A vision of the future of nanotechnology
27 April 2007 Washington, USA. Nanotechnology can help to overcome some
of the world's biggest challenges, according to a new report
NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future of Nanotechnology. It examines
several compelling opportunities for significant, widespread benefit,
focusing on nanotechnology's ability to address the energy crisis, the need
for better medical treatments, and the demand for clean water.
The report summarizes discussions among over 50 scientists, engineers,
ethicists, policymakers, and other experts about the long-term potential of
nanotechnology. It is the product of a forecasting and awareness-raising
activity sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), National
Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies,
which is an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The report and a series of related
podcasts are available online at
http://www.nanotechproject.org/114 "This report is a window onto the
future of nanotechnology. It looks at what is coming down the road and what
we need to do now to prepare for and harness its potential," said David
Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson
Center. "These foresight exercises are critical to understanding the
long-term advantages and challenges posed by the applications of
nanotechnology." Nanotechnology is still very much a work in progress,
with the potential to deliver a range of benefits today and for many decades
to come. For example, most first-generation nanomedicines, according to the
report, are reformulations of existing drugs, usually modified to enable new
methods of delivery inside the body. However, farther down the road, experts
predict the creation of novel nanostructures that could serve as new kinds
of drugs for treating cancer, Parkinson's and cardiovascular disease.
Researchers also are working toward engineered nanomaterials for use as
artificial tissues that will replace diseased kidneys and livers, and even
repair nerve damage. "Nanotechnology can be used very effectively to extract
critical information about the inception of the disease process at the level
of the molecule and the atom, and as such, it presents us with a huge
horizon of exploration," NIH Director Elias Zerhouni observed at the
workshop. The report envisions a similar progression of
nanotechnology-enabled efforts to produce clean water and energy across the
globe. Today, nanotechnology is delivering promising methods for cleaning up
polluted sites and for monitoring water supplies. Tomorrow, it could provide
the technical means for economical community-based systems that treat water
at its point of use. Similarly, new solutions to the world's energy problems
are also possible using nanotechnology, ranging from improving the
efficiency in production, storage, and transmission of fossil-fuel-based
sources of energy to overcoming many of the obstacles to a hydrogen-based
transportation system with fuel-cell powered cars and trucks, helping to
render fossil fuels obsolete as an energy source. Relevant to nearly every
industry, nanotechnology is considered a "platform technology," the report
says, because "it readily merges and converges with other technologies and
could change how we do just about everything." The report singles out
advances in three underpinning technical areas — research tools, information
management, and assembly and manufacturing — as fundamental to progress
across the entire spectrum of nanotechnology research and development needs.
"Nanotechnology is in an early phase of development and, as of now, only
relatively rudimentary nanostructures are being used to make improvements in
existing materials and systems," noted Mihail Roco, NSF senior advisor for
nanotechnology. "We are aiming at the systematic control of matter at the
nanoscale to create revolutionary new generations of products and
nanosystems as the primary foundation for converging and emerging
technologies. For this reason, we need a transformative, responsible and
anticipatory global governance approach for nanotechnology that involves
both researchers and the public across many countries, scientific and
engineering domains." To top
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