Great Things Come In Little Packages: Nanotechnology Brings Hope
It’s a time where the lines between computer support and human support are changing. In Nassau County computer repair means humans working on computers. In Suffolk County computer repair means humans working on computers. But in the labs of esteemed universities studies are underway that would turn that notion on its head. Computer repair would mean essential body immune response would be carried out by miniature computers. Nanotechnology has evolved and it is about to alter the world. One of the major fields of change will be in the health industry.
Nanotechnology is the use of technology using miniscule materials. A nanometer is a unit of measurement. Nanotechnology useelements running between 1 and 100 nanometers. If you took 800,000 nanometers and laid them side by side it would be about the width of a hair. That’s small stuff. Being able to operate and manipulate elements on such a tiny scale holds great potential benefit in the medical arena. A great number of research institutions are engaged in exciting studies that could lead to a major revolution in health care. Some changes are already occurring.
Currently there are many different studies using nanotechnology in a various methods. One area of interest is in how nanotechnology can help in diagnosing and treating cancer. A major downside to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, is that it is a shotgun approach to treating the body. Healthy and unhealthy cells are attacked. With nanotechnology specific cells can be treated. There are studies that employee RNA strands that can locate and connect to cancer cells. These strands, when connected can release anti-cancer agents into the afflicted cells. Research has also considered the possibility of creating a color coding system using nanotechnology that would create protein indicators that would find and link to cancer cells for easy identification. Another developing use nanotechnology in the treatment of cancer is nanoshells. Nanoshells are made of tiny beads with various densities made of gold. These shells are drawn to cancer cells, surround them and then are heated with near infrared light which destroys the cancer cells, but doesn’t harm healthy cells in close proximity.
Nanodevices would be small enough to operate inside a cell. They would be so small that they would be able to interact with proteins and DNA. Nanodevices could monitor the cell and detect disease using a minimal amount of valuable cell tissue. Changes in cell tissue indicating disease could be monitored and detected much earlier in the process. Because fighting cancer successfully depends on early detection, nanodevices would start a revolution in cancer fighting technologies.
Nanotechnology is a quickly becoming an area of science that combines many disciplines including; physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and many other sciences including political and social science. With continual breakthroughs in all different fields, the advent of Nanotechnology will be fully upon us.