THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 25, 1995 TAG: 9512230061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TECH TRACK
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
ON THIS Christmas Day, we at Tech Track are stretched out in the middle of living rooms full of undone wrapping paper, trying to figure out how to make our new digital toys work. And we are wondering: what will the Yuletides of tomorrow bring?
Maybe nanotechnology.
Don't fret if you haven't heard of it. Unless you're one of a handful of nanotech specialists or a science fiction fan, you wouldn't know about this idea that molecule-sized machines could produce everything from self-adjusting clothes to walls that paint themselves. Not to mention pocket supercomputers.
Derived from the Greek word nanos, or dwarf, the prefix ``nano'' is usually used to denote a one-billionth part of something. A nanosecond, for instance, is one billionth of a second; a nanometer one billionth of a meter.
Imagine, urges nanotech visionary Eric Drexler, being able to manipulate matter molecule by molecule. ``When we learn how to arrange molecules in new ways,'' Drexler writes in his book ``Unbounding the Future,'' ``we can make new things, and make old things in new ways.''
Scientists are only now beginning to make the micro-machines that will lead to even smaller devices: ``molecular assemblers'' that, from a chemical soup, will create custom-designed products with fantastic capabilities. Key to nanotech magic will be built-in molecular computers.
Drexler foresees computer-driven nanomachines patrolling your body, on the prowl for budding cancers, cholesterol buildup or other potential health threats. He predicts toxin-gobbling ``nanites'' capable of cleaning up even the most polluted spot.
Nanotech would make possible materials stronger than steel but lighter than balsa wood. Also available would be ``smart paint,'' resembling a block of soft putty, that would automatically spread out once stuck on a wall.
Drexler claims nanotech could usher in other, even bigger payoffs - such as incredibly low-cost power and cheap spaceflight.
OK. So you can't yet go out and buy any of this stuff. But who's to say what's in store for Christmases future? MEMO: ``Tech Track'' will appear every Monday in the Daily Break. Readers
with ideas for future columns are invited to contact staff science and
technology writer James Schultz at (804) 446-2599, or via e-mail at
schultz(AT)infi.net
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN EARLE
The Virginian-Pilot
Scientists are beginning to make the micro-machines that will lead
to even smaller devices.
by CNB