by Jerry Mooney
How does a clean and more sustainable planet sound? Oh and add to that better disease detection and treatment too! Sounds too good to be true right, but it isn't. In fact, these are all applications of a field of science called nanotechnology. A subject you can get an easy to digest and understand run-down on in my post below. After all, educating ourselves on the possible solutions to the big issues we face is all of our responsibilities.
What the flip, is nanotech?
Nanotech is a field of science that is dedicated to the study and development of really small stuff. Like really, really small, so small that its one million times less than the width of the lead in your pencil!
In fact, nanotech is all about how things work and can be used at an atomic level! Something that has been previously inaccessible to us, and it is precisely because things don't always behave the same on this small level as they do when they are big that provides nanotech with so many useful applications in the modern world.
How nanotech can make the world cleaner
One such application is making our planet a cleaner place. Now we aren't talking about teeny tiny robots with microscopic scrubbing brushes, yet. However, nanotech can be used to make things like solar power cells much smaller and more effective. Something that could help the rollout and ultimately worldwide adoption of clean sources of energy, which will have obvious benefits for the environment.
Of course, this isn't the only way that nanotech could help clear up our word either. Another possible application is the use of nanoparticles to attract and contain harmful and even toxic waste, especially if it's already been accidentally released into the ecosystem.
What this means is that we would have much better protection from any spills, going forward, as well as the opportunity to make previously contaminated areas habitable and farmable again.
How nanotech can make us healthier
Next, nanotech could help us all to become healthier as well. One direct way that it could do this is by being used as a more direct drug delivery system. Something that could make treatments for disease such as cancer much less invasive, unpleasant, and damaging too.
Less, directly the use of nanotech materials such as graphene in transistors and sensors like the ones Graphenea manufacture are helping to make the detection of illnesses much more nuanced and accurate. Something that means many more cases of early diagnosis, as well and an increase in the effectiveness of research in the area of medicine too.
How nanotech can make the world safer
Lastly, while you may not think it, nanotech also has the potential to make our world much safer for us humans on an individual level too.
One way in which this could happen is by using super thin graphene and graphite to create protective wearables like bike helmets, shoes, and even protective clothing such as armour that would be light and easy to wear. Not too shabby for particles that are 75,000 times thinner than the average human hair, eh?!
