use nano-sized silver particles, which help as a detergent and prevent odours. Drexler, these little self-replicating machines could continue to replicate, and as they require more raw materials to do so, they would slowly destroy our world, he called this the ‘grey-goo’! Or what happens if these machines got into the wrong hands, it would be so easy for someone to program them for malicious intent. Rules such as self-replication systems have to have fail-safes, that prevent any mutations during replication, and to limit the amount of replications. It will bring big change, hopefully for the better (more on that later).

Medical

This is possibly were nanotechnology could effect us the most, and they will effect us in the form of nanorobots.

· L O’reals latest face creams contain nanoparticles, which help for better absorption. They will be built my molecular assemblers, molecular sized machines that can manipulate atoms.

· Sun block creams now contain particles, which are nano-size, that are transparent and absorb UV radiation. Most research is being done at universities around the world, but many large international companies have also established research and development departments.

One interesting point, put forward by Steve Jurveston, of Daper Fisher Jurveston, is that anything nano in size is called nanotechnology, so why don’t we use the term “inchotechnology” for anything that is inches in size. One example is a computer, which is the size of a sugar cube, but can store all the pages of the books in the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. For example a self-replicating system could recreate itself many times, this would help to reduce manufacturing cost, and time, as it would increase exponentially, as more machines are created. C’s billions of times faster than current ones

· The ability to cure currently incurable diseases

· The ability to stop pollution and to be able to clean pollution from our past

· To prevent all famine around the world

· Reintroduction of extinct plants and animals

· And cheap, affordable space travel. Scientists say up to a billion times faster, while still reducing their size.

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