Star Trek at 50 - Nanotech

The term "nano" refers to the metric prefix 10-9. It means one billionth of something. Nanoscience is the study of structures and materials on the scale of nanometers. To give you an idea of how long a nanometer is, a printed page is about 75,000 nanometers thick. When structures are made small enough -- in the nanometer size range -- they can take on interesting and useful properties.

Nanoscale structures have existed in nature long before scientists began studying them in laboratories. A single strand of DNA, the building block of all living things, is about three nanometers wide. The scales on a morpho butterfly’s wings contain nanostructures that change the way light waves interact with each other, giving the wings brilliant metallic blue and green hues. Peacock feathers and soap bubbles also get their iridescent coloration from light interacting with structures just tens of nanometers thick. Scientists have even created nanostructures in the laboratory that mimic some of nature’s amazing nanostructures.

This week, a look at nanotech.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Everyone's trying to...look out for us. Protect us from ourselves. But in the end, all that matters is how we feel...and what we do about it. Because either way, we're the ones who have to live with the consequences." - Jadzia Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Rejoined"

   ST50 - Nanotech by fredwine on Scribd