Working Small ...
Thinking Big
| Nanotechnology, also known as "nanotech", is the development of new devices with atomic or molecular level accuracy, which was envisioned by Richard Feynman during 1959. It is the manipulation of materials measuring between 1 and 100 nanometers in order to create new materials and products. Many scientists followed it up with concepts and discoveries that resulted in breakthroughs in the field of medicine. The term Nanotechnology refers to a set of upcoming technologies in which the structure of matter is defined at the nanometer scale (the lowest level of atomic matter), which is used to develop new materials and devices that have valuable and significant properties. It is a very diverse field in which we can develop new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to investigate whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale. Citation 5 
Nanotechnology deals with structures that are of 100 nanometers or smaller. If we look back at the origination of nanotechnology concepts, we trace our steps to 1959, when Richard Feynman first suggested that devices and materials could one day be constructed to atomic detailing. Nanotechnology involves the integration of various disciplines , mainly physics, biology, and engineering chemistry. There has been much debate on the future implications of nanotechnology. It has the potential to create many new devices and materials with a wide range of applications, such as in medicine, agriculture, electronics, cosmetics, and energy production. Citation 5 
• Why is nanotechnology important?- Nanotechnology has the
potential to change every part of our lives. Nanotechnology affects all
materials: ceramics, metals, polymers, and biomaterials. New materials are the
foundation of major technological advances. In the coming decade nanotechnology
will have an enormous impact. Future advances could change our approaches to
manufacturing, electronics, and communications technology, making previous
technology redundant and leading to applications which could not have been
developed or even thought about, without this new approach. Citation 6
• How will nanotechnology affect our future?- Nanotechnology has unleashed a
hurricane. It’s been called the next industrial revolution, a “disruptive”
technology that will replace or change all other technologies. The more
conservative predictions mention swifter and safer drug delivery, cheaper and
more abundant energy, a cleaner environment, and more powerful computers. The
more visionary describe a coming utopia, with nature firmly under the human
heel, free of disease, poverty, pollution, and old age. The flip side, of
course, is a vision of dystopia: ruined economies, invisible monitors
everywhere, and rogue nanobots eating up the biosphere. The dream of
nanotechnology is to build things the way nature does, atom by atom and molecule
by molecule. Since a molecule’s structure is the key to its properties, we
could create any material we please. They will be a key ingredient in stronger,
lighter car bodies and spacecraft, sieves to filter bacteria from drinking
water, and the tiniest transistors. Citation 7 
• What are the ethical issues of nanotechnology?- With such awesome potential
dangers inherent in nanotechnology, we must seriously examine its potential
consequences. Granted, nanotechnology may never become as powerful and prolific
as envisioned by its evangelists, but as with any potential, near-horizon
technology, we should go through the exercise of formulating solutions to
potential ethical issues before the technology is irreversibly adopted by society.
We must examine the ethics of developing nanotechnology and create policies
that will aid in its development so as to eliminate or at least minimize its
damaging effects on society. Citation 8
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