Nanotechnology, Is it safe?

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Nanotechnology,Is it safe?
Presented By Trevor Bethke
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Definition of Nanotechnology

• Nanotechnology is defined by the United States
  Environmental Protection Agency as, The
  production and use of materials at 100 nanometers
  or less. One hundred nanometers is approximately
  1/800th the width of a human hair and 1/70th the
  diameter of a red blood cell

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Public Awareness

• Public awareness is a major part to advancing
  nanotechnology. Awareness of this technology
  helps reduce risks and fear of a growing industry
  for marketing and expansion. By studying and
  assessing the risks of such a new budding
  technology reaction to any problems or setbacks
  will not destroy the research or cause perceived
  risks at a later date.

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Opposing Views

• Protecting the environment is the most important
  factor and biggest opponent when considering
  nanotechnology. The biggest critics against the
  wide scale use of this technology stems from the
  USEPA to ensure once nanotechnology is released
  it will be safe not only to the environment but
  the people who will be exposed to it on a
  continual basis.

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Future of Nanotechnology

• Self-assembling products, systems and materials
  (self repairing system)
• Computers billions of times faster (reaching the
  size barrier of microprocessors)
• Extremely novel inventions (self-adapting
  fabrics)
• Realistic space travel and exploration (more
  economic)
• NanoMedical (unique treatment delivery
  capabilities)
• Molecular food syntheses (end of famine and
  starvation)

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Big Medical Breakthroughs

• Better Than Blood?A man-made, pure-white
  compound called Oxycyte carries oxygen 50 times
  as effectively as our own blood. Researchers are
  betting that its the best way to treat Americas
  leading cause of accidental death traumatic
  brain injury
• Oxycyte is the newest product in a family of
  compounds known as artificial blood. The search
  for a synthetic substitute for human blood began
  at least as early as the 19th century, when
  doctors actually tried using milk to replenish
  blood loss.

Applying this to military use overseas greatly
reduces casualty rates by 40. Biggest death
related issue in Iraq is traumatic brain injury
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Projects in Development

• Entirely new kinds of material are now being
  developed. For example, NanoSonic in Blacksburg,
  Virginia, has created metallic rubber, which
  flexes and stretches like rubber but conducts
  electricity like a solid metal.
• General Electric's research centre in Schenectady
  in New York state is trying to make flexible
  ceramics. If it succeeds, the material could be
  used for jet-engine parts, allowing them to run
  at higher, more efficient temperatures.
• And several companies are working on materials
  that could one day be made into solar cells in
  the form of paint.

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• Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

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Conclusion

• While NanoTechnology is based in the research
  labs today, the advances made to date have
  illustrated the significant value this technology
  will bring.The implication on manufacturing
  techniques, materials manufacturing and the
  semiconductor industry will be profound. .With
  each passing day, the promise of NanoTechnology
  becomes increasingly apparent. There is a long
  way to go before the NanoMaterials production
  techniques can provide adequate supply of high
  quality materials at affordable prices. This is
  one technology that requires close monitoring to
  properly time the significant opportunities that
  will be created in it wake.

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Picture sources

• http//www.directionsmag.com/images/articles/nano_
  tech/nano0.gif
• http//www.economist.com/images/20050101/CSU070.gi
  f
• http//news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Day-old-nan
  otechnology-2.jpg
• http//www.cellsalive.com/pics/cover4.gif
• http//science.nasa.gov/headlines/images/ozone2000
  /CFCs.jpeg
• http//www.wmo.ch/news/images/CFCs.jpg
• http//www.the-ba.net/NR/rdonlyres/F68DB9E8-A48A-4
  CCB-81DF-6FB944310DB4/0/nanotube_lrg.jpg
• http//www.bioteams.com/images/collaborative_t.jpg
  
• http//www.popsci.com/popsci/science/9e367f36fca9e
  010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html