The ruse and the reality of nanotechnology.

• Author: Wolkow, Robert A.

Nanoscience involves inspection, understanding and tailoring materials at the finest possible level. It is widely expected, and very likely, that nanoscience will lead to extremely small functional entities. It is less well known that nanoscience will also lead to conventional looking materials and devices that will have attributes that derive from improved ordering of constituent atoms and molecules. For example, we might in the future have plastic water bottles that are as strong as bottles made today, but which have thinner walls and therefore require less material. This nano-structuring of large objects is perhaps less exciting than a vision focused on nano-entities, however it is equally important, not least because improved materials in general can lead to less waste of both the materials themselves as well as energy.

It appears clear that nanotechnologies will be broadly applied, from machinery to medicine. Due to the transforming potential of these technologies, there are substantial societal implications. Unlike most other technical advances, nanotechnology has captured public attention early on in its development. This is a good thing, in that it allows, and forces, scientists to explain their abilities and objectives to laypeople. Many accurate and informative articles have appeared, but unfortunately, some of the descriptions of nanotechnology found in newspapers and on television are highly inaccurate. The misconceptions being spread about nanotechnology go beyond those expected whenever a specialized issue is translated for public access. The confusion has been created by a group that has bypassed the rigour and review of normal scientific discourse to go directly to the public with a fanciful message, presented with enticing artist's conceptions and animations. (1) Though the predictions made by this group are akin to anti-gravity shoes--something we have no reason to expect will ever be developed--it has convinced many, including some of our incoming students, of their views.

It is hoped that by offering a clear description of some of our capabilities today, of what will most likely be possible in the foreseeable future, and as well, what we do not ever expect to be able to do, that an informed discussion about nanotechnology will be enabled. My purpose is not to defend or unfetter nanotechnology. Indeed any technology so fundamentally based and broadly applicable can most certainly be applied for both good and ill, and therefore must be made accessible, be freely discussed, and where necessary, limited in application.

Since nanoscience is a converging of many ideas and fields, and in part an incremental refinement of known methods and materials, it is hard to know where to start an historical summary of the area. We might reasonably say that nanomaterials are as old as the earth, since during the earth's entire history, nanoparticles of diverse composition have been present. Even recently identified nanoparticles known as Fullerenes (also called nanotubes and Buckey balls) have been present on earth for hundreds of millions of years. This is clear because countless Fullerene particles are produced naturally whenever a sooty fire--including a forest fire-burns. This particular introduction to nanoscale materials highlights an often over looked point, that life on earth evolved in the presence of diverse nanoparticles. We do not know...