NANOTECH INNOVATIONS

Nanotechnology is the technology of the future it will provide new ways of manufacturing products so that products will be smaller but more powerful. According to NNS, “Nanotechnology deals with objects smaller than 100 nanometers, a nanometer being 1 billionth of a meter. For perspective, consider that the average human hair is 100,000 nanometers wide. The aim of nanotech scientists is no less than to manipulate matter, atom by atom, into new materials, drugs, devices, even life forms”(NNS, 2004). This explanation of nanotechnology explains exactly how small objects can be made. In the future, this advancing technology will change the size of manufactured components so that objects will be smaller and more manageable.

However, the website ‘Nanotechnology Now’ was created to provide the latest information regarding nanotechnology.  They gave their own explanation on how nanotechnology can be used to construct smaller products. According to Nanotechnology NOW, “Nanotechnology is actually a multitude of rapidly emerging technologies, based upon the scaling down of existing technologies to the next level of precision and miniaturization” (Nanotechnology Now, 1999-2004). With this advancing technology it will be possible to reconstruct exiting products into smaller more manageable objects.

For example, with the use nanotechnology it could be possible to transform desktop computers into computers that are the size of a watch but with more operating capacity and they will also last longer than current computers. According to ‘Nanotechnology Now’, “Computers with the capabilities of current workstations will be the size of a grain of sand and will be able to operate for decades with the equivalent of a single wristwatch battery” (Nanotechnology Now, 1999-2004). This technology advancement will make computers more abundant, cheaper to manufacture, faster, and smaller.

With nanotechnology cell phones are now of being uses as a telephone, television, and video camera that is small enough to carry in your pocket.  The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology supports this theory they state, “Nanotechnology will offer the ability to construct a wide range of large objects inexpensively and with atomic precision. It will go beyond materials and devices to complex systems of molecular machines, inspired by—but in some ways superior to—those found in nature”(Canter for Responsible Nanotechnology, 2002-2004). This technology will change the way all products are manufactured and used. Since they will be smaller, they will be cheaper and required less resources and labor. In addition, nanotechnology will also make products less expensive and more abundant and this will benefit society.

With the development of nanotechnology it will be possible to create new and better products that will take up less space and operate on a level that will exceed any current existing product. Nanotechnology will change the capabilities of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computer science and mathematics. For example, Cloning is a result of the advancement of nanotechnology. However, since products will be made much smaller, there are many concern regarding nanotechnology such as, miniature bomb that will be undetected and able to do more damage that current bombs. Despite these concerns, nanotechnology will change the way people interact in the world. For example, cellular phone could be made into the size of a dime so that people will be able to attach these phones to their collars.

Another future event that could take place regarding nanotechnology is that it could soon be possible to create a car engine that is smaller than the tip of your finger but is able to last 10 times longer that current car engines, and it will cost less to produce making car less expensive. Nanotechnology is the technology of the future and will change the way products are made so that they are smaller are more manageable to handle. Nanotechnology will be a huge advancement in society because this technology will reduce the resource and time needed to create certain products. As a result, people will be able to benefit from this technology because products will be cheaper.

People show their emotions in many diverse and specialized ways, some of which a computer can be programmed to detect. By employing nanotechnology, a camera and image analysis software, some computers are able to observe a user’s body language and, with proper programming can accurately interpret a person’s posture, restlessness and various facial expressions like grimacing, smiling or scowling. Nanotechnology advances provide onboard sensors which can monitor heartbeats, breathing rates, fluctuations in blood pressure, and other subtle body changes such as skin temperature and voice inflection.

Because human skin has the capability of transmitting electric signals which can be utilized as a method of transmission, nanotechnology researchers have already been able to develop computers that are designed with nano sensors that have the uncanny ability to actually ‘see’ and ‘hear’ the people using them. Inevitably it is only a matter of time until the technology is available to create a computer that can readily identify whether their users are in high spirits or in a bad mood.

With ever advancing nanotechnology equipped computers, scientists figure it is entirely possible to develop a computer that is able to interpret a user’s mood via input it receives based on body language, voice tone and facial expressions and that it will be programmed to adjust itself by providing images designed to provide a feeling of comfort and serenity. Since emotions are ambiguous, transient and ultimately difficult to interpret, it would be very difficult for a computer to accurately construe the many human mood variances, regardless of how advanced the nanotechnology utilized. Therefore, in order to operate with any modicum of precision, a user would have to input the required data in advance.

Nanotechnology, with its sensor based abilities, gives programmers little problem with ‘intelligence’ based activities such as diagnosing a medical condition or participating in a game of chess, yet even with the major advancements in nanotechnology in recent years it is still somewhat of a challenge to design computers that accurately simulate human sight, audio functions, language interpretation and/or motor control.

Human vision and other sensory perceptions have evolved over billions of years and the how and why of their operations are still difficult to understand and/or simulate, while things like mathematics are explicitly taught and are, therefore, easier to express in a computer program.

Programmers are also attempting to employ nanotechnology advancements into programs that they expect to be able to accurately determine a person’s innate wishes regarding resuscitation should they fall ill and not be able to make that decision for themselves. Although, theoretically this information would be beneficial to medical teams, caution should be exercised whenever we allow a machine to determine matters relative to ethics. Regardless of the technology involved, machines are not equipped to differentiate between what is intrinsically right or wrong.

Nanotechnology is the branch of applied science that deals with the manipulation of matter on the molecular and atomic proportions. Current developments are restricted to the creation of objects in the nano-scale that are used as materials in other technologies. Material engineering through the help of nanotechnology has become more precise and able to produce tougher and more efficient materials due to the alteration of certain properties of matter at extremely minute scales. Thus, nanotechnology can be inclined into the field of medicine.

The term “nano” in nanotechnology refers to the “nano” in nanometer, which is a Greek prefix that means “a trillionth”. While it is looked upon that man can be able to create working technology, such as machines and electronics, at this scale, problems arise as various properties and laws of physics change as the architecture gets smaller.

There are two kinds of methods that exist for working alongside with nanotechnology, with each approaching problems from different directions. Bottom-up method of nanotechnology makes use of various procedures to cause structures to assemble by themselves at the desired scale. Top-down method of nanotechnology, on the other hand, build a structure at a scale where it can be easily done, then build another one at a smaller and unapproachable scale.

Historically, humankind has been making use of nanotechnology for such a long time without even realizing it. The processes of making steel, vulcanizing rubber and even simply sharpening a blade all relies on the principles of nanotechnology. In the late 1980′s, with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope and the discovery of carbon nano-tubes and fullerenes, nanotechnology began to enter medicine, most particularly in the fields of osteology and dentistry, as accounted by a Raleigh NC dentist.

Current applications of nanotechnology in Raleigh dentistry include tooth sealants and fillers. The incorporation of nanotechnology into manufacturing such dental products made them to be stronger, tougher and appear more beautiful.

A Raleigh NC dentist looks forward that nanotechnology can be used to rebuild bones that have receded over time after a tooth has been naturally or surgically extracted. This will make implants an option for much longer than it is to date.