Nanotechnology: breaking through the next big frontier of knowledge.

• Author: Kennedy, Joseph V.

Nanotechnology is getting big. It is already a driving force in diverse fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and information sciences. Developments coming out of research labs this year will lead to breakthrough new products in medicine, communications, computing, and material sciences sometime in the next two decades. Its impact on our lives over the next fifty years could rival the combined effects of electricity, the internal combustion engine, and the computer over the last century. As with any new technology, nanotechnology raises some safety concerns. However, its overall effects will be strongly beneficial to all sectors of society.

This article describes what nanotechnology is and how it builds on previous scientific advances. It then discusses the most likely future development of different technologies in a variety of fields and how government policy is aiding scientific advance.

What Is Nanotechnology?

A nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter. For comparison purposes, the width of an average hair is 100,000 nanometers. Human blood cells are 2,000 to 5,000 nm long, a strand of DNA has a diameter of 2.5 nm, and a line of ten hydrogen atoms is 1 nm. The last three statistics are especially enlightening. First, even within a blood cell there is a great deal of room at the nanoscale; therefore, nanotechnology holds out the promise of manipulating individual cell structure and function. Second, the ability to understand and manipulate matter at the level of one nanometer is closely related to the ability to understand and manipulate both matter and life at their most basic levels: the atom and the organic molecules that make up DNA.

It is difficult to overestimate nanotechnology's likely implications for society. For one thing, advances in just the last five years have proceeded much faster than even the best experts had predicted. Looking forward, science is likely to continue outrunning expectations, at least in the medium-term. Although science may advance rapidly, technology and daily life are likely to change at a much slower pace for several reasons. First, it takes time for scientific discoveries to become embedded into new products, especially when the market for those products is uncertain.

Second, both individuals and institutions can exhibit a great deal of resistance to change. Because new technology often requires significant organizational change and cost in order to have its full effect, this can delay the social impact of new discoveries. For example, computer technology did not have a noticeable effect on economic productivity until it became widely integrated into business processes. It took firms over a decade to go from replacing the typewriters in their office to rearranging their entire supply chains to take advantage of the Internet. Although some firms adopted new technologies rapidly, others lagged far behind.

Interdisciplinary

Nanotechnology is distinguished by its interdisciplinary nature. The most advanced research and product development increasingly requires knowledge of disciplines that, until now, operated largely independently. These areas include:

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