Knowing Nanotechnology

Posted in: Nano

Nanotechnology may hold the key to making spaceflight more practical. Advancements in materials to make lightweight solar sails and the cable for the space elevator could significantly cut the cost of reaching orbit and traveling in space, as well as dramatically reducing the amount of rocket fuel used. Also new materials, along with nanosensors and nanorobots could improve the performance of spaceships, spacesuits and equipment used to explore planets and moons, making a big difference on the ‘final frontier.’

Nanotechnology Fueling Rockets

The space elevator is a device that will dramatically reduce the cost of sending cargo into orbit. (more…)

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Posted in: Nano

If your drug use consists of an occasional aspirin, you may not see the need for serious work on drug delivery. But if you were diabetic, having to inject insulin several times a day, or a cancer patient experiencing debilitating side effects from your treatment, the benefits of improved drug delivery could change your life.

Perhaps the most publicized use of nanotechnology in drug delivery under development is the use of nanoparticles to deliver drugs to cancer cells. However, that’s just the tip of the drug delivery iceberg: there are a number of other ways that nanotechnology can make the delivery of drugs more efficient and potentially less unpleasant for the patient. (more…)

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Posted in: Nano

In updating my Nanotechnology in Medicine page recently, I noticed that several efforts to use nanotechnology in medicine have moved from the realm of research papers to the pre-clinical or clinical testing stage. For example, CytImmune has published the preliminary results of a phase 1 clinical trial of a targeted chemotherapy treatment method. They use gold nanoparticles attached to a molecule of a tumor-killing agent called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) as well as a molecule of Thiol-derivatized polyethylene glycol (PEG-THIOL), which hides the TNF bearing nanoparticle from the immune system. The PEG-THIOL allows the nanoparticle to flow through the blood stream without being attacked. The combination of a gold nanoparticle, TNF and PEG-THIOL is named Aurmine. (more…)

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Posted in: Nano

Solar panels are a widely accepted way to generate electricity if your house is off the grid or if you want to supplement power from the grid, however in some regions windmills may be much more effective. Considering that adding nanotubes to composites produces stronger, lighter components I had assumed that nanotubes would be used to produce larger windmills that can withstand higher winds. I was therefore interested to find Eagle Windpower taking a different approach in one of their product lines by using an epoxy containing carbon nanotubes to improve small windmills, small enough to be used to power a single house. (more…)

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