In the case of blood diseases, systemic cytotoxicity could be reduced by targetting drugs to lymphocytes. Nanotechnology offers such targeted drug delivery system. [Buxton, 2006]
Electronics
Nanotechnology will usher a quantum leap in computing. In fact, with nanotechnology quantum computing will be a reality very soon. Computers based on nanowires or nanotubes would have super-computing power but still be handheld. Carbon nanotubes are highly conductive and are better than copper. They also have semi-conducting properties. Thus far, the realization of building nanoscale electronic circuits using carbon nanotubes had been a problem. However, researchers at Caltech have already designed and built 'nanowire-based circuits'. Dr. Hongjie Dai, professor at Stanford University says "the move to CMOS with nanowires is important if nanowires are to be used for future electronics applications." [Kevin Bullis]
Green Nano
Environmental considerations are at the center of our growing world and nano technology offers the promise of not only environment friendly production but also the possibility of environmental decontamination using engineered nanospheres. Recent research by Lehigh University has attested that nanoscale iron could clean up groundwater and contaminated soil by as much as 96%. Nanospehres or molecular cages can be designed to trap environmentally toxic substances with promises of environmental decontamination. [Eva Gutierrez]
Aerospace
Carbon nanotubes are the focus of aerospace industry because of their special electrical and mechanical properties. They are 100 times stronger than steel at one sixth the weight. Several studies have shown that carbon nanotubes are ideal building material because of their high tensile strength and low weight. Further, the high conductive nature of carbon nanotubes makes them highly suitable for aviation electronics. [Belluccia et.al] as Dr. Bourne, from the NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (NRC-SIMS) in Ottawa says, "If we can show that these carbon nanotube composites can perform as expected in these applications, then this will go a long way to validating their use in the really big market - aerospace." [NRC]
Conclusion
Nanotechnology represents a huge wave in the world of science and technology with its applications extending into multiple domains. Designing and developing products at the molecular level offers a wide range of choices that could be beneficially...
Nanotechnology offers an entirely new dimension of medical diagnostics and drug delivery promising a new ray of hope for patients with chronic conditions that have poor prognosis with conventional therapy. The field of electronics is also bound to witness a huge leap with the nanoscale circuits resulting in the possibility of handheld supercomputers in the near future. In future, we might be able to mass-produce carbon nanotubes which would create a great revolution in the electronics and aerospace industries. There is still plenty of research to be done before embracing nanotechnology, as it is not without potential downsides as we have witnessed in the case of the GM crops. However, despite these challenges, it is hoped that the frontier of nanotechnology would develop fast and become the way of the future.
Bibliography
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