WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Nanotechnology Is the Future of Technology

Nanotechnology is truly tiny but will be the next big thing to change our lives.

Pluck a single hair from your head. It’s not very wide, is it? But in nano-terms, it’s huge. A single nano-meter is about one ten-thousandth of its width. That’s the kind of scale we’re talking about when we talk about nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is created at the scale of single atoms or molecules. But while it is truly small, its impact on our health and on our lives will be nothing short of transformative.

That’s partly because nano-science allows us to exploit the fact that, at the level of single atoms or molecules, materials have different properties. Among other things, this means they can have greater strength and less weight. So, for example, carbon nano-tubes, microscopic tubes made up of carbon atoms, generate incredibly strong materials. A stack of around a hundred sheets of carbon nano-tubes – together still thinner than a millimeter – is strong enough to take a bullet, enabling the creation of ultra-thin and lightweight bulletproof vests.

But nanotechnology is most interesting for what it might enable us to do to our own bodies. Developments in computing and sensors on the nano-scale mean we will soon be able to fight disease and keep ourselves in tip-top condition with the help of nano-robots.

Imagine a near future in which nano-robots are constantly patrolling your circulatory system. Roaming your blood, they will be able to attack viruses, bacteria and other disease-carrying bodies. For example, researchers have developed a nanotechnology delivery system for an anti-cancer agent called tumor necrosis factor alpha. The system’s nano-robots would float through the bloodstream, dispensing the agent when required and evading the threat of any pathogens seeking to attack them.

Nanotechnology will also help us manage long-term conditions. Patients with diabetes might soon have nano-robots in their bloodstreams, constantly measuring their blood nutrient levels and giving them a boost of the right chemicals at the right time.

In Indian mythology, the gods sailed the oceans searching for an elixir of immortality; the Greeks talked of an elusive elixir of life. Well, maybe we are about to stumble across a modern-day panacea in the form of nanotechnology that gives us the power to control our health. Combine that with the power of genetic coding, and we have the power to play God.

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Have a fruitful day!

Olusola Bodunrin is a graduate of Philosophy from the University of Ado-Ekiti. He is a professional writer, he writes articles for publication and he anchors – ‘What You Should Know’ on SHEGZSABLEZS’ blog.

‘What You Should Know’ is a column that offers to educate and enlighten the public on general falsehood and myths.