Nanotechnology

What's the Difference Between Harry Potter and Nanotechnology?

Answer: They both look like magic but only one really is!

Videoconference: "NANOTECHNOLOGY: The next BIG wave of innovation"
Presenter: Vanderbilt Professor of Chemistry Sandra Rosenthal
Date: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
@ the OHS Library
Time: 10:00 AM
Lesson Plan Information

Nanotechnology:Click on the underlined words to learn more.


Imagine materials as light as plastic and as strong as steel; car batteries that make gasoline look like steam power; or cancer treatments that selectively target diseased cells. Using nanotechnology, researchers are pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and making the dreams of yesterday the reality of tomorrow. This is the technology of the very small, where things are measured in nanometers (one nanometer is a mere one hundred thousandth the width of a human hair), and where matter behaves in unusual and unexpected ways.

Nanotechnology is already used in many consumer products , and these are just the tip of what some are calling the "Next Industrial Revolution." Nanotechnology promises to affect every aspect of our lives in the future, from the clothes we wear to the cars we drive.

Like Harry Potter, nanotechnology is big business. In 2005, nanotechnology was incorporated into more than $30 billion in manufactured goods. By 2014, an estimated $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods globally will use nanotech, or 15 percent of total output.

To learn more about the "magic" of nanotechnology (and using it responsibly), read "Nanotechnology for Wizards" by Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Chief Science Advisor Andrew Maynard. This whimsical commentary appears as a guest article on Nanotechnology Now's new column "Nano Emerging" by Project Director David Rejeski. Maynard's piece is a letter from a "Muggle" scientist to Potterdom's Arthur Weasley, an official at the Ministry of Magic.

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide.

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is an initiative launched by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2005. It is dedicated to helping business, government and the public anticipate and manage possible health and environmental implications of nanotechnology.

How small is small? In terms of length, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter. A single nanometer is so small that 10 hydrogen atoms could span the distance. Contrary to popular belief, the extremely cool, extremely small iPod Nano doesn't employ any nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology, according to the National Science Foundation, is "working at the atomic, molecular and super-molecular levels, in the length of scale of approximately 1 to 100 nanometer range, in order to understand and create materials, devices and systems with fundamentally new properties and functions because of their small structure."

Ultimately, nanotechnology is tiny technology that fundamentally changes the rules of science. Through nanotechnology, convergence of distinct disciplines of chemistry, biology and physics can create applications and solutions previously unimaginable. Applications of nanotechnology such as stain-resistant clothing and highperformance tennis racquets are cool but offer only a glimpse of the most exciting opportunities to come.

The Future of Nanotechnology:
By 2010, nanotechnology will significantly influence information and communication technology, health care, consumer markets and energy technology. Hundreds of companies from start-ups to Fortune 500s are working around the clock (and around the world) to commercialize nanotechnology.

Information technology and communication will significantly benefit from nanotechnology as Moore's Law is being challenged to meet future demands for computer speed, efficient power usage and device storage. Today, all the big chip manufacturers, including Intel and Transmeta of Santa Clara, Calif., and AMD of Sunnyvale, Calif., are producing parts with nanoscale features. Beyond the simple nanoscale miniaturization, these companies and several start-ups are exploring a completely new approach that takes advantage of quantum-scale effects. If a logic chip could be made this way, it would hold tens of billions of logic elements, compared with 50 million on existing chips.

Nanotechnology will play an important role in creating new approaches to diagnosing and curing disease. The convergence of "wet" (biology) and"dry"(nanotechnology) will significantly enhance the opportunities in biotech.

Nanoparticles are being developed to deliver drugs and genes to patients, allowing medicines to be taken in a more convenient form. Another application for nanoparticles could be the enhancement of medical imaging. For example, iron particles might improve the quality of MRI scans.

Energy technology will benefit from nanotechnology, both through its more efficient use (particularly in lighting) and through more effective ways of generating electricity. Nanoscale particles used in new solid-state lighting could cut the electricity used for illumination by up to 50 percent by 2025. Ordinary light bulbs would be replaced with improved versions of lightemitting diodes (LEDs) that emit bright white light.

Companies such as Color Kinetics are already commercializing such technology. Nanotechnology is also helping to bring energy technologies such as fuel cells to market. Cheap and efficient solar cells look within reach, using newly developed materials to replace the fragile and expensive silicon-based wafers currently in use.

Governments are the leading nanotech investors in the world, funding R&D to the tune of about $3.5 billion a year (about $1 billion in the United States). Venture capitalists are still relatively small participants, but leading VCs such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson,Venrock and Harris and Harris have invested hundreds of millions in nanotechnology to date.

Given the newness of the industry, there are very limited ways to participate in the public markets today. Options include investing in companies such as FEI and Veeco providing research instrumentation - "picks, pans and shovels" for the "prospectors." These include imaging tools (small-scale cameras and microscopes), manufacturing tools (for building and cleaning nanoclevices) and building blocks (physical, biological and chemical matter). Harris and Harris got involved as a business development company with a portfolio of "tiny technology" private investments.

Reprinted from Finding the Next Starbucks: How To Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow by Michael Moe with permission of Portfolio, a member of the Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright© Michael T. Moe, 2006.




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