Little Green People; The Spread of Information; Nanotechnology and the Next Level

BOOK RECOMMENDATION:

Unbounding the Future: the Nanotechnology Revolution.
Eric Drexler and Chris Peterson.
ISBN 0688125735
Ever since the dawn of civilization, technology has advanced society's evolution. Through the Industrial Revolution, technology was used to streamline the mechanized process. Currently, nanotechnology is being used to streamline design, enabling us to build smaller and more efficient products. Many of the products we use are beginning to be redesigned on a molecular level; this includes everything from medicine to automobiles. The research that is going on in this emerging field is global in nature, and the picture that scientists are beginning to put together is an exciting one. Of course, this is only the first step in a process that will unfold and be perfected over the course of the next century, but some revolutionary products of the future are already here; from batteries to cell phones to solar panels to food to cosmetics to paint to even hypoallergenic pets, these have all been re-engineered on the nano-level. In fact, there are thousands of products in the nano-showcase. The smart investors are finding out how to invest in nanotechnology today with the hopes of building a fortune over the coming decades. What is most exciting about the field of nanotechnology is that its development trend is caught up in the science/computer loop, that is, better computers yield faster developments in science and faster developments in science make better computers. What a smart investor has to realize is that the wholesale replacement of twentieth-century technologies and products will surely take place over the course of the next one-hundred years.

Science and technology have blended together at the beginning of the twenty-first century in a streamline fashion that is sure to yield a future that is awe-inspiring to consumers. Products over the course of the twentieth century were engineered to be mass produced without much thought to waste or limited resources. They were also produced in such a way that many discoveries were kept secret in order to obtain a market advantage. This was the way that business used to be done.

We are now in an age where advancements in science are beginning to revolutionize entire industries. There still exists copyrighted information or trademarks or patents, but because the computer allows for information to be shared instantaneously globally, any advancement made in any area is spread across the world in the blink of an eye. This is a profound change, speeding up the evolution of business and society. The information that is being shared surrounding nanotechnology encompasses several industries including health, agriculture, renewable energy, automotive, and many more.

As of 2003, the human genome has been mapped; this means that the 25,000 genes that make up the DNA sequence in humans is ‘on the books’. From here forward, scientists will be able to determine which genes cause which diseases and work with human health on a nano-scale working on a molecular level to 'fix' rogue cells that spiral out of control to cause disease. Although the dream of completely mechanizing biology where tiny ‘robots’ go in and operate on the human on a cellular level is decades away, many aspects of the biological science have entered the nano-level through the use of medicine and micro-surgery.

Now that scientists are able to tweak the fundamental building blocks of the human body and then put them back together to work better, we are on the cusp of a new era in biological medicine. Of course, there are many ethical issues that arise in this type of science. When we begin to consider ideas like cloning or stem cell research, there is often a visceral reaction from some segments of the public in terms of their religious beliefs and whether humans ought to be tinkering with the world and its living components on a nano-level when it comes to the human body. Cloning and stem cell research seem to be stuck on the back burner, at least in America, while the general public comes to grips with their new found powers.

Nanotechnology is currently being used to manufacture drugs that treat diseases more effectively with fewer side effects. While the pharmaceutical industry has had its fair share of ‘guinea pig’ mentality over the past century, new developments in nanotechnology will allow patients to receive better treatment specifically when it comes to drug delivery and release systems.

When it comes to genetically engineered food, America has jumped whole-heartedly into this area. One of the first applications of genetically modified food back in the 1990's was to change the DNA structure of produce to be frost-resistant. In order to do this, scientists took the DNA from a frost resistant cell and transferred it into the cell of a food that was prone to frost, say strawberries. Since then, other applications for genetically modified food developed; one was to engineer crops to contain pesticides within the cell structure of the food to make them resistant to pests, guaranteeing high yields at harvest with minimal cost of maintenance during the growing period.

The days of unexpected harvest yields are over, but other problems are beginning to surface with GMO's including (according to Wikipedia) long-term health effects for anyone eating genetically modified food, labeling and consumer choice, intellectual property rights/ownership of the seeds themselves, and the potential disruption or even possible destruction of the food chain. Oftentimes, when the nutritional composition of the genetically modified food is considered or the long term health effects are studied, the information is not readily given to the public. We have used nano-technology to alter our food, but we do not yet know how this experiment will play out in nature; it could all turn out very bad through the pollination sequence of insects, but, nonetheless, the industry is already thriving and shows no sign of going away any time soon.

While food that has been genetically altered may not be best for human consumption, it might make for an excellent feedstock for alternative fuels. As a feedstock for the ethanol industry, the grains can be engineered to produce the highest energy yield with the smallest use of land. In terms of using the genetically modified food for fuel, the overall excitement in this new industry is well-founded, but the experiment must proceed with caution until the natural side-effects have time to be fleshed out and studied.

Besides food, nanotechnology is also being used today to engineer more efficient technologies. For example, one of the problems with solar technology to date has been the levels of efficiency that have been able to be obtained from direct sunlight. Only certain wavelengths at certain angles could be transformed into electrical energy that then could be used to power our society. Scientists have recently engineered a coating using nano-science that can be applied to virtually any existing solar panel and raise the efficiency rates by capturing all of the wavelengths of sunlight at virtually any angle. This breakthrough will substantially improve efficiency rates and allow the cost of solar power to become cost competitive with the power generated from fossil fuels.

