the future of nanotechnology extended essay

An Investigation into How the Future of Health and Medical Practices will be Revolutionized through Nanotechnology

Author: Prince Jindal

The Future of Nanotechnology________________________________________________________________


IB Candidate:

Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS)

Word Count: 3,680

Abstract:

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Through this essay, I explore the direction that nanotechnology is taking and how it will impact our world, specifically, the revolutionizing effect it will have on the medical field and the developing cures that can arise from nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is currently in the “pre-competitive” or developing stages but will inevitably change our society especially in the way in which we view medicine. This essay reveals the history of nanotechnology in both medical applications, and the general concept from which nanotechnology has evolved. Secondly, this essay contributes to understanding today’s fast-paced present in which nanotechnology exists, and is developing in, explicitly in medical applications. This essay also talks about the ethical impacts of nanotechnologies future as well as privacy and social issues. As Chaudhari states, “We are evolving to the point where every human being will be connected to any other human or to the vast network of information sources throughout the world by a communication system comprised of wireless and optical fibre communication links.25” The investigation is undertaken through various primary and secondary sources of internet articles, books, lectures, interviews between scientists and media, and directly from researches who have published their findings. Nanotechnology interests me in its interdisciplinary characteristic, in that it draws from multiple fields to improve them, but also to improve itself, whether medical applications, or even rubber. In my essay, I conclude that there must be a balance between the medical revolution that nanotechnology provides, for there are great things nanotechnology can change, as well as the small that seek no harm. Their are social dangers that can arise from using nanotechnology in medicine and if a future of medicine is based around nanotechnology, we may even lose an identity as humanity.

Word Count: 287

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction………………………...…..………………………………………………………………..4

An Introduction to Nanotechnology………………………………………………………………..5

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Nanofabrication……………………………………………………..7

Nanotechnology and Drug Delivery………………………………………………………………...9

Trouble for Cancer…………………………………………………………………………………….12

The Revolution and Beyond…………………………………………………………………….…..15

Concerns in Nanotechnology……………………………………………………………………….17

How Long Will We Wait?..............................................................................................20

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………….21

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………….22

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Introduction:

I have chosen to undertake an extended essay in the subject of

ITGS, however, I am not currently studying it in my classes and

therefore am solely writing this because of my strong interest in the

area.

In my investigation, discoveries revolving the wonders of

nanotechnology are noted as recent but are not used in modern

medicine and medical practices because of the preliminary stages that

nanotechnology is still categorized as. Because of this, we have a

futuristic element that arises from recent discoveries made in

nanotechnology, because one day these discoveries will become more

prevalent in society.

My essay focuses on the medical applications that can come

from nanotechnology because I feel that this area is the most

beneficial to our society. Through this essay, I will explain how

nanotechnology will revolutionize the health industry by exemplifying

different, current discoveries, as well as noting what has not yet

happened in nanotechnology, but can also greatly change how we view

medical treatment. Other areas that my extended essay reaches

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include a history to nanotechnology, for I feel this is essential in

understanding where we currently stand in the study, as well as the

social, and economic concerns it produces in the health industry when

implemented.

This investigation is worthy of research because of the

contributions the study makes to help benefit our society. As a

community, we should be wary of the effects nanotechnology can lead

to as well as the direction we take as a society towards the future.

Introduction to Nanotechnology:

Though at first seeming to be mere science fiction; an idea that

the world is just not prepared for, nanotechnology is seriously on the

verge of revolutionizing the way in which our society functions.

Nanotechnology will not only change what we do, but change what we

are as a society, globally. According to

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary,

nanotechnology, also called nanotech, can be

defined as, “the science of manipulating

materials on an atomic or molecular scale

especially to build microscopic devices.1” To

1 "nanotechnology." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.Merriam-Webster Online. 11 October 2009<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nanotechnology>

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put this into perspective, if the distance from the earth to the sun was

one meter, the size of a football stadium would be a nanometer2.

