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Antibiotics and Nanotechnology
Evil Pete writes: "In an article at Nature Update there is what appears to me is the first use of nanotechnology in a significant way. A team from Scripps Research Institute has used molecular assemblages to destroy bacteria by puncturing their cell walls. The tests on mice cured staph a. infections by injecting a solution of the nanotubes into the mice."
I didn't see it explicitly mentioned, but it would be good if these new "antibiotics" could target specific types of bacteria. The author even goes so far as to call bacteria "bugs", however one must realize that not all bacteria are harmful (i.e. there are "good" bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus bifidius). Traditional antibiotics when ingested orally, will attempt to destroy ALL bacteria in the gut, possibly leading to a condition called Candidiasis, characterized by the overgrowth of fungi in the intestines, which are known to emit some 70 or so types of toxins. Restoration of wellness is not possible when chronic candidiasis is present. Many people are diagnosed with CFS or some other bullshit condition because the popular notion in the medical community is that conditions like candidiasis don't exist (that's at least the experience I've had with it).
Generally, antibiotics have led to the conquering of many types of once deadly diseases have saved many lives, but not without a cost. They are prescribed much too often, which has ultimately led to these resistant strains of bacteria we hear about in the news today. Use of antibiotics reach further than just the medical field. First-world consumers demand that their cleaning products that "destroy 99.9% of germs", and chemical companies produce such projects, but neither hardly ever realizes the consequences of such a request. Antibiotics and growth hormones are given to farm animals, and passed along to humans in the food they eat. I have never had a doctor recommend that I supplement antibiotic use with bifidus and/or acidophilus, and with the amount of training in clinical nutrition/alternative treatments that most doctors get in medschool, I don't expect to have this happen for a long while. For these reasons I avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, as they have caused me more harm than good in the past in situations where their use wasn't entirely justified.
I send you this nanotube in order to have your advice!
Since nanotechnology is a newly emerging field, there are many definitions in current use among researchers. None of these, as far as I know, is limited to "electronic circuits and devices." Lets look at some contemporary definitions:
The foresight institute's official definition of "molecular nanotechnology":
Thorough, inexpensive control of the structure of matter based on molecule-by-molecule control of products and byproducts of molecular manufacturing.
From the web page of the University of Washington Center for Nanotechnology (the first PhD. program in nanotechnology in the world, I believe):
Nanotechnology refers to the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules, making it possible to build machines using molecular building blocks or create materials and structures from the bottom up, designing properties by controlling structure.
From the sci.nanotech FAQ:
Nanotechnology is an anticipated manufacturing technology giving thorough, inexpensive control of the structure of matter. The term has sometimes been used to refer to any technique able to work at a submicron scale; Here on sci.nanotech we are interested in what is sometimes called molecular nanotechnology, which means basically "A place for every atom and every atom in its place."
The main reason, I believe, that this work can be considered nanotechnology is because it takes advantage of the concept of self-assembly. Self-assembly is the property of certain molecules to spontaneously assemble themselves into ordered super-molecular structures. Looking for ways to take advantage of self-assembly processes is a major focus of state-of-the-art nanotechnology.
I would love to say "Transform!" and then turn into a car and drive to work.
From dictionary.com: nanotechnology (nn-tk-nl-j) n.
The science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules
Labelling this as nanotechnology seems a bit inaccurate to say the least. This is really *very cool* molecular biology, but unless being nano and in a technical field = nanotechnology, this isn't it.
As a side note, I work at Scripps (across the hall from Ghadiri actually) and can tell you the amount of money received from the Gates Foundation is barely even pocket change.
-Ted
-=-=- Quantum physics - the dreams stuff are made of.
Iguess it's just a matter of time...
On a serious note, these asemblages were entirely static in nature (no nanobots yet...) but it doesn't really discuss how these injected nanutubes were exponged, and after how long. Presumably they were released as part of the mice fecal matter but how long does it take to exponge the tubules?
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