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The Nanotech Nose: Towards A Smaller Future

Posted by michael on from the bigger-and-better dept.

Farrax writes "One of the first steps to nanotechnology, either strong or weak, is the ability to even talk about materials on this scale with precision. Thursday, with the successful test of a nano-tech "nose," that step was achieved: weight fluctuations of 5.5 femtograms were detected on a bar of gold. The dream of nano-technology moves forward: maybe we'll see it by 2020 after all."

14 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. We won't see it by 2020 .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    unless we use a microscope...

  2. we need to get one by ThePeices · · Score: 4, Funny

    I need to get my hands on one of these sensors...itl finally prove that we can smell CowboyNeal from across the atlantic.

  3. Dangers of nanotech by rebeka+thomas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope nanotech doesn't eventuate for at least another century. The regulations to ensure it doesn't get out of control aren't in place and I don't see anyone beginning to care much about this for a long time. Read information here When people are injured by normal technology, they are just injured or killed and the rest of the world moves on. When people will be injured by nanotech, the changes will be small perhaps undetectable even, but could involve controlled changes to things as basic to us as humans as our DNA, the food we eat, and our brain systems Government rewiring of our brains some day? Can't be too far in the future.

    --
    RST
  4. That's it. We're all doomed ... by pantropik · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... last one to turn to grey goo please turn off the lights.

    Or green goo.

    Too tired to (attempt to) make any more jokes. Check here and I'm sure you can come up with some of your own.

  5. Really? by nepheles · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's difficult te feel excited, or indeed surprised, by announcements such as this thanks to the unending stream of similar stories. How many articles on nanotechnology have you read in the past year, all showing how it was just around the corner? More than you care to remember, no doubt.

    --
    ((lambda x ((x))) (lambda x ((x))))
  6. Excellant Article on Nanotech by Michael's+a+Jerk! · · Score: 5, Informative

    is Here

    magine a world where microscopic biomechanical devices are used to cure diseases, control our computers, and power the vehicles we drive. In this brave new world, minuscule techno-agents would have incredible computational power--power that is completely imperceptible to the human eye. Devices like these could become commonplace over the next fifty years as new innovations in molecular engineering--also known as nanotechnology--may help establish a new molecular age.

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    I'm not Seth.

    1. Re:Excellant Article on Nanotech by $alex_n42 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google spake thusly:
      Scientific American nanotechnology articles: linky.
      Richard Feynmand's famous talk: linky
      Ralph C. Merkle's Small World article: linky

      Some more google results: linky

      Just though I'd share.

  7. One of my nanotech dreams. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I imagined from the moment I heard of nanotech, that we could have devices implanted in ourselves that, when we're in the sun, could bring chlorophyll to the surface of our skins and create food from it. That way we can all use up CO2 from the atmosphere to offset the CO2 emissions of industry, and help industry along all the more!

    We get the benefits of industry, with free food, and a way to combat one of the current downfalls of industry!

    My other nanotech dream is that nanobots in my body could change me into a lesbian and I could go have hot lesbian sex each night, but I don't mention that one much

  8. how small is too small? by maliabu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    i wonder if things will eventually reach a point where it's no longer beneficial to get any smaller?

    for instance, mobile phones nowadays are a great improvement from a 1-foot long cellphone our grandparents used, but if things get too small for human-beings to use it properly, then we won't use it.

    so with all these nano techonologies going on, even if we can build all the components for a mobile phone so small, don't we still need something reasonable sized to use it?

    1. Re:how small is too small? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're forgetting that it's a lot easier to put a small thing *INTO* a larger container, rather than trying to squeeze something big into a smaller space.

      It's true that you'll never see a standard cell phone the size of a postage stamp, but if you can make a single chip with all the functionality of a cell phone, you can then build it into any form factor you choose -- why not build an entire phone INSIDE an ear bud (Uhura-style)? Suddenly you no longer need to have any big bulky parts extending all the way to your mouth.

      And if all the functionality of a cell phone fits into something the size of your fingernail, that makes it easier to incorporate it into a more complex device, like a PDA or wristwatch or whatever.

      Functionally, the latest-and-greatest Ford Compensator is no different than a Geo Miniscule with a lot of empty space added to it.

      Similarly, there's nothing stopping you from integrating a PDA-on-a-chip into a 17" tablet format to get a considerable savings in power consumption, etc.

      Just because it's small doesn't mean it can't still be used effectively.[*]

      * - "At least that's what I tell my girlfriend..." Ba-da-BING!

  9. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can it measure how much I care? Maybe once it can detect one trillionth of a billionth of care..

  10. Reading a wee bit too far into this, are we? by klasikahl · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe it's the fact that I am reading this at 0330 (MST). However, I think a lot of the /.ers commenting on this article are reading into the potential just a little bit too far. People are talking about stuff anywhere from losing their jobs to nanotechnology all the way to robots taking over the world. This article is about a nano-scale being able to weigh ~122 atoms of gold. This article is not talking about a nano-scale that was able sense the weight, then reflect about it in its /. journal or develop a mastermind scheme on how it will take over the world.

    And unless this ity-bity scale was merely crafted by engineers and never programmed (thus being able to program itself), then I think the human race has nothing to worry about. That's right, /.ers, save your conspiracy theories; they have no weight in comments about being able to measure gold.

  11. They should ask my girlfriend for help by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 4, Funny

    She can detect weight fluctuations of 2.5 femtograms!

  12. Don't confuse nanotech with nanoscience by hak+hak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I attended a lecture the other day by an expert on nanoscience. One interesting thing he noted is that while nanoscience is making rapid progress, real successes in the field we should call nanotechnology are still far away. We can `see' and `feel' atoms now, but it will take a while before mass-production of molecule-sized devices will be feasible.