Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology (or "nanotech") is manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. It is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers. Therefore quantum mechanical effects are important at this quantum-realm scale.

Nanotechnology as defined by size is naturally very broad, including fields of science as diverse as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, energy storage, microfabrication, molecular engineering, etc. The associated research and applications are equally diverse, ranging from extensions of conventional device physics to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, from developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to direct control of matter on the atomic scale.

Nanomachines in our bodies
A nanoparticle is a molecule that can deliver cancer-fighting drugs to a specific target. Medicines, such as chemotherapy drugs, are placed inside a molecule shaped like a capsule. The nanoparticle is then allowed to circulate in the bloodstream, until it finds a particular destination where it releases its medicine. Nanoparticles are between 10 to 100 nanometers, too big to penetrate a blood cell; but cancer cells have pores where the nanoparticles can enter freely into the cancer cells and deliver their medicine without the need for guidance systems.

Nanoparticles can use tiny magnetic disks that vibrate violently, and once these disks are led to the cancer cells, a small external magnetic field can be passed over them, causing them to shake and tear apart the cell walls of the cancer.

Nanoparticles can also use lasers to destroy any cancer cells in their vicinity by zapping and rupturing their cell walls. Another method is using an infrared laser to destroy tumor cells by heating them up, effectively putting a cancer cell in hot water and boiling it to death.

In the future, nanotechnology will detect cancer colonies years to decades before they can form a tumor, and nanoparticles circulating in our blood will be used to destroy these cells.

Nanocars in our blood
A nanocar is a device that can be guided in its travels inside the body. While the nanoparticle is allowed to circulate freely in the bloodstream, nanocars are like remote-controlled drones that can be steered and piloted, zapping cancer cells along the way or delivering lifesaving drugs to precise locations in the body.

In the future, surgery will be replaced by molecular machines moving through the bloodstream, guided by magnets, homing in on a diseased organ, and then releasing medicines or performing surgery. This could make cutting the skin totally obsolete. Or, magnets could guide these nanomachines to the heart in order to remove a blockage of the arteries.

DNA Chips
Using transistor etching technology, DNA fragments are embedded into a chip that can detect specific DNA sequences or cancer cells. This biochip is sensitive enough to find one in a billion circulating tumor cells (CTCs) circulating in our blood. As a result, this chip has been proven to detect lung, prostate, pancreatic, breast, and colorectal cancer cells by analyzing as little as a teaspoon of blood.

Another biochip tests for specific proteins from a single drop of blood, rapidly analyzing hundreds of thousands of proteins, alerting us to a wide variety of diseases years before they become serious. Detecting proteins from diseases like cancer could lead to an early warning system for the body.

Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are stronger than steel and can also conduct electricity. Because of their conductivity, they are used to create cables to carry large amounts of electrical power. Because of their strength, they are used to create substances tougher than Kevlar, and are used to build megastructures such as the space elevator.

Use in computers
The transistor has used nanotech since the 1980s with 800 nm VLSI devices making personal computers possible, to the 5nm iPhone 12 in 2021 with the A14 processor with a transistor density of 134 million transistors per mm2. 2 nm chipmaking technology has a prototype chip with upwards of 50 billion transistors, or 333 million transistors per mm2.

Molecular transistors are made of individual molecules using graphene. Unlike carbon nanotubes, which are sheets of carbon atoms rolled up into long, narrow tubes, graphene is a single sheet of carbon, no more than one atom thick. Narrow beams of electrons carve out channels in graphene, making transistors one atom thick and ten atoms across. They ultimate limit for molecular transistors. Any smaller, and the uncertainty principle takes over and electrons leak out of the transistor, destroying its properties.

Semiconductors used in chips can be etched into quantum dots of a few atoms which begin to vibrate in unison. Quantum dots are already used in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and computer displays (QLEDs). If arranged properly, they can be used in quantum computing.

Claytronics
Claytronics uses nanoscale robotics and computing to create nanometer-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which is programmable matter. Catoms rearrange themselves and stick to each other to form a 3d shape. A catom computer consists of a CPU, a network device for communication, a single pixel display, several sensors, an onboard battery, and nanofibers which allow for great adhesion on a small scale and have minimum power consumption when the catoms are at rest.

