Technical tutorial on nanotech needed
from the newbies-wishing-to-be-oldbies dept.
Folks, we need to do a good web-based tutorial on nanotechnology, unless there is already one out there. –CP
AmarShibli writes "I am a high school student interested in nanotechnology. I have chosen this as the topic for my Intel-Westinghouse project. So far, on the internet, I have only been able to find very vague articles on the prospects of nanotech, and no specifics on how things are done and current research, tools of research, etc. I was hoping, since you all seem to know so much about this subject, that you may be able to inform me of a place where I can get more technical information, and I can really begin to understand it much better. My physics teacher is willing to help me with anything that I don't understand from the material I read, and if he doesn't understand it, there is a professor I can call. Also, my school is willing to pay for any restricted-access websites or books that I might want to invest in. Thank you for your help. Please e-mail me at shibz@earthlink.net if you have any information, or just reply to this message. Thanks again. –Amar" If your info will be useful to others, please post it as replies here rather than sending email. –CP
October 20th, 2000 at 3:03 PM
My suggestions…
Get the book Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation by Drexler. I believe it is the best technical book on the subject out there today. Also, the web site http://www.zyvex.com/nano of Zyvex's web site is a great resource, especially for articles and video lectures!
I too am a high school student deeply interested in this field. Amar, would it be possible for me to collaborate with you on this project? I haven't heard of it before, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to get your level of support (I go to a Los Angeles public school, and they would never cover my research expenses or anything like that). My email address is above (crop out the "NOSPAM" part, obviously). Please, I am very interested in what could come of this work. One more thing: there is going to be a big conference with a lot of nanotech stuff this February in San Francisco. An article with more info has already been posted on Nanodot. Maybe your school could get you there! 
October 20th, 2000 at 3:39 PM
Go iop.org!
Looks like iop.org is giving away free access to its Nanotechnology magazine online at http://www.iop.org/free2000/. That's a fantastic resource for CURRENT research. (Note: there is a current article on Nanodot concerning this, too)
October 20th, 2000 at 6:08 PM
Medical nanotech bibliography
Last year, for what basically amounts to a computer ethics class, I wrote a paper on the social issues involving medical nanotech. I'm posting the bibliography here, and will be sending an e-mail to the questioner and anyone else who wants it with a copy of the paper. I'll get it Online one of these days, but for now e-mail will do.
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Deegan, Peter. "What does the Melissa virus do?". ZDNet News. 27 March 1999. . (10 Oct. 1999).
Drexler, Eric, Chris Peterson, et al.. "Chapter 10 Nanomedicine". Unbounding the Future: the Nanotech Revolution. 1991. . (10 Oct. 1999).
Merkle, Ralph C.. "Nanotechnology". Xerox PARC. . (10 Oct. 1999).
Merkle, Ralph C.. "Nanotechnology and Medicine". Xerox PARC. . (10 Oct. 1999).
Stix, Gary. "Waiting for Breakthroughs". Scientific American v. 274, n. 4, p. 94-96. Apr. 1996.
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HTH
October 21st, 2000 at 10:59 AM
Re:Medical nanotech bibliography
I hope I got your email correct, but if I didn't, I would like to say here that I am very interested in your paper and would like to read it. Can you please send it to me? Thank you.
October 21st, 2000 at 7:40 PM
Re:Medical nanotech bibliography
Okay, even though this is going to be a long post, I'm going to go ahead and post the paper I wrote here. It's only 800 words (I had a 1000 word limit and had to follow a specific format). I've already gotten a few e-mails about the paper, so it will probably be of more interest than I thought:
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A. Describing the Issue
Doctors have been making use of technological advances to develop better ways to help patients. Nanotechnology is the continuation of this practice, merging the vast knowledge about the intricate workings of the human body and the ability to construct nearly microscopic devices.1 Aside from helping people live healthier lives, nanotechnology will also have the ability to severally hurt people. When affected by problems common to all computers, such as viruses, nanotechnology could become just as dangerous as any disease; and when intentionally used for malicious purposes, the results could be even worse. Despite the many improvements that it will bring, nanotechnology could be one of the deadliest of humanity's creations.
