Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. Explore Stack Internal ... I have some questions about Nanotechnologies. I'm not physicist and my knowledges about the topic are limited by the "Engines of Creation" book by Eric Drexler. More on physics.stackexchange.com

Nanotechnology engineering graduate here. A recent [letter to the editor] ( http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v8/n2/full/nnano.2012.261.html ) of Nature Nanotechnology says what I am going to reiterate and expand upon below. The biological effects of nanomaterials are at the moment impossible to summarize. The scope of current toxicity studies is both too narrow and too broad. Take carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for example. Before even starting a study we must ask "What kind of CNT?" (e.g. size, functionalization, dispersion medium, passivation layer). At the nano-scale, these details have an overwhelming influence on the biological properties of the material due to surface interactions. Even researchers studying the "same" material observe different biological outcomes due in part to differences in production methods and handling of the nanomaterials. There are no studies that cover all types of CNTs, and those that attempt to elucidate the effects of a few material characteristics are unable to create a clear picture since so much information is missing. Yes generalizations can be made, for example some coatings (e.g. PEG) prevent biological responses, and given a specific material it is possible to guess at the dangers of exposure. See [this] ( http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2012/CS/c1cs15188f ) review paper for a broad look at some of these generalizations. These are more concerns of the researcher or industrial worker exposed to the raw nanomaterial and at risk of inhalation. Consumers of finished products are at a low exposure risk since the nanomaterial is most commonly trapped in a solid matrix and most (not all) nanomaterials cannot penetrate the epidermis. But, the most pressing issue in nanotoxicology is not what researchers are doing, but that nanomaterials are controlled at the government level based on their bulk properties. Silver nanoparticles are categorized under bulk silver though their properties are very different. Look at your sunscreen bottle. It says titanium dioxide (TiO2) because the manufacturer is not required by law to state that it contains TiO2 nanoparticles. Consumers should not be worried about nanomaterials in medicine since these products undergo rigorous testing; however, cosmetics are uncontrolled and inexpensive to test and so are the most common use of nanomaterials today. If you look at the safety sheet for TiO2 nanoparticles it is very different depending on which company you buy it from because theoretically each company should conduct toxicity studies on their product, but they are not required to do so and so the information is listed as "no data available". As consumers we should be worried that the hazards are unknown, that the materials are in use long before toxicity studies are performed or their results even agreed upon by experts in the field, and that governments worldwide are only now making substantial efforts to regulate nanomaterials as separate from bulk materials. That being said, do not be afraid of nanotechnology. Most of the hazards you hear or read about in news sources, Wikipedia, yes definitely Reddit, etc., is misleading or just plain wrong. Read the articles yourself and even then be skeptical about the results and conclusions drawn by the authors. Those CNT-like-asbestos inhalation studies are not even relevant for human exposure risks. Most nanomaterial studies are not directly relevant unless you plan on injecting nanomaterials directly into your gut. TLDR We cannot generalize yet. Nanomaterials have health risks just like other chemicals. Consumer products are mostly okay but be careful with cosmetics, they are not controlled. Also, for the love of all fish please don't wear socks with silver in them, it washes out. More on reddit.com

If you could make a small enough robot, a Nanobot if you will, you could repair a persons body with a simple injection - Clean up the plaque, remove cancers, even control their hunger so they can lose weight. More on reddit.com

Hi! I grow thin films about ~160 atoms thick, so I can tell you where the current state of the art is in what we do. We work with a deposition process called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in which we evaporate metals onto a substrate and our newly evaporated materials try to mimic the crystalline structure of the substrate. Specifically we work on thin film oxides for a variety of uses such as solar cells, interfacial studies, and transistor-like devices. We have full control of the growth and can lay down a single layer of atoms at a time. We find that we can elicit different materials properties by slightly tweaking the structure of the material. Therefore, we can have two things act completely differently, even though they are chemically identical. This isn't really what the average person thinks of when they think of nanotech, and in fact nanotechnology already has enhanced your life greatly, look at your cell phone, computer, any electronic device out there really. They all employ it. As far as making nanomachines goes, it's a bit trickier. In the nanoscale, materials act much differently than they do in bulk. For one, they're more reactive due to a high surface area to volume ratio. I am not in the field of nanomachines, however I know that if we are to succeed in this research we need to imitate biological systems. There's been a lot of work on DNA tools. Bernard Yurke, previously at Bell Labs, currently at Boise State University, did a lot of work on manipulating DNA to carry out simple tasks, but this research is still years away from producing anything fully useful. Edit: Also, you asked about future advances. I can't say for certain about all nanotech, but my specific project focuses on the creation of a transistor like device that takes advantage of the metal to insulator transition found in rare earth nickelate perovskites. Basically, just looking at electrical conductivity, you have a material that acts as an insulator, and then you push on it and it becomes a metal. So, wish me luck, if it works there will be a few papers on it in 2 years. More on reddit.com