Personally, visioning anything on the atomic scale is rather mind-

boggling, but manipulating materials on the atomic scale seems rather

unbelievable.

The idea of nanotechnology was first introduced by Richard

Feynman, who thought that one day, we, the human race, will be able

to precisely manipulate atoms. Furthering his radical idea, he believed

that “nano-machines” could be created through factories that built

smaller scale factories, and so on until reaching the nano-scale level

where they would have the atomic precision needed to engineer

molecules.3 Later, in 1974, Norio Taniguchi coined the term

nanotechnology and in 1981, Molecular Engineering: An Approach to

the Development of General Capabilities for Molecular Manipulation

was an article published by Eric Drexler which gave a list of molecular

components in nature that act as tools with specific functions revealing

that “power-driven mechanical systems can be constructed on a

molecular scale.”4 In 1986, Drexler published Engines of Creation: The

Coming Era of Nanotechnology presenting his idea that if molecules

were “snapped” together in the right way, they could represent nano-

2 "The Vega Science Trust - Nanotechnology". The Vega Science Trust. 10 October 2009 <http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/3>.3 Fanfair, Devon, Salil Desai, and Christopher Kelty. The Early History of Nanotechnology. Connexions. 8 October 2009 <http://cnx.org/content/m14504/1.1/>.4 Drexler, Eric. "Molecular Engineering". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA September 1981

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scaled motors and tools that would, ultimately, be used as assemblers

to move atoms in the desired shape. Theoretically, Drexler presented

“that coal can be turned into diamond and computer chips can be

created from sand.” 3 Drexler is also credited with the infamous theory

of “gray goo,” an idea that has survived through the years of

nanotechnology dealing with a concept of self-replicating nanobots

that “would consume everything in the universe in order to survive.” 3

In the same year as Drexler’s book, IBM developed the Scanning

Tunneling Microscope (STM) allowing direct manipulation of individual

atoms.5 Straying from Drexler, new branches of nanotechnology were

formed in the mid eighties, through one being the discovery of

Buckminsterfullerene, also known as Buckyball, in 1985. This natural,

geodesic molecule has properties of great strength withstanding high

speed collisions of up to 15,000 mph, and when compressed to only 70

percent of its original size, the buckyball becomes twice as strong

diamond. This discovery gave rise to carbon nanotubes, or elongated

bucky balls, that “are at least 100- 1000 times stronger than the

strongest steel.6” Additionally, after Don Eigler’s “stunt” of

manipulating xenon atoms through the STM and spelling out BMI in

1989, nanotechnology covered a broader, more realistic, and

scientifically based field that became more than Drexler’s idealized

5 "Chemsoc Timeline". Royal Society of Chemistry. 9 October 2009 <http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/timeline//pages/1981.html>.6 "C 60 Molecule - Buckminsterfullerene". Buckminster Fuller Institute. 9 October 2009<http://bfi.org/node/351>.

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“atomic tools.”3 Following these landmark events, the first design of

nanorobotic system came in 1997, and in 2000, the US began federally

funding nanotechnology.

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Nanofabrication:

Through the years, scientists have found two methods to be

dominant in nanotech engineering: the Bottom-up and the Top-down

approach. The bottom-up approach, the primary method for companies

such as IBM, builds up from the atomic level, piecing together atoms to

form large molecules or the shape wanted. Technologies such as the

STM or the Atomic Force Microscopes

(AFM) allow for individual particles or

whole molecules to be manipulated, thus

making bottom-up feasible. Newer

technology such as the Dual Polarisation

Interferometry has allowed scientists to

quantitatively measure molecular

interactions at this atomic level needed for

nanotechnology.7

The Top-down approach “refers to slicing

or successive cutting of a bulk material to

7 "2006 Nano Biz...in depth... im detail". Nano Tsunami. 11 October 2009<http://www.voyle.net/2006%20Nano%20Biz/NanoBiz-06-099+-020.htm>.

