New Materials May Emerge Solely to Support Nanotechnology

Self-assembling materials may require new directions in materials development. One of the most amazing advancements in nanotechnology is the ability to engineer materials to self-assemble into new materials or add new attributes.  The ability of certain molecules to bond in planned ways with others and produce new materials is at the cutting edge of nanotechnology product development, and will probably remain there for some time to come.

One-by-one assembly of nano-scale devices is practically useless for most applications. The assembly of nano-scale devices on a one-by-one basis yields so few of the devices that it has little practical use except in research.  To make practical use of nanotechnology devices it is necessary to make them in enormous numbers and, so far, self-assembly seems the only option.  Inventing new materials with applications in self assembly could be one of the next big directions in science.

A key direction for advancement is in the mastery of self assembly at larger scales. While nanotechnology products are currently limited mostly to coatings and special materials, the promise of micro-scale and larger devices being produced by self assembly is great.  After all, every living thing is an instance of self assembly.  While we are a long way from creating life forms, this hints at amazing advances in functionality for the devices we will create.

New materials that can be used in self-assembly processes could gain major importance. Materials that previously had no useful application may turn out to have potential as catalysts of self assembly, or as supporting materials in self assembly processes.  Devices larger than nano scale might be self-assembled in fluid suspensions, and the fluids involved may be new to us, for example.  Chemistry and physics will be key disciplines in the pursuit of commercial viable self assembly processes, and the results will be exciting.

As always, I welcome your comments.  – Tim

Interesting Information:
Self Assembly and Nanotechnology,  George M. Whitesides, Department of Chemistry, Harvard University

Can a Video Screen Be Painted on Using Nanotechnology?

Combining the ideas of wi-fi, nanotechnology, microtechnology, and optics could produce a video screen that can be painted on a surface in layers that will then self-assemble into operating, light-producing video screens.  Perhaps each pixel could be a tiny nanobot incorporating one or more colors of LED that it can turn on and off.  Energy can be derived from a gel or circulating liquid bath (with the added advantage of cooling the nanobots).  The controls to make each nanobot turn its light sources on and off can be implemented through data-encoded near infrared light so as to be invisible.  Such a light might provide an energy source to the pixelbots as well.  Could a modulated light source transmit enough data to address each nanobot individually  and pass control information quickly enough for the whole screen assembly to produce real-time video?

We Are Nanotechnology

All life is composed of nanotechnology. From the original molecular structures that developed the ability to replicate themselves a billion or more years ago to the most sophisticated life forms, we all have resulted from an evolutionary process that started with, and uses at every level, nanotechnology concepts.  Life started at nano-scale, and a huge majority of all life forms, the greatest bio-diversity, still exists at nano-scale.

The Nanotechnology Future of Lawn (and Hair) Care?

Do you dislike cutting your lawn as much as I do? In part it’s the time and effort involved, but in part it’s the smelly, noisy, internal combustion engine that drives the mower. I do it as inoften as possible without annoying the neighbors too much or violating any ordinances, but am always thinking about alternatives that would need no attention at all. I have wondered if, in a couple of decades or so, nanotechnology might provide some new answers to my problems.  Remember that tomorrow’s great ideas usually sound fantastic (crazy) to us today, but the first to make them real could live very comfortably thereafter.  (Is this a part of the American dream that has faded from our collective consciousness?)  As a result of my daydreams, I came up with the following ideas:

How to Kill Nanobots

“Don’t tase me, bro! I’ll have to get all new nanobots!” Electromechanical nanobots, the type that many think of when they hear “nanobot”, would have vulnerabilities. At first it seems it would be difficult to kill such a tiny machine, but wouldn’t a sufficiently strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) disrupt the operation of the tiny device and possibly “kill” it?

Nanotechnology Has Amazing Implications for Surveillance Industry

Could there soon be spy devices too small to easily detect? Imagine microscopic (or nanoscopic?) “bugs” that could be planted on a person through their food, inhaled, or sprayed on their clothes, and which would travel in their blood stream or hide in their hair or pores, transmitting audio or vital signs to nearby data collectors, themselves microscopic, which could forward the information farther along wirelessly. An intelligence agency could achieve greatly expanded capacity to observe and intervene, all without anyone being able to detect the devices with the human eye. Nanotechnology could certainly make the professional spy’s job easier.