Realistically, nanotechnology can help provide our society with clean, secure, and affordable energy. In terms of improving the power discharge and recharging time in batteries, electrodes are coated with nanoparticles. Batteries are a necessary step in the renewable energy transmission system. Wind and solar are intermittent by nature and, therefore, transformer stations have to be equipped with batteries in order to be able to manage peak loads without blackouts. Currently, nano-technology is being used in order to bring the cost, the recharging time, the lifecycle, and size of batteries for a multitude of applications.

Nanotechnology is also responsible for the creation of stronger, lighter, and more durable materials. For example, carbon nanotubes are now used to create lightweight material that is as hard as a diamond, and they are made from run-of-the-mill raw materials. This kind of product has numerous applications. Besides lighter aircraft and better body armor, cars can now become significantly lighter than they currently are while still maintaining their structural integrity in terms of be able to absorb the physical force of a collision. Lighter cars equals better gas mileage.

Developments in nanotechnology will also allow for low-cost filters to clean the water and air. Microfilters already allow us to reuse water that otherwise would go to waste. These kinds of filters are also already used to clean contaminants out of the air in our homes and in the places where we work.

Nanotechnology also has the potential of being able to develop techniques that reuse some of the waste thrown into landfills. Whether it be by speeding up the decomposition process in order to capture the methane gas that is released and then transforming it into the higher grade natural gas that we cook and heat our homes with, or it be through developing new enzymes that can break down organic matter more easily into sugars that can then be fermented into ethanol, or it is used to simply break down waste into its chemical components where it is collected in a sort of periodic table warehouse and elements can be accessed by companies to create wholly new products, the applications of nanotechnology in combination with garbage are endless. Regardless of the how, nanotechnology will fundamentally change the way humans interact with trash in their world in the future.

Since nanotechnology promises to improve the overall general quality of life while lessening our impact on the environment, it is drawing the attention of wealthy entrepreneurs and investors. Some of the nano-products that have been launched recently are demonstrating nanotechnology’s potential, including faster computers, smaller memory devices, stronger materials, better production processes, and superior medical treatment.

Even the United States government is getting in on the action. The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is a federal program established in 2001. It was established to encourage research and to develop some of the opportunities and benefits of nanotechnology. The NNI uses collaborative communication to share goals, priorities, and strategies between various organizations. It says it does not fund research (but it actually does); instead, it tries to ‘foster the transfer of new technologies into products for commercial and public benefit and develop and sustain educational resources, a skilled workforce, and the supporting infrastructure and tools necessary to advance nanotechnology’. For fiscal year 2009, NNI was given $1.5 billion to spend on its members’ research and development and the deployment of products to the marketplace. (NNI)

There are many nanotech-products being developed today across virtually every sector of the global economy. Check them out at NANOSHOP.com. There are also numerous scientists providing research for governments and corporations working on the next nano-breakthrough that will catapult their country or business to the forefront of this developing industry. This future development of unknown origin or magnitude will only be one of a thousand such developments as the world moves forward into a world that is nano-engineered. Our most innovative inventions here at the beginning of the twenty-first century (iPhone, hypoallergenic pets) will pale in comparison when human society gets to the year 2100 and looks back over the technology arc that nanotech conquered. By 2100, nanotech will be the brains of virtually every industry.

The ability to see, measure, model, and manipulate matter on the nano-scale has its environmental advantages also. Designing products on a nano-level requires fewer resources and produces less waste. The benefit to the environment is twofold, because (as noted before) in addition to producing less waste, working with the building blocks of matter will also allow our society in the future to use our vast stockpiles of trash that is stored in our landfills as a potential windfall of recycled resources.

How big nanotech is these days is not really a relevant question considering how broad its base is and how fast it is expanding. As far as rough estimations go, today, revenues are estimated in the billions; by 2020 they are expected to be in the trillions. The simple fact of the matter is that nanotechnology will continue to grow because the innovations made available from the science span virtually every industry and ultimately help cut down on businesses’ overall operating costs while providing superior products to the consumer.

Nanotechnology will be the backbone of our future energy industry. Advances in solar technology and in hydrogen development, not to mention energy transmission through superconducting wire and battery power storage and delivery, will all rely upon advances in nanotechnology. Nanotech will bring about the innovations necessary to finally relieve the world’s dependence upon fossil fuels and will help to start recycling our vast piles of waste. There are numerous avenues to invest in nanotechnology, and that number will only continue to grow.

Nanotechnology: The Power of Small
www.powerofsmall.org
How big is a nanometer? A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; a human hair on average is 100,000 nanometers wide. As the microindustry of nanotechnology grows, people are beginning to wonder how it works and what some of its consequences are, if there are any. This three part series, featured on PBS, tries to answer some of the toughest and most complicated questions posed by nanotech. The show gathers together policymakers, scientists, journalists, and community leaders to talk about naotech issues.