NextPrevious

Biology in the Laboratory

Seeing Small

What is nanotechnology?

The term “nanotechnology” was coined in 1974 by Japanese scientist Norio Taniguchi (1912–1999) at the University of Tokyo. It includes a number of technologies that deal with the miniaturization of existing technology down to the scale of a nanometer (one-billionth of a meter) in size, about the size of molecules and atoms—1/40,000th the width of a human hair.

The potential of nanotechnology is enormous; for example, it includes microcomputers capable of storing trillions of bytes of information in a space smaller than a dime; portable fluids containing nanobots that are programmed to destroy cancer cells or deliver medicines; the ability to sense and adapt to environmental stimuli such as heat, light, sound, surface texture, and chemicals; and to perform complex calculations faster and more efficiently—singularly or en masse. A push is even in place to develop nanobots that will be able to move, communicate, and work together, assemble things on a molecular level—and to even possibly repair or replicate themselves.



Close

This is a web preview of the "The Handy Biology Answer Book" app. Many features only work on your mobile device. If you like what you see, we hope you will consider buying. Get the App