Wi-Fi Equipped Nanobots Could Revolutionize Medicine

Nano-inspirations often hit first thing in the morning. A concept for nanobot application occurred to me when I awoke this morning that could revolutionize neurology. If nanobots can be built to receive radio signals, then they can also be engineered to detect weak electrical fields such as those that traverse our nervous systems. The proximity of nanobots in the bloodstream to the nerve cells would permit sensitivity to such weak fields, and if the nanobots could transmit weak, narrow-band radio signals to provide measurements of nerve activity, it is possible that much new information could be learned about the nervous system. Of course, the subject would need to be in an electrically quiet environment such as a Faraday cage (no cellphones allowed), and all equipment inside the cage would need to be carefully shielded and bypassed to further eliminate unwanted electrical fields, but the concept seems feasible. Since nano-scale radio receivers have already been demonstrated (link), it doesn’t seem far fetched to have them transmit as well, and, with enough sophistication and computing power, achieve the capability for Wi-Fi-like networking (link).  So how could this capability be applied?

A Trip to the Nanotech Dentist

Will nanobots someday clean my teeth? In the future, will my dentist spray a fine mist of nanobots into my mouth? Then, will he activate the nanobots with a remote control, after which the nanobots will identify where plaque and other undesirable materials bond to the enamel of my teeth and dissolve those bonds? Some of the nanobots would also move into the space between the teeth and gums and break up bacteria and the acid molecules they excrete, and possibly even repair cell damage. Then, ten minutes later, will I just rinse my mouth, have an inspection from the dentist, make my appointment for next time, and leave?

Could Nanotechnology Someday Replace Toilet Paper?

The “throne room” is a great place for coming up with new ideas.  Sitting on the throne (toilet) recently, I was moved to consider that most basic commodity of civilization, toilet paper.  Surely, like deodorants and hot showers, this is one of the key enablers of our civilized lifestyle.  As time progresses, however, this might change.  Might we someday find that the manufacture of toilet paper uses more resources and energy than can be economically justified?  What will we do then?  Can nanotechnology provide an answer?

Incremental Change Towards Sustainability and How I Maintain My Lawn

Lawns are a relatively recent historical phenomenon.  Lawns didn’t exist except around the palaces of the world (think Versailles) until the 19th century (link), and even then only in the more affluent places like Great Britain.  In North America, though there were some modern lawns in the early 18th century, a good grass seed wasn’t found until around 1930, and due to the more extreme weather lawns had nowhere near the smooth appearance of those in the UK.  While lawnmowers appeared in the 1880’s, the North American lawn didn’t come into its own until homeowners had both hoses and sprinklers for use in the hot summers, and gas-powered rotary lawn mowers, and until the American Garden Club gave lawns a lot of publicity.  With a manual push-type lawnmower people could only keep a relatively small lawn, but powered mowers and irrigation made it possible for many to have huge lawns, especially in the prosperity-driven move to owning huge “McMansions” that occurred at the end of the 20th century.  So how will things change from here on?

Biotechnology and Nanotechnology Are Merging … in the Classroom

Biotech is coming, quickly, and with nanotechnology helping.  NPR broadcast an item in the past week about college students at MIT engineering e. coli bacteria to have a minty fresh smell (instead of poopy one) when growing, and then a banana smell when the culture is mature (link) (link).  This reveals a technological capability that was unthinkable to most of us a decade or less ago and goes far beyond the chemistry sets children got for their birthdays in the 1950’s.  Young people today are making biotech and the custom engineering of microorganisms an increasingly casual undertaking, as nanotechnology-enhanced bioengineering demonstration kits are appearing in classrooms.  How long will it be before bioengineering is a popular hobby among young people, and … what happened to working on cars and playing in rock bands?

Energy Sources in a Sustainable World

In the future sustainable world, it is probable that per capita fossil fuel consumption will have to be very nearly zero. The use of fossil fuel resources will be restricted by cost and availability to only the most critical and high value applications. Total population, and how well we control and reduce it worldwide, will be the biggest factor in how hard the changes are, getting there, but technological advances must be significant as well. While the total use will eventually decline to a few drops of petroleum per day (or week, or month), the goal will need to be zero, and from the standpoint of long term planning we need to start pursuing that goal now. Even with the most restrictive conservation measures, we will still need a lot of energy per person. If, as I’ve read, the average person in North America today uses 16 times the world average of energy per person, and more and more people in the developing world are striving to at least approach the way we live in NA, we have a huge challenge to overcome.  (More arithmetic later …)  How will we live, and where will our energy come from in a world no longer using petroleum and coal for power?

More Nano-Thoughts on Future Technological Possibilities

The emergence of nanotechnology in recent decades gives much fodder for speculation and daydreaming, and many questions around the potential of nanotechnology to help us acheive sustainability have come to me. As I find the topic intriguing, I will share some of my questions and speculations with you here, and hope to live long enough to see at least some of the knowledge involved being found, studied, and used to make life better for all life on Earth. Please read on, and I welcome you to add your ideas, concerns, and thoughts in the comments.