The promise of Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine

I've talked about the wonders of Nanotechnology before both here and in the Rejuvenation Engineering News section of the Mprize website. A recent post here left you all with a promise to make more sense foor you what this Nanotech is all about. This is the fulfillment of that promise.

I've posted but a few articles in RE News that show only the tip of the iceberg of what we hope to see coming down the pike. The following article is not about nanomedicine per se but it can give us a glimpse of what is hoped for. See the picture of the little, I mean, tiny tiny little car they made with but a very few atoms! Well one day we hope that tiny robots somewhat bigger than the little car but still way smaller than human cells will be able to move around inside and outsdide of cells and work on them to keep them healthy. They will be directly applicable to Aubrey de Grey's SENS theory for curing aging. In fact not only that but they will, as theorized and dreamed, be capable of what in past times would be considered magic!

As Isaac Asimov once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Nanotechnology promises to give us the power over matter itself... such power as to bend matter to our will down to the single atom. Ability like that would surely seem as though magical if one could be witnessed by someone from a former era. Nanomaterials and Molecular Manufacturing hold great promise and fill the dreams of many an innovator and futurist. At some level or other all these concepts, Nanomaterials, Nanomedicine and Molecular Manufacturing are all currently in extremely rapid development.

When you can place individual atoms in precise location or martial tiny robots around within the body to affect repairs, or even changes, you then have the abilty to do some very interesting things indeed. Imagine being able to change your hair color by thinking about it. Imagine tiny scrubbers keeping toxic buildup flushed out and artificial immunity devices keeping harmful bacteria and viruses at bay. Or how about automatic nail clipping?

I know I've dreamt up some pretty silly applications and some perhaps a bit practical here but my purpose is to spur the imagination. If something so mundane as hair color and nail length can be done what else may be possible? Robert Freitas, who wrote the book on Nanomedicine, figuratively and literally has dreamed up quite a few not so mundane uses. One is called Respirocytes, bascally tiny canistors of oxygen acting as artificial blood cells. See the image here below right:

With these little gems running around in your blood stream you might be able to hold your breath longer than a whale. You could have a heart attack and have it completely stop and yet go have a sandwich before worrying too much about getting to the hospital. The Respirocytes would keep your brain going and all your tissues well oxygenated and alive for several hours.

Getting back to the little nanocar, what we believe possible and one should see as such from the little car is the ability to make tiny little robots to do all these things and so many many more that I have mentioned above. Read the article I've exerpted below and visit the links I have listed further below to get a good look at the current boon in Nanotechnology going on and that is only getting more exciting and faster in pace as every day passes.

"World's smallest car" built

Oct. 22, 2005

Courtesy Rice University and World Science Staff

Humvee, move over.

Scientists say they have made the world's smallest car--a single-molecule "nanocar" that has wheels, axles and a chassis. They describe the device in a paper due to appear in an upcoming issue of the research journal Nano Letters.

Building such machines is a step toward regularly manufacturing things of this size, which could be useful for many purposes, said James M. Tour of Rice University in Houston, Texas, one of the developers.

"We'd eventually like to move objects and do work in a controlled fashion on the molecular scale, and these vehicles are great test beds for that. They're helping us learn the ground rules."

The nanocar has a pivoting suspension and freely rotating axles, the researchers said. The wheels are buckyballs, spheres of pure carbon containing 60 atoms apiece.

"Nanoscale" objects like this reported car are objects whose sizes are measured in nanometers, or millionths of a millimeter.

The car is just 3 or 4 nanometers wide, making it slightly wider than a strand of DNA, the researchers said. A human hair, by comparison, is about 80,000 nanometers wide.

Other research groups have created nanoscale objects that are shaped like automobiles. But study co-author Kevin F. Kelly, also of Rice, claimed Rice's vehicle is the first that actually functions like a car, rolling on four wheels in a direction perpendicular to its axles.[continued]

See the link embedded in the article title for the original and rest of the article. Below you will find more information to become more aquainted with the world of Nanotechnology.

The shear frantic pace of nanotechnology development: Viewing the shear volume of articles at the two following links will give the reader a good idea why those watching this speak in terms of exponential growth and development.

Nanotech News Net

SmallTimes

The concept for nanomedicine as seen by one of the primary designers and conceivers: Check out Robert Freitas' two books regarding proposed designs for nanotechnological medical devices.

Nanomedicine

Examples of the pace of nanomedical device development: Well over 1000 articles!

Nanotech Web

Businessweek

SmallTimes