Tiny Is Better: Nanotechnology Is An Exciting Field

It’s a time where the lines between computer support and human support are changing. In Nassau County computer repair means people working on computers. In Suffolk County computer repair means people working on computers. But in the halls of many major universities studies are underway that would turn that notion on its head. Computer repair would mean essential body immune response would be carried out by miniature computers. Nanotechnology has evolved and it is poised to change everything. An area most affected will be in the health industry.

Nanotechnology is the use of technology using miniscule materials. A nanometer is a component of dimension. Nanotechnology useelements running between 1 and 100 nanometers. If you took 800,000 nanometers and set them side by side it would be about the width of a hair. That’s small stuff. Being able to operate and manipulate elements on such a tiny scale holds great potential benefit in the medical arena. Many institutions and researchers are engaged in exciting studies that could lead to a major revolution in health care. Some changes are already happening.

Presently a number of experiments are using nanotechnology in a variety of ways. One application is in how nanotechnology can help in diagnosing and treating cancer. A major downside to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, is that it can’t specifically target only cancer cells. Normal and cancer cells are attacked. With nanotechnology specific cells can be targeted. There are theories and trials that employee RNA strands that can find and attach to cancer cells. These strands, when connected can release anti-cancer agents into the afflicted cells. Research has also considered the possibility of creating a color coding system using nanotechnology that would create protein indicators that would attach to cancer cells making them easier to trace. An additional application nanotechnology in the fight against cancer is nanoshells. Nanoshells are made of minute beads with various densities made of gold. These shells are attracted to cancer cells, surround them and then are heated with near infrared light which destroys the cancer cells, but spares the nearby healthy cells not surrounded by nanoshells.

Nanodevices would be small enough to operate inside a cell. They would be little enough that they could interact with proteins and DNA. They would be able to monitor the cell and detect disease using a smaller quantity of cell tissue. This means that diseases and change in cell tissue could be monitored and detected much earlier in the process. Because fighting cancer successfully depends on early detection, this would be a major advance in cancer fighting technology.

Nanotechnology is a quickly becoming an area of science that utilizes a wide array of disciplines including; physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and many other sciences including political and social science. With continual breakthroughs in all different fields, the advent of Nanotechnology will be fully upon us.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:29 pm and is filed under Technology and Gadgets . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.