One problem is how to orchestrate the movements of all these millions of catoms. There will be bandwidth problems when we try to upload all this information into the programmable matter. Another problem is that the static electrical forces between the catoms are weak when compared to the tough interatomic forces that hold most solids together. Assuming that programming and stability can be solved by Type I, entire buildings or even cities may rise at the push of a button. One need only lay out the location of the buildings, dig their foundations, and allow trillions of catoms to create entire cities rising from the desert or forest.

An example of a shape-changing robot using programmable liquid metal is the T-1000 from Terminator.

MEMS
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is the technology of microscopic devices with moving parts. They merge at the nanoscale into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and nanotechnology. They have many applications in electronics especially in mobile devices.

Nanoships
Nanoships are tiny spacecraft created using nanotechnology, perhaps no larger than a thimble, a needle, or even smaller. The essential functions of a spacecraft may be miniaturized so that millions of tiny nanoships might be launched to the nearby stars, only a fraction of which actually make it. Once they arrive on a nearby moon, they might create a factory to make unlimited copies of themselves. So instead of sending a single, expensive spacecraft to the stars, one can send millions of tiny nanoships, each costing a penny and requiring very little rocket fuel.

Another advantage of nanoships is that they require very little fuel to send them into space. Instead of using huge booster rockets, it is relatively easy to send tiny objects into space at incredible velocities, or subatomic particles near the speed of light using ordinary electric fields. These nanoparticles carry a small electric charge and can be easily accelerated by electric fields.

Instead of using enormous resources to send a probe to another moon or planet, a single probe might have the ability to self-replicate, and thus create an entire factory or even moon base. The robot will land on the moon, disassemble itself, then rearrange its parts to create a new factory. It would create large parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight and begin melting regoliths. It would then use hydrofluoric acid leeching to begin processing the regoliths to extract usable minerals and metals. The metals could then be fabricated into the moon base. Eventually, the robot would construct a small moon factory to reproduce itself. These self-replicating probes can then blast off to explore other worlds.

So one vision of space travel might be that thousands of cheap, disposable chips are fired at the nearest star at nearly the speed of light. Once a handful of them reach their destination, they sprout wings and blades (swarm-bots) and fly over the alien terrain. They would then radio information back to earth. Once promising planets are found, a second generation of swarm-bots might be sent to create factories on these planets that then create more copies of these swarm-bots, which then fly to the next star. Then the process continues indefinitely.

Smart Dust
These are billions of particles sent into the air, each one with tiny sensors (no larger than the head of a pin) to do reconnaissance. Each sensor is not very intelligent, but collectively they can relay back mountains of information. This has military applications, such as monitoring enemy positions on the battlefield. One can also spray smart dust to instantly monitor thousands of locations during hurricanes, thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, forest fires, and other natural phenomena. Instead of having a handful of scientists placing a few sensors during a volcanic eruption or tornado to measure temperature, humidity, and wind velocity, smart dust can give you data from thousands of different positions at once over hundreds of miles. When fed into a computer, this data can instantly give you real-time information about the evolution of a hurricane or volcano in three dimensions.

Clothing
Futuristic nanotech suits could contain carbon nanotubes, programmable matter,  metamaterials, claytronics, and so on. They could transform into an endless variety of styles and shapes. They would be restricted at first to specialized personnel like military special forces and government elites but eventually find their way into the mainstream public.

Some of their many uses:


 * They can become harder than steel to stop a knife or bullet
 * They can become cushion-like in the event of accidents or falls
 * They can protect firefighters and other rescue workers from hazards such as fire or radiation.
 * They can instantly adjust themselves into useful shapes during emergencies
 * If a person is injured, the fabric can administer life-saving drugs and medical nanobots, or contract to seal a wound
 * In space, they can protect people from micrometeorites, cosmic rays, sudden changes in air pressure, and other hazards.
 * They can float if a person is drowning.
 * And medical devices included in these outfits can monitor for diseases of all types such as cancer and infection and alert a user before any damage occurs.

See also: Nanosuits

More examples:

 * Moleculartronic computer
 * Nanostructured glass in 5D optical data storage
 * Self-replicating systems