Group aims to play nanotech nanny

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nano systems, or complete semiconductors. Passive nanomaterials in the form of stink-free socks and stain-resistant pants, are already on the market.

Active nanomaterials are expected to hit the market within five years or so.

A controversial beginning
Founded in 1986, the Foresight Nanotechnology Institute is a nonprofit research organization. It gives out the Feynman Prize, named after scientist Richard Feynman. Although it employs only about 10 people full-time, the institute's membership totals more than 15,000. Notable members include mouse creator Doug Engelbart and futurist Ray Kurzweil.

The organization generated worldwide headlines when founder Eric Drexler warned in his book "Engines of Creation" about the dangers of nanotechnology and self-replicating "gray goo" that could conceivably snuff out all life in the universe.

"'Plants' with 'leaves' no more efficient than today's solar cells could out-compete real plants, crowding the biosphere with an inedible foliage. Tough, omnivorous 'bacteria' could out-compete real bacteria: they could spread like blowing pollen, replicate swiftly, and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days. Dangerous replicators could easily be too tough, small, and rapidly spreading to stop--at least if we made no preparation," Drexler wrote in the book.

Last year, Drexler said that he may have overplayed the dangers of self-replication. Mize further added that gray goo was only one small section in the overall book.

Months after the gray goo clarification, the institute inserted the word "nanotechnology" into its name.

Still, the organization, among others, believes that health hazards--and fears of health hazards--remain one of the largest concerns and barriers to public acceptance in nanoscience.

Although the 100-nanometer definition of nanotechnology was somewhat arbitrary in the beginning, it has gained significance because researchers have discovered that matter begins to behave differently when separated into tiny particles.

For example, carbon, when in nanotubes, conducts electricity better than metals. Nano aluminum will explode on contact with the air.

Early nano-enhanced products consist of ordinary items sporting engineered materials: stain-resistant pants, golf balls that fly farther than ordinary ones, and lighter, stronger tennis rackets.

A little further in the future, nanotechnology will influence the health industry with sensors that can sniff out air- or water-borne toxins or medical implants that can regenerate nerve tissue.

In 10 or 15 years, chains of molecules may replace transistors in memory chips and processors.

Richard Smalley, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the buckyball molecule, said he believes that nanotechnology will play an important role in weaning civilization off of fossil fuels and in purifying water.