NANOTECH INNOVATIONS

In the recent years, there has been a tremendous development in the field of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a field of applied science, which deals in building machines and bots at microscopic levels. Due to development in nanotechnology, there have been many developments in various fields of science, especially in the field of medicine.

With the help of nanotechnology, carrying out a complex heart surgery is very much possible. Doctors have started making use of nanobots to cure certain diseases. These nanobots also help in rectifying certain disorders in the human body.

Nanotechnology in Drug Development:

Recently, scientists are developing effective and better drug delivery systems using nanotechnology. Scientists are using nanoparticles to design a drug delivery system that may improve the pharmaceutical and therapeutic properties of a drug and help better processes such as Drug screening. Nanaoparticles have remarkable properties that drastically enhance the drug delivery. Due to their microscopic sizes, nanoparticles get an easy access in the cells.

There are numerous developments in the drug delivery owing to nanotechnology. One such development using nanotechnology is the transfer of drugs into the cytoplasm of cells through the cell membrane. This is an important development, because to hinder certain diseases from the body, the drug needs to enter the cell membrane.

To make a drug molecule effective in the body, it needs a triggered response. To do so, scientists are using nanotechnology. Scientists are developing drugs using nanotechnology that automatically activate, once they enter the human body.

Many researchers believe that it is possible to develop a drug delivery system that may prove beneficial in treating cancer and infectious diseases using nanotechnology. By far, they have identified six types of nano-enabled delivery systems that have considerable potential in treating cancer and other infectious diseases.

With the help of nanotechnology, scientists have developed injectable drugs, which are more pleasing for the patients, who receive them and at the same time are easy to administer. Better opportunities are coming up in the development of implantable delivery systems, due to the use of nanotechnology, especially in terms of injectable drugs.

With so much of development taking place in the field of drug delivery systems, researchers believe that in the near future nano-enabled medicines will have a tremendous evolution and will produce true nanomedicines.

Nanotechnology means a form of applied science and technology where control of the matter on atomic and molecular scale is possible. When we talk about the scale or structure in nanotechnology, it means 100 nanometers or smaller than that. Basically, nanotechnology means playing with the atoms.

Nano technology is showing new paths of innovation in many traditional industries like medicine and textile industry. The two main reasons for the popularity of this latest technology are:


Nano technology makes it possible to make existing products and processes more cost effective and unbelievably small.

New products developed on the basis of nanotechnology are more durable and efficient.



Impact of Nanotechnology in the IT industry

Nano technology has particularly impacted the IT industry in a big way. India, which has seen phenomenal growth in the IT sector over the last decade and the growth is continuing unabated has seen the increasing popularity of nanotechnology in different sectors and its commercial acceptance.

Manufacturers of computer chips and other hardware are embracing nanotechnology as it has the potential of producing of smaller and faster computers with larger memories. It has helped in creating computer chips and other devices that are many times smaller than what other current technologies permit. Following are some of the innovations possible because of nanotechnology


32-inch flat screen computer monitor becoming popular now have been designed using nanotubes which are tiny cylinders that are the key building blocks. The screen designed is thin like an LCD display but it comes in a lesser price and consumes less power.

Data storage capacity has improved a lot with the use of nanotechnology. Now one can save more and more data in less physical space. This has been beneficial for most of the big or small IT companies.

With the help of nanotechnology, high density, nonvolatile random access memory cards have been designed that are almost 10 times better as compared to similarly sized regular RAM.

Wireless laser mouse have also been designed with nanotechnology. This mouse is perfect for medical offices, libraries, and schools as well as for mobile professionals, gamers, and desktop users. As there is nano coating in the mouse it contains antimicrobial properties which protects the mouse from bacteria.

High resolution Recordable Compact Discs (CD-R) with progressive scans are built with nanotechnology that displays the best in picture quality which is ideal for High Definition content. The discs have layers of inorganic materials, some of which are just 10 nm thick.



Apart from the above mentioned IT products, there are many more products on which nano technology is making a huge impact. Thanks to the growing importance of nanotechnology in the IT industry, India is witnessing an escalation in IT jobs in this area.

A growing number of IT jobs in India, the USA, or Canada demand candidates with excellent knowledge of nano technology and IT training institutes imparting training in nano technology are proving to be happy hunting grounds for scores of high-end companies.

While looking for your favourite food items in a supermarket, did it ever strike how does it reach you so fresh or how similar food items which used to have a very few days of expiry date a couple of decades back now have expiry date running in years. Modern food packaging innovations have made it possible to keep your food fresh for a much longer time, without changing the taste or aroma. This article is about some of such modern innovations and the impact they had on our food packaging industry.

Changing lifestyles drive growth in modern food packaging industry. Type of food packaging and packaging boxes design has become as integral to food item itself. This trend is most noticeable in western countries lead by USA Europe and Japan but China, India and other developing countries are fast catching up. Demand in other countries is nothing beyond the most basic food packaging. Here are some of the modern in food packaging:

1)Flavour and odour absorbers like films and sachets have been introduced to reduce the transfer of aroma or flavour between components. This helps keeping food items fresh and natural for a long times.

2)Digital technology has been introduced to look into the freshness of food items. Ripeness indicators have been designed recently to monitor and communicate information about food quality. These smart devices can be incorporated on the food item itself.

3)Various industries have introduced specific technologies suiting their special food type. Drip absorbing pads have been introduced for moisture control and oxygen removal systems have been used to keep egg fresh for a longer period of time in poultry industry.

Sustainability of packaging boxes material has been a topic of debate in recent times and like all other debates about environment, majority believes that its time for packaging industry to go green too. Various corporations and environmental groups are working together to reduce the effect of non-biological packaging material on our ecosystem. Sustainable packaging is the new buzzword in food packaging industry. All new innovations in food packaging have some element of green in it. Few criterias have been defined for a packaging material to be called sustainable:

1)It has to be healthy safe and beneficial for communities and individuals throughout its lifecycle.
2)It meets market criteria for performance and cost
3)It is sourced, manufactured, transported and recycled using renewable energy.
4)It maximizes the use of renewable or recycled source materials.
5)It is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices.
6)It is made from materials healthy in all probable end-of-life scenarios.
7)It is designed to optimize materials and energy
8)It is recovered effectively and used in biological and/or industrial cradle to cradle cycles(SPC, 2007)
Source: Institute of Food Technologies

All the modern day advancements are coming in nanotechnology and food packaging industry is not very different. It is said that nano technology will produce the most remarkable new food packaging concepts. Work has already begun in the field of active and intelligent packaging, pathogen detection and creating good barriers between various food materials.