Nanotechnology

The study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale

1 nano meter= 1 billionth of a meter

Controlling at the atomic level

Materials build themselves chemically from the molecular level.Deals with change of properties of a substance at the nano level.

Top Down approach of nanoconstruction.

Thus, nanotechnology can be used to literally modify DNA chemically.

Molecular assembler : A machine that can produce a desired structure or device atom-by-atom using the principles of Mechanosynthesis.

Notable Branches:

Nanoelectronicsrefers to the use of nanotechnologyon electronic components, especially transistors

Nanomechanicsstudying fundamental mechanical (elastic, thermal and kinetic) properties of physical systems at the nanometer scale.

Nanosystems (nanoscale machines)Functional nanometer-scale systems that make atomically-specified structures and devices under programmatic control, i.e. they perform manufacturing to atomic precision.

Nanorobotics

Refers to the still largely hypothetical nanotechnology engineering discipline of

designing and building nanorobots.

Future nanotech will be hybrids of silicon technology and biological molecular machines.

Nubot is an abbreviation for "Nucleic Acid Robots." Nubots are synthetic robotics devices at the nanoscale.

A nanomorph, a term arguably first coined by SF writer David Pulver in 1986's GURPS Robots, is a fictional robot entirely made of nanomachines.

Utility fog a hypothetical collection of tiny robots together performing a certain function.

Contemporary Nanomaterials :

titanium dioxide in sunscreen

silver in food packaging

zinc oxide in cosmetics

Applications:

Medicine

Information systems

Genetic engineering

Warfare

Applications of Nanorobotics

Star trek

Prey

Minority report

Renaissance 2054

Popular References

Grey goo is a hypothetic end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular Nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves―a scenario known as Ecophagy or "eating the environment".

Potential Ideas/Concepts

The human need to control and predetermine.The implications of achieving such power.

Playing God.

The creation of a 'machinic consciousness', and how it would interact with an 'animalistic consciousness'.Would it mimic animalistic ways behaviorally? Could it be studied to better understand life?

In the postcyberpunk comic series Transmetropolitan, there are a race of beings known as foglets. Through a complicated technical process, their consciousness is transferred into a cloud of billions of foglet robots—a process they see as stripping away their biological limitations and leaving them with only personal amusement.

The creation of material comprising of 'nanobots'.The abstraction of form. The implications of this 'formlessness'.

"Claytronics" is an emerging field of engineering concerning reconfigurable nanoscale robots ('claytronic atoms', or catoms) designed to form much larger scale machines or mechanisms. Also known as "programmable matter", the catoms will be sub-millimeter computers that will eventually have the ability to move around, communicate with each others, change color, and electrostatically connect to other catoms to form different shapes. The forms made up of catoms could morph into nearly any object, even replicas of huma n b eings for virtual meetings.

Embedded nanotechnology systems allowing individuals to communicate and synchronize with each

other.

Creating data reservoirs within our bodies using nanotechnology.