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get nano-sized particle.”8 This method supports Feynman’s idea of

achieving the atomic scale, thinking that factories could make smaller

factories and so on, until the nano-sized particle was reached. Most

Top-down approaches to nanotechnology today consist of milling and

annealing, where graphite powder is placed into a stainless steel

container along with four steel balls. Argon is then introduced, and the

container is purged for up to 150 hours activating nanotube growth.9

Nanotubes are the keys to furthering nanotechnology in the

current day, for engineering nanotubes results in properties unique in

strength and conduction.

Nanotechnology and Drug Delivery:

Essentially, nanotechnology has opened up a new gate to the

medical world in the 21st century in which can only be described as

science hogwash. But, this seemingly fictional vision of nanotechnology

will soon become a reality, and one of the most specific places to be

impacted will be the medical field. Diseases are caused primarily at the

cellular level yet our major method, thus far, has been countering

through large tools and uncontrollable drugs. Nanotechnology will

8 "Role of Bottom-up and Top-Down". Ghandi Institute of Technology and Management. 11 October 2009 <http://www.gitam.edu/eresource/nano/NANOTECHNOLOGY/role_of_bottomup_and_topdown_a.htm>.9 "Nanotechnology Introduction". Nanowerk. 11 October 2009 <http://www.gitam.edu/eresource/nano/NANOTECHNOLOGY/role_of_bottomup_and_topdown_a.htm>.

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allow us to create “fleets of computer controlled molecular tools” for

the first time, and revolutionize the modern methods of healthcare.10

When discussing of medical nanotechnology, there is a wide

scope of possibilities for our future. Nanotechnology will “flip the

medical industry from chronic care to early detection11” The broadest,

most researched field of nanotechnology in terms of medical

distribution is drug delivery. Today, we use drugs to counter an

irregularity within our bodies, but sometimes, unwanted results are

attained. According to the International NanoScience Community (INC),

“Approximately 99 per cent of medicinal molecules don't reach their

targets12” and some drugs release particles too large for cells to

absorb13, the result seems rather unmethodical in medicine today, but

nanotechnology can pave a new way to accurately distribute drugs.

Note, that providing a different means of drug delivery does not

essentially change the drug itself, but only the method in which it is

given. In an interview with Steffi Friedrichs of Nanotechnology

Industries Associations: “only when you make them below a certain

size, and hit the nanometer range, do the particles have a property

that make them unique in what they are.”14

10 Merkle, Ralph. "Nanotechnology and Medicine". Zyvex. 11 October 2009 <http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/nanotechAndMedicine.html>.11 "Nanotechnology in Medicine". NanomedicineCenter. 11 October 2009 <http://www.nanomedicinecenter.com/>.12 "The End of Medicine". FORA.tv. 10 October 2009 <http://fora.tv/2007/01/29/End_of_Medicine>. (Lecture)13

"The End of Medicine". FORA.tv. 10 October 2009 <http://fora.tv/2007/01/29/End_of_Medicine>. (Lecture)

14 Park, Kinam. "Nanotechnology: What it can do for drug delivery". NIH Public Access. 10 October 2009

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Current nano-drug delivery systems are leftovers of drug delivery

systems in the nanometer range such as lipsomes, polymeric micelles,

nanoparticles, dendrimers, and nanocrystals. In the 1960s, liposomes

and polymer-micelles were the first drug distributors on the nanoscale,

and in the 1970’s, dendrimers and nanoparticles.15 Currently, “drug

delivery systems include microchips microneedle-based transdermal

therapeutic systems, layer-bylayer assembled systems, and various

microparticles produced by ink-jet technology.”15 Nanotechnology has

challenged researchers in developing nanoparticles that are able to be

monitored throughout drug delivery, refrain from being attacked by

natural defenses, and, of course, be able to carryout the drug payload

safe and effectively without harming the body.14 Recently tested in

mice, nanoparticles that can be secreted easily through the kidneys

after a drug delivery, have been found non-toxic, accepted by the

immune system and have properties of biodegradability.16 Drug

delivery through nanotechnology needs to cross, in humans, a barrier

from the circulatory system onto the muscular tissue in which needs

mending before it can be accepted in the medical field. On August 24 th,

2009, an article from UC Santa Barbara was published announcing its

discovery of a new drug delivery system: By developing a peptide that

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1949907/>.15 "Nanomednet". Institute of Nanotechnology. 10 October 2009 <http://www.nano.org.uk/nanomednet/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1&limit=6&limitstart=18>.

