Here comes nanites by Mr. Thomas Caldwell Presented by Banoori Sridhar Reddy

Overview Some nanohistory Nanotechnology Nanocomputing Nanites Applications of Nanites Ongoing research Dark side of the force Conclusion References

Some nanohistory A nanometer is one billionth of a meter Nanotechnolgy is building machines one atom at a time First described by Nobel lauriate physicist Richard Feynman In 1959 he gave  a lecture called "There's plenty of room at the bottom" in which he suggested that the laws of physics would allow people to use small machines to make smaller machines eventually onto the atomic level The first one to coin the term is K. Eric Drexler, one time student of Feynman's With the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope, scientists were allowed to not only take photographs of single atoms but also to move atoms one by one.

Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, with the aim of creating new products with atom-by-atom precision. Two categories of nanotechnology Strong nanotechnology: It focuses on the general-purpose assembler: a microrobot that, with the proper programming, can build anything. Weak nanotechnology: It is anything up to "strong," including the manipulation of matter at the atomic level

Nanocomputing Computer technology seems to be where nanotechnology will first be exploited Computers with circuits that are nothing more than individual atoms would mean processor speeds measured not in megahertz, but in terahertz (million megahertz ) A nanotech computer the size of a current laptop, by some accounts, could conceivably hold as much computing power as now exists on the entire planet A nanochip is an integrated circuit (IC) that is so small, in physical terms, such that more processing power can fit into a given physical volume, it runs faster and requires less energy

Nanites A nanite is a mechanical or electromechanical device whose dimensions are measured in nanometers Nanites could be programmed to replicate themselves, or to work synergistically to build larger machines or to construct nanochips

Challenges in building nanites Some interesting challenges plague the fabrication of nanites with moving parts An important challenge to overcome is one of engineering How to reduce friction and sticking nature of small devices How to supply power How would a self-replicating nanite store and use information How to program nanites

K. Eric Drexler has provided ways to overcome these challenges One way to work is to patiently experiment with chemical synthesis. The idea is to build molecules of increasing complexity by allowing atoms to assemble or rearrange in natural ways single-atom hydrogen abstraction method using an STM could solve the problem Use of chemical reactions to power internal nanomechanical operations The biological strategy of storing information in polymers can be adopted to transmit a program by using broadcast communications. This would enable the nanites to be easily controlled and, if things got out of hand, the transmitter could just be turned off

Functioning nanite In June of 1997 a team of Australian researchers managed to build a functioning nanite, a biosensor The central component of the device is a tiny electrical switch, an ion-channel, only 1.5 nonometres in size.  It is used to detect drugs, hormones, viruses, pesticides, gene sequences, drugs, medically-active compounds, and more.

Applications of nanites Nanites could mean faster computers, less pollution and cheaper energy They could produce a stain-resistant trousers, to the most speculative extrapolations, such as self-replicating nanorobots Nanites could be the factory workers of the future

In the Field of medicine To cure skin diseases and augment the immune system by hunting down any virus or cancer in the cell Rapid detection of pathogens by nanosensors swimming in the blood, and immediate response to them via artificial cells Cell herding devices could restore artery walls and artery linings to health, by ensuring that the right cells and supporting structures are in the right places thus preventing most heart attacks

It is possible to clone body parts and put them into diseased human bodies. Nanites can be inserted into people to repair aging skin cells or possibly diseased cells or organs. Nanites can create new sorts of construction materials, chemical compounds, electronics components They could be used to turn material into food Starvation and illness could quickly come to an end Environmental problems such as ozone depletion and global warming could be solved

Ongoing Research Current focus of USC interdisciplinary Laboratory for Molecular Robotics Development of high-level systems for programming a Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) as a sensory robot Developing and integrating the various component technologies needed for nanomanipulation A research grant worth $1.5 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to create swarms of nanomachines (robots) to monitor ocean

A multidisciplinary team from NorthEastern University, Rutgers, Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories and other universities has been assembled to study the development of protein-based nanorobots. Collaborators from a federal laboratory (NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and others will provide technical consulting and advising The long term goal of this project is to develop nanodevices That can manipulate objects in the nanoworld, Transfer information from the nano to the macro world also be able to travel in the nanoenvironment

Bottom-Up Nanomachines project This project is funded by the FET - Proactive Initiative 1999 on Nanotechnology Information Devices of the European Union The objectives of BUN are to design, synthesise, interconnect, assemble and test nanomachines (with critical dimensions well below 1 nm) and circuits to build an information processing machine in a bottom up approach

Dark side of the force Nanites could be used to develop Nanoweapons Governments will not be able to control nanotechnology development Nanites could be developed that would devour only the organic components (the soldiers) so a tank can be reused by the enemy side A doomsday nanite might be programmed to reproduce itself with any and all material it comes into contact with. The Earth would be gone in no time

Conclusion Nanites offer humanity hope for the future. The idea that we could one day cure diseases, fix the atmosphere, and reduce poverty in the world is an exciting one. If scientists can overcome the technical difficulties involved in producing nanites capable of these goals, then the fruits of their efforts will benefit us all. However, we must be cautious with self-replicating nanite technology

References http://www.cjmag.co.jp/online/0597wnanites.html http://www.imm.org/SciAmDebate2/whitesides.html http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=5148 http://www.def-logic.com/articles/nanomachines.html http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/bombay/news3/page4.html http://www-lmr.usc.edu/~lmr/html/research.html http://ipga.phys.ucl.ac.uk/research/bun/index1.htm http://www.capemalta.net/news/Feature%205%20-%20NANOROBOTS.html http://bionano.rutgers.edu/or.html http://discuss.foresight.org/critmail/sci_nano.88-94/2779.html

ANY QUESTIONS ??? THANK YOU!!!