| As the horizons of technology expand, the | | | | harmless. Nanorobots could also be programmed |
| real world is shrinking into a Global | | | | to perform delicate surgeries. |
| Village; Nanotechnology is the new area of | | | | |
| interest in technology. | | | | For environmental clean-up, airborne |
| | | | nanorobots could be user programmed to |
| Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that | | | | rebuild the thinning ozone layer. |
| covers many areas of research dealing with | | | | Contaminants could be automatically removed |
| objects that are measured in nanometers or | | | | from water sources, and spill could be |
| billionth of meter. It is a hybrid science | | | | cleaned up instantly. |
| combining engineering and chemistry. The goal | | | | |
| of nanotechnology is to manipulate atoms | | | | Nanotechnology was first introduced in 1959, |
| individually and place them in a pattern to | | | | in a talk by the Nobel Prize-winning |
| produce a desired structure. Nano-sized | | | | physicist Richard Feynman, entitled "There's |
| machines called assemblers, that can be | | | | Plenty of Room at the Bottom", Feynman |
| programmed to manipulate atoms and molecules | | | | proposed using a set of conventional-sized |
| at will, would be used to build consumer | | | | robot arms to construct a replica of |
| goods. Some nanomachines called replicators, | | | | themselves, but one-tenth of the original |
| would be programmed to build assemblers. | | | | size, then using that new set of arms to |
| | | | manufacture an even smaller set, and so on, |
| Nanotechnology would enable creation of new | | | | until the molecular-scale is reached. if we |
| generation of computer components with | | | | had many million or billions of such |
| enormous storage capacity. But the greatest | | | | molecular-scale products built from |
| impact of nanotechnology could be the medical | | | | individual molecules - a "bottom-up |
| industry. Patients would drink fluids | | | | manufacturing" technique, as opposed to the |
| containing nanorobots programmed to attack | | | | usual technique of cutting away material |
| and reconstruct the molecular structure of | | | | until you have a completed component or |
| cancer cells and viruses to makes them | | | | product -"top-down manufacturing". |