16 "UCSB Scientists Discover Potential Drug Delivery System ". Univeristy of California, Santa Barbara. 10 October 2009 <http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2079>.

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carries necessities for the cell, the peptide could, in turn, deliver a

nanoparticle, “or even a cell” from the circulatory system into the

tissue.17

The way drugs will be delivered into our bodies is just one way

that nanoparticles will help revolutionize the medical field of the future.

Drugs are our primary mean today to counter common sicknesses

making effective drug delivery essential in medicine. Tomorrow’s drugs

using nanotechnology will possibly allow for an end to the common

sicknesses, as well as the rare diseases that some suffer with daily.

Trouble for Cancer:

With nanotechnology developing as fast as it is, especially in the

medical field, cancer is one of the most funded and looked at aspects

of nanotechnology implementation. When looking at treatments for

cancer through nanotechnology, it is important to understand what

causes cancer. Cancer is formed by a mutation where the genetic

information of a cell is changed and is then reproduced malignantly

into a tumor. This tumor will then spread to other organs unless

treated.

In a recent discovery led by the German company, MagForce, a

nano-cancer therapy was developed in which a direct use of magnetic

17 "Fighting Cancer in the Future - Saving Lives, Improving Quality of Life". Magforce Nanotechnologies AG. 15 October 2009 <http://www.magforce.de/english/products/nano-cancer-therapy.html>.

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nanoparticles would fight a cancer tumor. With this “minimally

invasive” and “gentle” use of nanoparticles, tumors would be fought

“from the inside out.” Suspended in a liquid, these nanoparticles made

of iron oxide with a diameter of 20 nanometers, (“up to 500 times

smaller than that of a red blood cell”) are made to vibrate by a therapy

device that produces a magnetic field altering the polarity “up to

100,000 times per minute,” essentially generating heat. With a special

coat that allows these nanoparticles to penetrate tumor cells, the heat

and the oscillating particles causing the cancer cells to die either by

active self-destruction or from swelling until they “literally burst.” The

nanoparticles are then discharged through the body by a natural

process. This one hour, and one time process of removing a tumor

spares healthy cells by only being injected between tumor cells.18

On Sunday, August 23rd 2009, the University of Arkansas

developed “a special contrast-imaging agent” capable of mapping

lymphatic endothelial cells (cells which are close to many tissues in the

body, thus responsible for carrying cancer causing cells in a process

known as metastatis). These new, gold coated carbon nanotubes could

be effectively used as less toxic alternatives to nanoparticles. Once

coated with gold, these nanotubes map out cancer cells, but also

absorb laser radiation adeptly meaning that lower levels of radiation

would be required to kill cancer cells. The nanotubes were also coated

18 "How does cancer spread?". Cancer Research UK. 16 October 2009<http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/how-does-cancer-spread>.

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with LYVE-1 receptors found on lymphatic endothelium allowing them

