Nanotechnology
What is it?

A nanometer is a unit of measurement equal to a billionth of a meter-about the size of six atoms of carbon. It is very, very small. Nanotechnology is the study and manufacture of tiny structures and devices, such as microswitches or micro-minirobots. It is an exciting new field of study.

What is in store for the future?
Nanotechnology is attracting a lot of attention because of its potential to solve big problems. Nanocomputers and nanomachines would be smaller and faster than what we have today. Nanorobots could clean up pollution, explore space, or diagnose diseases inside our bodies. Nanomedicines could deliver specific drugs to kill tumors or enter a cell's nucleus and repair genes.

Nanotechnology Today Today, people take antibiotic pills to cure bacterial infections. Sometimes the pills work, but sometimes the bacteria evolve and become resistant to the antibiotics. When? [changeable date from 2010 to 2100] In the future we may fight infections with nanomedicines. These tiny robots would seek out bacterial diseases in our bodies, and if the bacteria had evolved, the nanomedicines would change to fight the new bacterial strain. Nanosphere

Pros & Cons Better treatments for diseases are needed. Most everyone would want a pill that cured a specific disease without any side effects. However, how would you feel about having a mini-machine inside you? ¨ Should we make tiny nanorobots to find diseases in our bodies? ¨ Should nanorobots be able to change and reproduce in response to changes in the environment? ¨ If you could take a nanorobot pill that would repair your body as you aged and keep you young forever, would you? Can you think of other issues? How do you think nanotechnology will impact the future of human evolution?