The Coming Nano Revolution

Nanotechnology will change our world radically. The economy will change radically too because objects will be manufactured atom by atom. Think what you can do by rearranging the atoms in coal, for example. You can manufacture diamonds!

The Christian Science Monitor reports that nanotechnology "may have found its Henry Ford" in Nadrian Seeman, chemistry professor at New York University. Professor Seeman, and a research team at Nanjing University, have created two-armed worker robots out of synthetic DNA molecules. Until now it has been possible to make DNA robots with only one arm. Why is this significant? Suddenly, mass nano-manufacturing appears possible.

Each robotic arm has a molecule on the end that can align other molecules as part of a manufacturing process. Professor Seeman and team are now working on developing the capacity to create programmable patterns. That's the next step toward developing a manufacturing process. Right now they can only form various shapes from molecules. Practical applications are limited. But don't expect new discoveries to be that far off. When nanotechnology hits full stride, we'll see the equivalent of another industrial revolution. It's that big.

To get a better idea of what nanotechnology is, here are two Quick Vue videos. Advance the cursor on the first video to 4:50 minutes.