to specifically find the cancer cells. Professor Jim-Woo Kim, leader of

the research, said that applying this process is “simple, inexpensive

and environmentally friendly.”19

In the same month of August, Washington University in St. Louis

developed “nano-sized spheres that they call nanobees.” By attaching

melittin, the toxin found in bee venom, to nanobees, researches have

found a new method in killing cancerous tumor cells. Melittin is a

peptide that can form pores on cellular membranes, breaking them up

and thus killing them. The use of melittin restrains cancer from

developing a resistance due to the “mechanism that melittin uses to

kill.” Nanobees were first tested on two different kinds of mice; ones

implanted with human breast cancer cells and the other with

melanoma tumors. The results that were yielded are quite

extraordinary, for “after four to five injections of the melittin-carrying

nanoparticles over several days, growth of the mice’s breast cancer

tumors slowed by nearly 25 percent, and the size of the mice’s

melanoma tmors decreased by 88 percent compared to untreated

tumors.”21 Nanobees only go toward harmful tumor cells because they

have a targeting agent attached that is attacted to growing blood

vessels around tumors. The only problem left to solve in this

19 "Researchers Use Golden Nanotubes for Imaging Agent to Detect Tumor Cells, Map Sentinel Lymph Node". Univeristy of Arkansas. 16 October 2009<http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/15535.htm>.

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technological breakthrough is the potential danger of melittin

destruction towards regular cells and the blood stream.20

Nanotechnologies, as seen here, will revolution the way we deal

with cancer. What is now a serious threat will be a thing of the past.

The interesting aspect to the study is how recent everything seems,

and although breakthroughs are

being made constantly, many

years of further study are still

required before these uses can be

seen at hospitals, and

rehabilitation centers. Once we do,

however, see these medical applications of nanotechnology in

hospitals, that is when the future will be revolutionized, as threats such

as cancer will finally be beaten.

The Revolution and Beyond:

The future of nanotechnology looks fascinating in a blurry

fashion. Nanotechnology will impact the medical field in more ways

than providing drug delivery efficiency and possibly ceasing the search

20 Ericson, Gwen. "Tumors feel the deadly sting of nanobees ". Washington University in St. Louis. 16 October 2009 <http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/14432.html>.

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for a cancer cure. Nanotechnology will lead to a deeper understanding

of our genetic makeup, in essence, the human network itself. If more

knowledge of this biological field is found through the nanotechnology,

it will further nanotechnology to even greater heights as biological

components will be able to be fused with that of nanoparticles to

benefit our internal systems. I have mentioned that nanotechnology is

interdisciplinary, working in the fields of all sciences. Essentially, if

nanotechnology is what allows us to comprehend a bottomless sea of

knowledge in these sciences, these sciences will reversibly benefit

nanotechnology, allowing for the technological cycle to exponentially

expand not only the nanotechnology but for all kinds of technologies.

Nanotechnology is quickly advancing as evident progress is being

made every month, if not every day. Robert A. Freitas, a leading expert

on nanomedicine, wrote in his first of four volumes titled,

Nanomedicine, nanorobots “might navigate, sense their surroundings,

and move through the body; how they might detect problems and

communicate with one another; and how they might change shape and

obtain energy.21” Once nanotechnology can help us understand our

anatomy further, this fused implementation can become realistic. His

second volume will examine this future nanotechnology in terms of

“biocompatibility-how nanorobots might interact with the body,

21 Kelper, Adam. "The Nanotechnology Revolution". The New Atlantis. 16 October 2009 <http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-nanotechnology-revolution>.

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especially the immune system.”21 Nanorobots may allow humans to

idealize upon a world with a completely mechanically-controlled

homeostasis, a sickness-ridden atmosphere, and possibly the

impossible, invulnerability.

In the case that a man, or woman was left with a limited amount

of oxygen or none at all, the results would yield tissue damage, a loss

of brain cells, and if sustained long enough without oxygen, death. If

we take an artificial red blood cell that contains about a liter of

nanoparticles, approximately a days worth of oxygen can be supplied.

The energy needed to compress oxygen can be provided by

decompressing carbon dioxide. In terms of nanoparticles, “our spheres

are over 2,000 times more efficient per unit volume than blood; taking

into account that blood is only about half occupied by red blood cells,

our spheres are over 1,000 times more efficient than red blood cells.22”

Aside from providing oxygen, nanoparticles could also account for

metabolism in certain tissues that suffer from an ischemic injury by

directly providing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) until metabolism was

functional again.

One day, self-diagnosis may be available where nanobots would

tell us everything we needed to know about ourselves through

22 Ezechi, Oliver. "Nano-robotics & Biomedical Applications". World Transhumanist Association. 16 October 2009 <http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/227/>.

