Nanotechnology Information

What is nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter at nanometer length (one-billionth of a meter) scales to produce new materials, structures and devices.

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) defines a technology as nanotechnology only if it involves all of the following:

* Research and technology development involving structures with at least one dimension in approximately  the 1-100 nanometer range.

*Creating and using structures, devices and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their nanometer scale dimensions.

*Ability to control or manipulate on the atomic scale.

Like most topics that involve technology, there are two level of interests that involve nanotechnology.  There is the general public interest in the practical applications that will benefit you in your everyday life. The other interests involve the technical side of nanotechnology.  We will focus on the general applications of nanotech with some of the technical aspects thrown in for your information.

One of the top Nanotech Web sites that is a leader in getting nanotechnology information to the public is Foresight Nanotech Institute. Foresight's mission is to ensure the beneficial implementation of nanotechnology. The Foresight Web site provides a link to a new movie "Productive Nanosystems: from Molecules to Superproducts" that illustrates the steps involved in converting molecules into a billion-cpu laptop computer.

As you would expect, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is one of the top educational facilities in the world and they are a leader in the development of products using nanotechnology.  MIT has a  list over 15 labs and centers that are involved in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Some of the top MIT labs include:

*Center for NanoFluids - Nanofluids are being investigated for numerous applications, including cooling, manufacturing, chemical and pharmaceutical processes, medical treatments, cosmetics and more.

*Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN)  - The research mission of ISN is to use nanotechnology to dramatically improve the survival of soldiers. Imagine a bullet-proof jumpsuit, no thicker than ordinary spandex, that monitors health, eases injuries, communicates automatically, and maybe even lends superhuman abilities.

*NanoEngineering Group - The Nanoengineering Group is part of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. Their research is focused on nanoscale energy transport, conversion, and storage.

*NanoMechanical Technology Lab - They study how mechanical behavior changes at the nanoscale for materials such as living cells, designer polymers, bioceramics, optoelectronic materials, surface coatings, and metals.

*NanoStructures Laboratory (NSL) - develops techniques for fabricating surface structures with feature sizes in the range from nanometers to micrometers, and uses these structures in a variety of research projects.

*Space Nanotechnology Laboratory (SNL) - SNL's primary mission is to develop nano-fabrication, advanced lithography and precision engineering technology for building high performance space instrumentation, including x-ray telescopes and high resolution x-ray spectrometers, magnetospheric imagers and solar physics instrumentation. 

Check out the Nanoruler - the world's most precise ruler--with "ticks" only a few hundred billionths of a meter apart--could impact fields from the manufacture of computer chips to space physics.

This is only a sample of the top Nanotech labs at MIT. You can spend a lot of time investigating the world of Nanotechnology at MIT. They truly are a leader in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

Check out Technology Review published by MIT - Everything Nanotech!

The Institute for Molecular Manufacturing (IMM) is a non-profit foundation formed to conduct and support research on molecular systems engineering and molecular manufacturing (molecular nanotechnology, or MNT). IMM also promotes guidelines for research and development practices that will minimize risk from accidental misuse or from abuse of molecular nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is of great interest to investors. There are many start-up nanotech companies and it can be difficult to determine which ones might be good investments for the future.