Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology may become the most influential force in the world since the emergence of the World Wide Web. It may end world hunger, increase the speed of memory chips, modify the human body or become a devastating weapon. This guide explores what nanotechnology is, how researchers are hoping to use it and what the critics are saying about the consequences of using this potentially world-changing technology.
Expand All Guide SectionsWhat Is Nanotechnology?
The most concise and consistent definition of nanotechnology ... read more »
The Uses of Nanotechnology
For something so small, the implications and breadth of the uses of nanotechnology are vast, ... read more »
Nanotechnology Ethics
Whenever a new technology comes along, people tend to align themselves into a strictly polarized ... read more »
Speculations about Nanotechnology in Fact and Fiction
Not long ago, technology on a very, very tiny scale was merely the province of science fiction. We’ve come a long way since Fantastic Voyage and similar odysseys, and the scientists weaned on those ideas have begun another kind of voyage to bring such concepts into reality: nanotechnology. You won’t have to visit Whoville to find out what’s big in small things—this guide will help you make sense of what’s being put under the microscope.
Dulcinea's Insight
- The concepts behind nanotechnology are not all that new. Colors in the stained glass of old cathedrals are the result of controlled heating and cooling that adjust the size of tiny crystals in the glass.
- No sooner than a technology is conceived are glistening futures and doomsday scenarios concocted to suit various agendas.
Dulcinea's Picks
Plenty of Room at the Bottom
is a 1959 lecture by physicist Richard P. Feynman that helped lay the groundwork for the possibility of directly manipulating individual atoms for chemical synthesis, and even the concept of a tiny robot that could be swallowed to perform surgery.
Wired
has an article, “Why the future doesn’t need us,” by computer pioneer Bill Joy that postulates that nanotechnologies, robotics and genetic engineering can make humans an endangered species.
Nanotechnology in Science Fiction
is a directory of science fiction media that uses nanotechnology as a theme or plot element. It’s somewhat incomplete and out-of-date, but a good start nevertheless.
© 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