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computer connections. It may be possible that neurons that can not be

remade will be simply replaced by nanoparticles. The future of

nanotechnology looks fascinating in a blurry fashion.

Concerns in Nanotechnology:

With such strives for advancement, the question, “should we be

concerned at all?” rises. The future of nanotechnology and its impact

on our society as a whole is difficult to foresee for there are so many

pathways to nanotechnology. “In the 1950s, many politicians,

scientists, and futurists claimed that nuclear power would make

electricity ‘too cheap to meter.’”24 Nuclear technologies did not

produce the impact it was foretold to do so. Though some say that

technology brings about social change, it is the “people who are in

control of all aspects of the production, distribution, operation, and use

of new technologies.”23 If impacted drastically in the medical field as it

is foretold to do so, nanotechnology raises serious ethical questions. If

nanotechnology were to take the revolutionary path, to what extent

would we still be considered human? Would nanotechnology impede

“privacy, civil liberties, and the relationships between citizens and their

government” if they were to act as surveillance devices to “track the

movement of people and goods – everywhere?”24 The concept of part

man, part machine rises to “enhance” ourselves, but what does this 23 Miller, Clark, David Guston, and Daniel Barben. Nanotechnology & Society: Ideas for Education and Public Engagement. 2007.

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mean for human aspects? Will human emotion be regulated to sustain

happiness? Will physical and athletic components change due to

machinery? In order to revolutionize the medical pathway, will we be

giving up our freedoms? Who would we be as a society and

individually, if not just an ID matched to ones nanoparticles? Socially,

would we want the possible infinite life span, the numbness to pain,

the advances? These “futures that we imagine today thus help to

shape the futures that we actually get tomorrow”24 When compared to

vaccines, would nanotechnology be considered natural? Vaccines were

once new, and unnatural, but have slowly adapted into our society.

We must recognize “that social and technological systems are closely

intertwined and that changes in one will likely be accompanied by

changes in the other.”24

Ethical concerns over nanotechnology have increased since its

popularization by futurist thinkers. Some wonder if we are playing God

through nanoenhancement. Indisputably, technology has caused some

problems that we face in society today such as cybercrimes, privacy

issues, pollution, a dependency on medication, radiation, a strain of

STDs. Thus, “we should come to terms that our creations can have

unintended or unforeseen consequences.24” Nanotechnology will surely

bring about the revolutionary path it is set to make in health, but how

we regulate it will be an entirely different matter.

24 Allhoff, Fritz, Lin Patrick, and Moor James. Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 2007.

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The concern behind the “Nano-Divide” is what may happen to

nations that are behind in the technological gap. As an IT divide

continues to grow, the “gap is likely to be exacerbated by any

impending nanotechnological revolution.25” Green Peace emphasizes

the traumatic effect that will exist if nanotechnology implementation

continues by alluding to the economies of the western industrialized

nations and how only the upper layer of society will be able to afford

the “kinds of nanotech-inspired wonders,” but also, “the differences in

the quality of life will be even starker than today between these two

worlds.26” The National Science Foundation (NSF) has said, “Those who

participate in the nano revolution stand to become very wealthy. Those

who do not may find it increasingly difficult to afford the technological

wonders that it engenders,26” targeting fields such as medical care,

because they will only be accessible to the rich.

Greenpeace further emphasizes the danger of nanotechnology in

its misuse for military aggression for “once the basic technology is

available, it would not be difficult to adapt it as an instrument of war or

terror.26” This could be preceded by a nanotechnology arms race

designing “fourth generation” nuclear weapons where if one country

25 Arnall, Alexander. Future Technologies, Today’s Choices Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; A technical, political and institutional map of emerging technologies. 16 July 2003. Green Peace . 16 Jan. 2010 <http://www.azonano.com/details.asp?articleid=1072>.26 Schwarz, A.E.: 2004, ‘Shrinking the ‘Ecological Footprint’ with NanoTechnoScience?’, in: D. Baird, A. Nordmann & J. Schummer (eds.), Discovering the Nanoscale, Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp. 203-208 http://www.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/fileadmin/phil/nano/schwarz.pdf

