The name sounds interesting, but what is nanotechnology? It is engineering, technology and science wrapped in one at nanoscale level which is around 1 to 100 nanometers. It is also studying and applying extremely tinny things with other science such as physics, science of materials, biology and chemistry. It all started back in 1959, when the term of Nanotechnology didn’t even existed yet, by physicist Richard Feynman at the Institute of Technology in California. He started to describe processes where scientists are going to be able to control and manipulate both molecules and atoms. Almost a decade after that presentation, a professor Norio Taniguchi gave a term nanotechnology. Modern nanotechnology began in 1981 with the evolution of tunneling scanning microscope that could see atoms individually. It’s really hard to have a real perception on how small nanotechnology actually is.
Everything on Earth is actually made out of atoms, the clothes we are wearing, houses and buildings we are living in, food we eat and even our own bodies. But it’s impossible to see something like atoms with human naked eyes. What’s even more, it’s not possible to see it even with the classic microscopes that are used in school classes. Microscopes that scientists are using to see stuff at that scale were invented 30 years ago. What is seen as nanotechnology today are basic developments and researches that are happening in many laboratories around the globe. People are sometimes referring to nanotechnology as technology for general purposes, because when it reaches its advanced form it will have effect on all areas of society and almost every industry. It will provide us with longer lasting, safer, cleaner, smarter and better built products for areas of communication, transportation, medicine, agriculture and homes too.
Just imagine small medical device that is able to travel through someones body to find out and destroy cells of cancer before it spread up more. Or a piece that is small as cube of sugar, containing entire libraries inside. Nanotechnology is already changing the world we know and also the way people are living, creating new products stronger, faster and safer. I think that we’re yet set to see really revolutionary nanotechnology innovations, materials, applications and products, for example nanorobotics. Some say it’s close future while others agree that is still distant. I think that realistically nanotechnology has potential to change world on a scale as computer revolution back in the day.
But once the technology arrives in full force there are some heavy questions waiting for answers. Who will own that type of tech? What kind of gap will it make between the poor and rich ones? Will it be widely available or heavily restricted? It’s really hard to predict when nanotechnology will mature, but we must start preparing now, for the possible scenarios revolving around this technology.
