What are some possible applications of nanotechnology?
“Imagine a medical device that travels through the human body to seek out and destroy small clusters of cancerous cells before they can spread. Or a box no larger than a sugar cube that contains the entire contents of the Library of Congress. Or materials much lighter than steel that possess ten times as much strength.” – U.S. National Science Foundation The applications of nanotechnology are near limitless, but the main focus seems to be on its use in medical applications. That seems to be what’s driving the research, since it would give us the opprotunity to cure most diseases, even possibly eliminating the concept of natural death. There are so many other applications, however, ranging from mundane to incredibly profound. It’s possible for there to be clothes destroy bodily odor, that don’t stain, that don’t tear without mending themselves. You could have nanorobotic blood cells that would carry oxygen more efficiently, allowing you to hold your breath for much, much longer. We coul
Medical use would be the main thing, of course (as mentioned in the first article), but with nanotechnology, you could replace everything you own with nanotechnilogically manifactured items. Then, all of the the fibers in those items could be strenghened individually, making them virtually more detaile and almost everlasting.
One of the most interesting applications of nanotechnology principles that is in production today is Texas Instruments’ digital light processor (DLP). This device is an array of tiny mirrors on cantilevers, controlled by electrical impulses. It’s purpose is to digitally produce a high-resolution optical image, most commonly replacing LCD projectors. DLP chips are also used in some high-definition televisions. Granted, it’s not the kind of nanorobot most people envision, but within the field of optics, it’s a tremendous step forward. Also, it works, and you can buy one today. See: http://www.dlp.com This is only one application of the technology, however. Digitally manipulating light is critical in developing computers that use light impulses, rather than electrical impulses, to process data. If the device can be controlled by optical, rather than electrical, configuration data, you can expect to see it in optical computers and networking equipment.
Nanotechnology is here. The first major commerical application will likely be in computer memory chips. They are use an array of miniaturized cantilevered arms to read the surface of a memory for 1s and 0s. IBM and a Silicon Valley start-up both plan to roll-out nanotech memory chips in 2006. The application will eventually provide much increased storage capacity, for example, 25 full length movies on a single DVD.
