Nano Science - Tomalia In the lecture that Dr. Donald Tomalia presented in March, 2009 ("Traveling the Nano Road of Science, Art & Discovery"), he seems to be the most enthusiastic when he is talking about "dendrimers," which are polymers with a central and hollow core and tendrils. Because the core is hollow in a dendrimers it becomes a kind of pouch or cavity, he explains, and other molecules can be stored in that cavity, which opens the door to nanoscale discoveries and applications. Tomalia first became fascinated with dendrimers by watching lightning strikes as a young boy. He insists that dendrimic designs are "incredibly pervasive" around the world. Even a maple leaf is "…full of dendrimic capillaries," he explains. Trees are dendrimic, even erosion-created designs in mountains (seen from airplanes) are dendrimic -- but why do things have dendrimic architecture?

This is the key question and leads to the reason why Tomalia pursued a scientific investigation of dendrimic...

At the outset of his research, Tomalia learned that at the molecular level dendrimers double as they grow in the same fashion as bacteria. Through his continuing work, Tomalia found he could control the size and the shape of the dendrimers, and moreover, these microscopic studies revealed a world of nano science -- "…precise nano structures," he asserted. When he asks members of the audience (freshmen chemistry students) how many know what "nano" is, only a few hands to up. He explains that soon they will understand nano, because in time nano science may be able to protect humans from avian flu and will mean that annual flu shots will not be necessary.
Tomalia enthuses about the design and patterns that dendrimers create, but he pauses to explain why chemistry students should give "a royal rip" about dendrimers. It is possible that dendrimers can help prevent HIV and genital herpes. The lecturer reported that nano scale is "ten…