The Nanotech Pioneers: Where Are They Taking Us?

The nanometer scale is where physicists, chemists, biologists, materials scientists and engineers met to create a new technology – nanotechnology. Scarcely imagined a few decades ago, it will certainly dominate the 21st century and affect our lives in ways not yet fully predictable. By definition, nanotech is far too small to be visible to the human eye, and so its effects may well catch us by surprise.
Although nanotech still has a science–fiction aura, there are actually consumer products already available which employ nanotech – sunscreen, paint, tennis balls, non–staining fabrics, and some recently approved drugs.
The variety of new products and technologies that will spin out of nanoscience is limited only by the imagination of the scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs drawn to this new field – the Nanotech Pioneers. Steve Edwards presents nanotechnology and its leading makers in an easily understandable fashion, suited for all readers regardless of academic background, but with enough facts and details to separate the hype from the real nanotech that is just around the next corner:superior materials – stronger, lighter, harder, bettersmart drugs that specifically target infected or malicious cellslife–like prosthetics, such as limb, joint or organ replacements, even artificial eyesbrain/computer interfacesnew computer architectures with immense capacities and abilitiesnew kinds of power sources that lessen our fossil fuel dependence
With this book, Steven Edwards brings nanotechnology closer to the science–interested general public as well as scientists, students, organizations, journalists, politicians, and entrepreneurs.

Spis treści:
Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Chapter 1 The Promise of Nanotechnology.
Defining Nanotechnology.
Top–Down versus Bottom–Up Manufacturing.
What is in Soot? The Different Forms of Carbon.
An Alternative Nature.
Money Makes the World Go ’Round.
Who Knows About Nano?
The Promise of Nano.
Skeptics.
Contemporaneous History.
Chapter 2 The Visionaries.
Richard Feynman.
K. Eric Drexler.
Ralph Merkle.
Ray Kurzweil.
Criticism of the Drexlerian Vision.
James Von Ehr.
Ernst Ruska and Gerd Binnig.
Mike Roco.
Chapter 3 On the Road to Nano–.
Lithography.
Molecular Biology.
Supramolecular Chemistry.
Chapter 4 Nanotools.
The Electron Microscope.
Scanning Probe Microscopes: STM, AFM and Variants Thereof.
AngstroVision.
Nanomanipulators.
Chapter 5 Nanoparticles and Other Nanomaterials.
Discovering the Buckyball.
Carbon Nanotubes.
Dendrimers.
Quantum Dots.
Chapter 6 Learning from Old Mother Nature.
The Gecko’s Foot.
The Eye of the Starfish: The Optical Network of the Sponge.
The Abalone’s Shell.
Diatoms: The Original Silicon Chips.
Natural Nanotubes.
Synthetic Nerve Membranes.
Co–Opting Biology.
Chapter 7 Nanoelectronics.
Spintronics.
Nanotube Memory Chips: NRAM.
Nanowires.
Thin Films of Glowing Polymers.
Nanorobotics.
Chapter 8 Nanotech–Enabled Biomedicine.
Delivering Drugs.
Medical Imaging: X–Ray Tubes.
Making the World Safe for MRI (Plus some other Stuff).
Nanoshells for Therapy.
Pumps.
The Strange Case Of Nanobacteria.
Medical Diagnostics.
Moving Water Around, a Little at a Time.
Nanoscale Antenna Controls DNA.
Artificial Joints.
Artificial Organs.
Artificial Cells.
Re–Inventing Biology.
Chapter 9 Financing Nanotech Dreams.
Charlie Harris, Venture Capitalist.
Implementing the National Nanotech Initiative.
Chapter 10 Mega–Sized Projects that Could Use Tiny Technology:
Three Somewhat Grandiose Challenges.
Energy: Independence from Fossil Fuels.
The Space Elevato r.
Building a Quantum Computer.
Chapter 11 Fear of Nano: Dangers and Ethical Challenges.
The Grey Goo Scenario.
The Green Goo Scenario.
Environmental Catastrophe due to Inhaleable or Ingestible Nanoparticles.
Nanotech Will End Shortage–Based Economics.
People Will Live for Ever, Leading to Overpopulation.
Only Rich People Will Live For Ever.
Nanotechnology Will Turn Us Into Cyborgs.
Nanotechnology Could Create Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Nanotech Will Create Machines that are Smarter than Human Beings.
Nanotech Will Hasten the Arrival of the Singularity.
Regulating Nanotech.
Chapter 12 Final Thoughts on The Destination.
Index.

Nota biograficzna:
Steve A. Edwards obtained his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California in San Diego in 1980, then spent four years as an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Salk Institute at La Jolla, as well as holding a position of assistant professor at the biochemistry department of Meharry Medical College, Nashville. Since 1994, he has been a free–lance writer and from 1997 onwards, he has been a free–lance medical technology analyst for Business Communications Company, Inc., Norwalk. From 1998 on, he has taken on several editorial positions with BCC, serving as Contributing Editor for Medical Materials Update, Managing Editor of Applied Genetics News and Drug Discover/Technology News, and as editor for Nano–Bio Convergence News, Cell Therapy News, and Biomolecular Diagnostics News. From 2002 to date, he has also been Vice President (Technologies) at Phaelixe, Inc.
He received the American Heart Association New Investigator Award (1991–1993) and the NHLBI Minority School Faculty Development Award (1992–1994).


Okładka tylna:
The nanometer scale is where physicists, chemists, biologists, materials scientists and engineers met to create a new technology – nanotechnology. Scarcely imag ined a few decades ago, it will certainly dominate the 21st century and affect our lives in ways not yet fully predictable. By definition, nanotech is far too small to be visible to the human eye, and so its effects may well catch us by surprise.
Although nanotech still has a science–fiction aura, there are actually consumer products already available which employ nanotech – sunscreen, paint, tennis balls, non–staining fabrics, and some recently approved drugs.
The variety of new products and technologies that will spin out of nanoscience is limited only by the imagination of the scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs drawn to this new field – the Nanotech Pioneers. Steve Edwards presents nanotechnology and its leading makers in an easily understandable fashion, suited for all readers regardless of academic background, but with enough facts and details to separate the hype from the real nanotech that is just around the next corner:superior materials – stronger, lighter, harder, bettersmart drugs that specifically target infected or malicious cellslife–like prosthetics, such as limb, joint or organ replacements, even artificial eyesbrain/computer interfacesnew computer architectures with immense capacities and abilitiesnew kinds of power sources that lessen our fossil fuel dependence
With this book, Steven Edwards brings nanotechnology closer to the science–interested general public as well as scientists, students, organizations, journalists, politicians, and entrepreneurs.