Nanotechnology-a double edged sword!

Of the many breakthroughs of science and technology, many consider Nanotechnology as the technology of the future.Physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29,1959 put forward the possibility of direct manipulation of individual atoms as a more powerful form of synthetic chemistry than those used at the time, through his famous lecture "There's plenty of room at the bottom"
(Click here to read the lecture )

Nanotechnology revolutionizes nearly every field of science we know.Nano scale robots called Nanobots can easily pass through living cells and tissues and even into the blood stream to repair damaged cells or even destroy harmful ones like cancer cells.Despite using them to cure fatal diseases research is under way on using them to prevent it.It is proposed that nano scale machinery can act as a replacement for natural cells like neurons and DNAs.
When coming to military applications, Nanobots can be used as fail-safe surveillance systems.Also with the huge miniaturization possibilities of nanotechnology, Guns and missiles capable of hitting a target with an error of a few nanometers is not a distant reality!Specially fabricated Photon band gap materials and carbon nanotubes can be used for light synthesis or even light manipulation(They can be used to guide photons through a desired path!).The best feature of this technology is that it is highly energy efficient.Nanotechnology also helps us to fabricate light triggered switching devices which can be used to create Transistors,Logic gates e.t.c. that too at the smallest of sizes!This gives rise to the prospect of photonics replacing electronics in the near future.With photonics, one can create today's supercomputers into tomorrows cellphones and integrate today's cellphones into tomorrows history books!

However, Nanotechnology like every other technology has a dark side.Due to the quantum level sizes of nano particles,they have properties much different from that of their larger counterparts.For example, gold, which is an inactive metal, is highly active in nano form.Heavy metals which are poisonous to humans are thought to have medicinal values in its nano form!Moreover,nano materials have such a small size that they can easily diffuse through the living tissues and reach the blood stream.They can also damage DNAs.Hence to study the toxic effects of nanomaterials, a new science called nanotoxicology has been adopted.Scientists have hence adopted a legislation system for the use of nanomaterials.Carbon nanotubes due to their needle like structure can cause diseases similar to asbestosis or even mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos).Some nano materials are also thought to increase free radicals in the body and result in cancer.

In spite of these dangers,Nanotechnology is definitely "The wheel of change running on a tight rope"