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http://www.ifs.tu-darmstadt.de/fileadmin/phil/nano/schwarz.pdf


has such technology, and the others do not, “the outcome will be swift

and very lopsided.26”

How Long Will We Wait?:

With countless funds being poured into the hands of

nanotechnology researchers, when will nanotechnology finally make

the breakthrough in real medical applications? According to Kinam

Park, researcher of biomedical engineering, “theoretically, it should

have happened already, as scientists fabricating nanodevices could

have teamed up with those heavily engaged in drug delivery systems

to manufacture clinically useful nano/micro drug formulations.”15 It

takes years of research until they are proclaimed safe enough to be

tested on humans let alone used. Approval of the FDA is also required

for drugs are being introduced to the human body. While some

speculate that the progression of technology is on a steady trend and

it can be foreseen that nanotechnology will encompass our society

within a minimal of 10 to 20 years and a maximum of 40 years. Others

believe it is dependent upon us whether or not nanotechnology arrives

sooner or later, for it is inevitable to forecast the future.

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Conclusion:

Through this investigation of nanotechnology and its revolution

upon the future of health and medical practices, one can see the

impacts that nanotechnology may have on a future society that works

with nanotechnology and healthcare. Nanoscience allows for the

medical field to be revolutionized through the use of nanoparticles but

this is in our soon-to-be future, for strives in nanotechnology in

medicine are constantly being discovered. Currently, these great

strives are being made in nanotechnology, and what was once only a

fictional view of nanotechnology, has become close to the possibility of

grasp. What path the future holds for nanotechnology’s emergence in

the medical field is up to the society as a whole. In a global society,

nanotechnology will revolutionize the world of medicine allowing for

better health in third world countries, but may also divide the world

where only the rich can afford advanced treatments through

nanotechnology. In conclusion, there must be a balance to the use of

nanotechnology and its complete alteration of a society in their ways

of medicine and the minor advances that seek no harm towards

advancing methods of treatment in the medical field through the use

of nanotechnology. A balance must also exist between what society

wants and what science can output, for a society whose medical

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applications revolve around nanotechnology, is a society that may lose

its humanity.

Word Count: 3,680

Bibliography

Allhoff, Fritz, Lin Patrick, and Moor James. Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , 2007.

Arnall, Alexander. Future Technologies, Today’s Choices Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; A technical, political and institutional map of emerging technologies. 16 July 2003. Green Peace . 16 Jan. 2010 <http://www.azonano.com/details.asp?articleid=1072>.

"C 60 Molecule - Buckminsterfullerene". Buckminster Fuller Institute. 9 October 2009<http://bfi.org/node/351>.

"Chemsoc Timeline". Royal Society of Chemistry. 9 October 2009 <http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/timeline//pages/1981.html>.

Drexler, Eric. "Molecular Engineering". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA September 1981

Ericson, Gwen. "Tumors feel the deadly sting of nanobees ". Washington University in St. Louis. 16 October 2009 <http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/14432.html>.

Ezechi, Oliver. "Nano-robotics & Biomedical Applications". World Transhumanist Association. 16 October 2009 <http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/227/>.

Fanfair, Devon, Salil Desai, and Christopher Kelty. The Early History of Nanotechnology. Connexions. 8 October 2009 <http://cnx.org/content/m14504/1.1/>.

"Fighting Cancer in the Future - Saving Lives, Improving Quality of Life". Magforce Nanotechnologies AG. 15 October 2009 <http://www.magforce.de/english/products/nano-cancer-therapy.html>.

"How does cancer spread?". Cancer Research UK. 16 October 2009<http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/how-does-cancer-spread>.

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Kelper, Adam. "The Nanotechnology Revolution". The New Atlantis. 16 October 2009 <http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-nanotechnology-revolution>.

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