B. IT Background on the Issue
For the last 50 years, computer technology has been getting smaller and smaller. From vacuum tubes to transistors to microchips, the trend has been to create more powerful devices that will fit in the smallest spaces possible, meeting the demand of consumers for the most portable, convenient products. Nanotechnology is the ultimate goal of this, though it has yet to be realized. The primary limitation is waiting for manufacturing procedures to improve to the level where they can manipulate individual atoms, which is estimated to occur around 2010.2
Most nanotech research currently focuses on either how the nanobots (small robots measuring less than 100 nanometers) will function or finding applications for nanotechnology.3 The medical field is particularly interested, because it would allow them to employ fewer invasive practices, lower cost, and treat afflictions at the microscopic level.4 Current plans include building nanobots that can repair damaged (i.e. cancerous) tissues and destroy infections (viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.), since present methods of handling these operations are crude, blunt, and imprecise.5
C. Analyzing the Impact of the Issue
While nanotechnology stands to improve the lives of many, it also can be exploited for malicious purposes. Since the nanobots must communicate with one another to organize activities, their networks are susceptible to computer crackers, viruses, and worms just as their larger counterparts are. Just as the Melissa virus was able to bring Internet traffic to a crawl by sending millions of e-mail messages automatically, a worm spread throughout the nanobot population of a person's body could render the units ineffective.6 If this happened to a patient in critical condition, the result would probably be death. Tens of thousands of patients could be lost each year due to such complications, including people with more minor problems, because traditional treatments could have prevented their conditions from becoming terminal.
Just as chemical, biological, and nuclear discoveries have been turned into weapons, nanotechnology could become the new weapon of choice for terrorist and rogue nations.7 Nanobots could be easily hidden because of their small size and deployed simply through physical contact, causing havoc within the people whom they infect. In crowded situations, such as concerts and mass transportation services, a single person could release dangerous nanobots and spread them through the mob over a very short period. By the time the victims learned of their infection, it would be too late to save their lives.
D. Solutions to Problems Arising from the Issue
Developing nanobots resistant to attacks would be one way to prevent nanotech related deaths. Much in the way that antivirus software protects larger computers from malicious programs, smaller versions thereof could be implemented to keep nanobots safe. Developing firewalls (filters that block all but prequalified communications) for use in nanobots would go a long ways towards preventing cracker activity, as well. The major limitation placed on the ability of nanobots to protect themselves is the amount of storage space and processing power that they would have available for such processes, since they would be developed to use as little power as and take up as little space as possible.
Creating 'good' nanobots to combat 'bad' ones would help to stop the threat of nanoweapons. With regular injections of the good variety, protection against bad ones would be much like the way that medications fight against diseases. Unfortunately, this would involve getting regular doses of nanobots, since the nanobots would not be able to reproduce. If someone forgot to get their nanobot shot, then their body might be consumed with bad nanobots, seeking to destroy them. Similarly, a bad dose would leave the person in an even worse condition, because their body would have to fight not only bad nanobots but also defective good ones.
The former solution is fine as long as there is no physical contact between nanobots. For the latter, viruses, worms, and crackers still pose a threat. Neither solution fully handles the issues on its own, but in conjunction they are a powerful team capable of eliminating many of the dangers that nanotechnology could create. At some point, it will be impossible to make the technology any safer, though, and force society to live with the fact that there will always be the occasional malfunction, no matter how well protected against it the nanobots are.
E. Selecting and Using Sources
ENDNOTES
1. Ralph C. Merkle. "Nanotechnology". Xerox PARC. .
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ralph C. Merkle. "Nanotechnology and Medicine". Xerox PARC. .
5. Eric Drexder, Chris Peterson, et al.. "Chapter 10 Nanomedicine". Unbounding the Future: the Nanotech Revolution. .
6. Peter Deegan. "What does the Melissa virus do?". ZDNet News. .
7. Stix, Gary. "Waiting for Breakthroughs". Scientific American v. 274, n. 4 (Apr. 1996): 94-96.
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I've ommited the biography here, since it is the above post. Enjoy.
October 21st, 2000 at 7:44 PM
Erratum
Oops. I mean bibliography, not biography. I always tend to make that typing mistake.