No small risk

Although nanotechnology has long been in the research community, it is only now beginning to enter the everyday market place. Nanotechnology is predicted to soon spread all over the economy, which may also bring certain risks. Some experts suggest that there may be dangers to human health from these tiny particles. Another alarmist prediction is that self-replicating nanomachines run out of control, consuming everything available. However the article also states that it is too soon to know for sure. Doomsday predictions aside, nanotechnology has been played up as a promised source of many fantastic possibilities. The key benefits are those related to major medical advancements such as improvements to treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. Nanotechnology could also offer breakthroughs in material sciences to improve the medical devices involved in many treatments. The fields of energy, medicine, and agriculture would see the most benefit from nanotechnology. But before the advances can happen, the article stresses, we must be cautious. With a new technology such as this, just as many problems may be discovered by consumers in the marketplace as by researchers in the lab.   Read the full article at Mechanical Engineering Magazine.

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