Nanotechnology

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Nanotechnology, shortened to "Nanotech", is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size. Nanotechnology is very diverse, ranging from novel extensions of conventional device physics, to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, to developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale, even to speculation on whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale.

There has been much debate on the future of implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has the potential to create many new materials and devices with wide-ranging applications, such as in medicine, electronics, and energy production. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as with any introduction of new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials , and their potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation about various doomsday scenarios. These concerns have led to a debate among advocacy groups and governments on whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.

For more information about Nanotechnology, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with nanotechnology

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Nanoparticles may cause DNA damage across a cellular barrier

Nanoparticles may cause DNA damage across a cellular barrier

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have shown in the laboratory that metal nanoparticles damaged the DNA in cells on the other side of a cellular barrier. The research, by the University of Bristol, is published ...


Nanotechnology: A risky frontier?

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Inside a cramped back room at Rushford Hypersonic, a start-up headquartered in southeastern Minnesota, sits a cube-like machine that throws a mean atomic fastball. At the push of a button, the reactor hurls atoms toward a ...


New Digital 'Electronics' Concept May Continue Moore's Law

New Digital 'Electronics' Concept May Continue Moore's Law

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 05, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (53) | comments 9

(PhysOrg.com) -- Computers of the future could be operating not on electrons, but on tiny waves traveling through an electron "fluid," if a new proposal is successful. The new circuit design, recently introduced ...


Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 02, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (20) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power ...


Researchers can precisely manipulate polarization in nanostructures

Researchers can precisely manipulate polarization in nanostructures

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente, The Netherlands, working with American researchers, have succeeded in using an electrical signal to control ...


Nanowire biocompatibility in the brain: So far so good

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving ...


Scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures

Scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging two- and three-dimensional ...


Tiny technology may yield major finds -- and possible perils

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 3

Imagine a particle so small it would take a million of them to stretch across the period at the end of this sentence. Imagine such particles could help catch cancer cells floating in your bloodstream before they could metastasize ...


Nanotech protection: Current safety equipment may not be adequate for nanoprotection

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology, Canadian engineers suggest that research is needed into the risks associated with the growing field of nanotechnology manufacture so that approp ...


New nanotech sensor developed with medical, chemistry applications

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new "plasmonic nanorod metamaterial" using extraordinarily tiny rods of gold that will have important applications in medical, biological and ...


Foresight Institute Announces Feynman Prize Winners

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 08, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Foresight Institute, a nanotechnology education and public policy think tank based in Palo Alto, has announced the winners of the prestigious 2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology.


Step forward for nanotechnology: Controlled movement of molecules

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 30, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Scientists in the United Kingdom are reporting an advance toward overcoming one of the key challenges in nanotechnology: Getting molecules to move quickly in a desired direction without help from outside forces. Their achievement ...


EPA announces research strategy to study nanomaterials

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today outlined a new research strategy to better understand how manufactured nanomaterials may harm human health and the environment. Nanomaterials are materials that are between approximately ...


Nanotechnology and synthetic biology: What does the American public think?

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Nanotechnology and synthetic biology continue to develop as two of the most exciting areas of scientific discovery, but research has shown that the public is almost completely unaware of the science and its applications. ...


Report: Public must be involved in nanotech policy debate

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Sep 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Decision-making on science - especially emerging technologies such as nanotechnology - must become more democratic, a new report on science policy released today argues. The group of leading European academics behind the ...