Molecular Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is one of the most potentially world changing fields of research going on today. Broadly speaking, it's any technology involving devices at the nanometer scale. Ultimately it will lead to the ability to manufacture things by assembling them molecule by molecule. This is referred to as molecular nanotechnology, or molecular manufacturing.

What's all this about then?

Traditionally, things have been manufactured by cutting, scraping and bending. Nanotechnology will allow things to be built with molecular precision by molecular machines called assemblers, much in the same way that plants and animals are put together by molecular machines called proteins.

So what?

The ability to build things on a molecular scale will give us what the human race has craved since the first caveman to strike a piece of flint - absolute control over matter. Firstly, very small things can be made. Computers can be made several orders of magnitude smaller and faster, storage devices can have a single molecule per bit of data. Secondly, large things can be made with near perfect structures. Tall buildings, long bridges, and efficient spacecraft can be built out of a single piece of carbon crystal. The diamondoid is assembled by physically picking up carbon atoms and slotting them into place. Anything that can be designed on a computer could be prototyped instantly - in much the same way that software is designed, with small changes being implemented, then tested - all within a few minutes. The cost of manufacturing will become insignificant. Design costs will become all important.

Exactly what can be done with nanotechnology?

Here are a few example applications. The applications are very wide ranging because being able to create any structure imaginable at a molecular level is a very useful thing!

• Nanocomputers - we're already approching the limit of what can be done in the way of miniaturisation with current lithographic techniques. Assembling computers with nanotechnology will mean we can make them as small as we like.
• Solar roads - we'll be able to make solar cells strong enough to surface roads. Enough solar energy for everyone, and no need for space wasteing solar energy farms.
• Smart clothes - the fibres of clothes can be made with tiny computers and motors built into them. A network of simple computers can respond to the wearer's posture, the air temperature and situation, changing the texture of clothes to suit. Clothes to keep you cool when it's hot, warm when it's cold, and dry when it rains -not to mention the ability to change size according to the wearer - will become possible.
• Video wallpaper - LCD-like screens can be made at much higher resolutions and be more robust, being built into ordinary surfaces.
• Nanomedicine - Tiny machines can be built to recognise viruses and cancer cells, and seek and destroy them.
• Cheap space flight - Space flight is so expensive because spacecraft are so expensive to build. Instead, they can be built far lighter, more sophisticated and re-useable, and in large numbers.
• Subterranean travel - Huge efficient digging machines can be built in large numbers, creating a global subway system. The walls of the tunnels can be made airtight and magnetic trains can run at spacecraft speeds in the vacuum.
• A clean environment- Molecular machines can be built that clean up toxic waste in the soil - much as micro-organisms break down natural waste. Products such as packaging that usually make such a mess can be programmed to degrade into harmless substances after a set time.
• Reconfigurable houses - The walls of your house can move around to create different sized rooms, the floor can re-shape itself into a variety of different types of furniture.

It all sounds a bit far fetched to me...

There is nothing to suggest that nanotechnology simply can't be done. None of the above ideas break any physical laws. Biological systems like trees and people are already assembled molecule by molecule by tiny molecular machines.

Okay, but it won't happen in my lifetime...

Major breakthroughs are not just around the corner. However, real research is going on today, and real progress has been made. For example, carbon nanotubes are already being made and used. The first problem with molecular assemblers is to bootstrap the technology - it's hard to make a device that can manipulate individual atoms in three dimensions. Once simple nano-machines can be built, they can be used to make more complex ones. Some research going on today includes:

• A company called Zyvex are developing molecular manufacturing techniques.
• The Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington, located in Seattle, opened on March 6, 1998.
• The University of Toronto and Energenius Inc. has opened the Energenius Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology.

Fair enough, but I want to know more!

The following are good places to start to find out more about nanotechnology:

• The Foresight Institute was set up by Dr. K. Eric Drexler to educate people about the applications and implications of nanotechnology. They have published two of his books, including Unbounding the Future - an excellent introduction into the ideas behind and applications of nanotech. Many of the ideas here come directly from the book.
• Nanodot.org has the latest nanotechnology news.
• The British Institute of Nanotechnology provides news and information on research going on in the UK.
• Richard Feynman suggested the possibility of molecular manufacturing as early as 1959. You can read a transcript of his talk.
• A useful glossary to explain the terminology is hosted at Nanotechnology Now, which also has news and links.

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