6/29/2011 9:49:00 AM
MD+DI: Nanotech Poised for Big Leap
MD+DI
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Some of the most optimistic predictions about how developments in
nanotechnology will affect our lives sound a bit far-fetched. For
example, famed futurist Ray Kurzweil expects that, by mid-century, we’ll
have nanomachines travelling through our bodies, repairing cells and
wiping out diseases. By 2040 or 2050, he believes, nanotech will make it
possible for us to be immortal.
However, there is some question as to whether researchers will be able
to develop nanomachines at all in the coming decades. “It depends on
what you mean by nanomachines,” says Sara Brenner, MD, MPH, the
assistant vice president for NanoHealth Initiatives and assistant
professor of nanobioscience at the College of Nanoscale Science and
Engineering (CNSE), part of the University at Albany in New York.
“Nanoscale systems with motors are hypothetical ideas at this point,”
she says. “I don’t know if we’ll see those in our lifetime.”
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