Nanotechnology - what could it be used for?

[RyanJ]

Hi there everyone!

 

I was reading an article in a scinece magazine today about some development in nanotechnology. What could nanotechnology be used for?

 

I suppose it could be used to engineer things on a microscopic scale and maybe even be used in humans to rebuild damaged parts of the body (Something like nanobots or the like) by reading the genetic code and then working it what needs to be build like a planner?

 

Just wondering - I know this is an open topic but if you have any ideas as too its uses then please post and let us know!

 

Also, would it even be possible to build machines this small or anyhting of any use?

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Keano]

alot of medical uses, he are some that I found

 

Silica microspheres for biomolecular detection applications

 

Gold-nanoparticle-assisted oligonucleotide immobilisation for improved DNA detection

 

miniaturised cryopreservation for cellular nanobiotechnology

 

Transporting cells with mobile microrobots

 

Microthermoforming technique for manufacturing scaffolds in tissue engineering

[BhavinB]

I graduated from Canada's first Nanotechnology undergrad program (at the University of Toronto) and was totally surprised by what Nano REALLY is. Most people are blinded into thinking small robots, machines playing with your DNA etc...

 

Sadly, thats just over hype. There is nothing close to that being researched in Nano and actually, micro/nano robots are a smaaaaaallll subset of nano. The biggest aspect of nano is materials. Controlling material properties like crystal size, pore size, solid solution ratios, phases gives amazing macro properties. The next biggest aspect of nano is Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). Again, this is a misnomer cuz many times there is no mechanical aspect.

There are nano chemists working on ways to control properties of chemicals such as local redox states etc....

There are nano biologists trying to tag cancer with quantum dots (a term used too often but defined never).

 

But eventually, the coolest things will happen when we start figuring out enzymes and proteins. Those will be our "nanobots".

 

B

[RyanJ]

Thanks Keano. Some of those look like interesting things for me to research

 

I wonder if this technology could ever be used as wetware interface between people and computers. Something like those nanocarbon tubes are thought to be superconductors (Or are curently being tested to see if they are)... I wonder is these could be used to exchange informaiton between a computer and a person?

 

Edit: Sorry BhavinB - I was posting while you submitted your post

 

Enzymes and catalysts sound like an interesting use - those are structures on a small scale and have a wide veriety of applications too (Suck as washing powders ). How can they manupulate things on such small scales?

 

Do they use something like an electron microscope except it has more power to move things? And do they usually do these things on atom at a time?

 

I once say a picture of a face made of 28 carbon dioxide molecules - it lookes pretty cool considering how small the thing was

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Keano]

speaking of brains interfacing with a computer, check this out

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041022104658.htm

[RyanJ]

speaking of brains interfacing with a computer' date=' check this out

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041022104658.htm[/quote']

 

Sounds interesting... I'll read through it as soon as I finish my Physics homework

 

Edit: On the same site just found this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051028140332.htm

I'm now very happy as I have loads to read through

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[BhavinB]

The whole purpose of moving anything is to make something out of it....like a smiley face. When you can arrange materials into some ordered pattern, then you can make devices like transistors (the whole concept behind microfabrication and lithography).

 

So when you see Don Eigler's "IBM" picture made of copper atoms, the purpose is to research how we can move individual atoms around and make devices out of it. A friend of mine is researching how to move Silica spheres to form complex shapes. They do this using a Scanning Probe which is similar to scanning probe microscopy. By applying a slight feild to the sharp tip, you can change the local electron wavefunction of a particle so that it sticks to the tip. Then you can move the probe and drop the particle. This is insanely slow...which is why this technology will probably not be used in industry (atleast not for a decade). But controlling atoms one by one is like a researchers dream!

[RyanJ]

The whole purpose of moving anything is to make something out of it....like a smiley face. When you can arrange materials into some ordered pattern' date=' then you can make devices like transistors (the whole concept behind microfabrication and lithography).

 

So when you see Don Eigler's "IBM" picture made of copper atoms, the purpose is to research how we can move individual atoms around and make devices out of it. A friend of mine is researching how to move Silica spheres to form complex shapes. They do this using a Scanning Probe which is similar to scanning probe microscopy. By applying a slight feild to the sharp tip, you can change the local electron wavefunction of a particle so that it sticks to the tip. Then you can move the probe and drop the particle. This is insanely slow...which is why this technology will probably not be used in industry (atleast not for a decade). But controlling atoms one by one is like a researchers dream![/quote']

 

AH right - I see. So it is possible to move things atom-by-atom but its stupidly slow?

 

On this topic look what I just found: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051028140332.htm

 

Looks like an intersting article too

 

Its about nanostructures relating to Cadmium Selenide (CdSe)

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[bascule]

The Von Neumann Universal Constructor comes to mind...

[ecoli]

I'm not sure, but I think that this would be considered nanotechnology. I got a lecture from this guy when I was in Israel... it was really awesome.

 

http://www.weizmann-usa.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr012=lyv0mwqbi2.app13b&page=NewsArticle&id=5392

 

 

(they were in the guiness book of world records {2004, IIRC}, btw, for creating the worlds smallest bio-computer

[Klaynos]

metal fuel...

