Nanotechnology

This text presents a wide range of potential applications for molecular engineering, otherwise known as nanotechnology. The capacity to manipulate matter with atomic precision may completely change the economic, cultural and ecological fabric of modern life and such implications are discussed.

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Modern technology is becoming molecularly precise. Nanotechnology, machines as small as DNA. This capacity to manipulate matter - to "programme" matter - with atomic precision will utterly change the economic, ecological and cultural fabric of our lives. This book, which is accessible to a broad audience while providing references to the technical literature, presents a wide range of potential applications of this new material technology. The first chapter introduces the basic concepts of molecular engineering and demonstrates that several mutually reinforcing trends in current research are leading directly into a world of surprisingly powerful molecular machines. Nine original essays on specific applications follow. The first section presents applications of nanotechnology that interact directly with the molecular systems of the human body. The second presents applications that function, for the most part, outside the body. The final section details the mechanisms of a universal human-machine interface and the operation of an extremely high resolution display system.