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:

Nano-scale Devices Can Be Designed to Self-Assemble or Can Be Assembled by Genetically Engineered Viruses

Scientists at MIT have used viruses to assemble part of nano-sized batteries. (link) In the past I have written about nano-scale items that are engineered to self-assemble, that is, their molecules automatically hook together in useful ways, and how that would enable production of useful objects at a scale where few existing tools (and only extremely specialized and expensive ones, at that) can work. Now it appears that MIT researchers have successfully built most of the parts for nano-scale batteries using genetically-engineered viruses to do part of the work. Such batteries would be manufactured in extremely thin sheets, and it remains to be seen if they can be interconnected in layers or otherwise made into larger-capacity, higher efficiency packages. No data was given on the power density (power per unit volume or weight) for the batteries, but it suggests the ability to make a self-contained power source for nanobots, tiny working machines smaller than most cells and microorganisms, which many expect to be available to us in the future. This development is another key step in the development of nanotechnology, as self-contained power sources and radio communications (see my previous entries) will be essential to someday having sophisticated nano-scale robotic technology for use in medical and other industries.

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?

Sustainable Homes of the Future

Will trees someday be genetically engineered to grow around spaces and form our homes?  Will they grow the required plumbing, wiring, ventilation ducts, etc. into their structures?  Or should we just be asking … when?