Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology comprises technological developments on the nanometer scale, usually 0.1 to 100 nm. (One nanometer equals one thousandth of a micrometer or one millionth of a millimeter.) The term has sometimes been applied to microscopic technology. This article discusses nanotechnology, nanoscience, and "molecular nanotechnology."

Radical nanotechnology

Radical nanotechnology is a term given to the hypothetical idea of sophisticated nanoscale machines operating on the molecular scalehttp://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/index.php?cat=3. By the countless examples found in biology it is currently known that billions of years of evolutionary feedback can produce sophisticated, stochastically optimized biological machines, and it is hoped that radical nanotechnology will make possible their construction by some shorter means, perhaps using biomimetic principles. However, it has been suggested by K Eric Drexler and other researchers that radical nanotechnology, although initially implemented by biomimetic means, might ultimately be based on mechanical engineering principles.

Related Topics:
Biomimetic - K Eric Drexler

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Drexler's idea of a diamondoid molecular nanotechnology is controversial, but determining a set of pathways for its development is now an objective of a broadly based technology roadmap project http://physorg.com/news4656.html led by Battelle (the manager of several U.S. National Laboratories) and the Foresight Institute. That roadmap should be developed by late 2006.

Related Topics:
Molecular nanotechnology - Battelle - Foresight Institute

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