 

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/mg18825221.100

[bascule]

I wonder if this technology could ever be used as wetware[/url'] interface between people and computers. Something like those nanocarbon tubes are thought to be superconductors (Or are curently being tested to see if they are)... I wonder is these could be used to exchange informaiton between a computer and a person?

 

Yep, the hard part is figuring out how to get information back into the brain, encoding it in a way the brain can understand. But this is definitely going to happen, and when it does we're not too far away from technological singularity

[RyanJ]

Yep, the hard part is figuring out how to get information back into the brain, encoding it in a way the brain can understand. But this is definitely going to happen, and when it does we're not too far away from technological singularity

 

Yea thats true. I think that we coudl aready design an interface if only we would work out how the brain is encoded (What its signals mean) and how we could then recode the computers signals when they are sent to the brain.

 

I'm not shure if we yet have the understanding to do that!

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[SNAVEZNAD]

helloooooo ryan

[RyanJ]

helloooooo ryan

 

Umm... Spam?

 

Ryan Jones

[EvoN1020v]

Nanotechnology is very profiting for me. They were able to make an extreme small chip so they can implant it in human's eyes and blind people will be able to see again. I'm blind myself, so it brings a light in my life.

[RyanJ]

Nanotechnology is very profiting for me. They were able to make an extreme small chip so they can implant it in human's eyes and blind people will be able to see again. I'm blind myself, so it brings a light in my life.

 

I'm actually colour blind and have two bad eye dissorders that I will not go into there because you'll be bored to death

 

Anyway is nanochips or the like could be used to fix problems like these then that would be a great use!

 

And if you could somehow replace the neurons that carry the signals from the eyes to the brain then that could also fix even more eye problems... the best idea of all may be to replace the eye with a devide that replicates the eyes fucntions... that may not be possible any time soon though

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[EvoN1020v]

Very true Ryan Jones. Replacing a human eye with a robotic eye is virutually impossible, because the human eye connect muscules in the eye sockets so the eye itself can move around. Also, the human eye is connected to the nerve system. So the microchip will just revieve my dead neurons in my eyes, and that's all I need.

[RyanJ]

Very true Ryan Jones[/b']. Replacing a human eye with a robotic eye is virutually impossible, because the human eye connect muscules in the eye sockets so the eye itself can move around. Also, the human eye is connected to the nerve system. So the microchip will just revieve my dead neurons in my eyes, and that's all I need.

 

I agree and I'd say with out technology right now there is no way to even come close to reproducing a human eye.

 

Maybe working out some way to act like a bypass to the dead nerve cells could work though. I'm shure that could be done with current technology if only we knew how I'm not even shure if dead nerve cells can be re-vived or is that heart cells I don't remember

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[JonM]

What could nanotechnology be used for?

 

In the future... anything and everything

 

 

 

Here are some reads...

 

 

http://www.crnano.org/benefits.htm

http://www.crnano.org/dangers.htm

 

http://www.nanovip.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

[RyanJ]

Thanks JonM! Those look like interesting reads. I'll get right on it

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[kok3000]

nanontechnological can make human lives longer because its an help to change the structure of the cell in human body

[Zero Wing]

Very true Ryan Jones[/b']. Replacing a human eye with a robotic eye is virutually impossible, because the human eye connect muscules in the eye sockets so the eye itself can move around. Also, the human eye is connected to the nerve system. So the microchip will just revieve my dead neurons in my eyes, and that's all I need.

Yes, but the microchip isn't everything; it can only handle specific diseases/disorders. For some, bionic eyes are the only answer, and aren't impossible. We're learning more about the nervous system all the time, and are currently capable of re-attatching limbs. There is a working prototype of a bionic eye as we speak, but still only produces very low-res images due to the fact that it's hooked up to a distributive processing unit, rather than a genuine brain that can constantly (and quite literally) re-wire itself to the changing of every intake of light. Bionic eyes are much closer than most think.

 

Now on to my actual question i came in this thread to ask..

 

Any word or reads on how nanobots will self-replicate? We here it uttered as a potential problem all the time, with that sci-fi novel from '86 and it's 'grey goo' always popping up, but how would the process of self-replication actually work?

[RyanJ]

Any word or reads on how nanobots will self-replicate? We here it uttered as a potential problem all the time' date=' with that sci-fi novel from '86 and it's 'grey goo' always popping up, but how would the process of self-replication actually work?[/quote']

 

I suppose in the same way our cells "replicate".

 

Read the "master plan", copy the "master plan", build a new nanobot from available materials not in use by cells and then move the master plan into the new nanobot and then your done.

 

As for the problem with this, what is it malfuncitons and goes like a cancer? Starts reproducing out of control and starts taking the molecules it needs to build more from our own cells?

Things that were meant to help cure cancer become a new form of cancer, ironic no?

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Zero Wing]

Well, yeah, sorta. But i was thinking that an emp blast to your system would shock them all to deat. However, that brings up another question i never really asked myself too much, or at least not enough. Where does the energy [for the nanobot] required to do work come from? Generated in the same way our natural cells do? And if so, wouldn't that require an extra load of nutrients the person would have to consume?