Week 8: NanoTech + Art
Despite the fact that nanotechnology has only been explored by mankind in the recent decades, it has been around for centuries (Chan), and humans have used its properties in daily life, even when they could not yet explain what was happening.
For instance, medieval stained glass windows involved the use of chemical reactions between nanoparticles to achieve the desired colors. Silver chloride and clay are combined and heated, and washed off to reveal yellow stained glass (PBS Nova). The same can be done with gold to obtain red stained glass. Back then, it is safe to assume that the creators did not know how this worked on an atomic level, but were able to use the technique to create beautiful pieces of art.
Examples of products created using nanotechnology that have been extremely beneficial for mankind would be those used in the medical field.
The PillCam, short for pill camera, is a one-inch capsule that can be swallowed like a normal pill. It has a camera inside that is able to take 55,000 pictures over the course of 8 hours, allowing for diagnoses that once required surgery (PBS Nova). 45 years ago, this would have been impossible because the technology required would have taken up a cubic yard of space. Doctors are optimistic that the functions of the pill camera can be expanded further. They look forward to the day where the pill may be able to sample a tissue or even deliver treatments to a specific area (PBS Nova).
Apart from the pill camera, there are various other nanotechnologies that are already aiding or providing cures to illnesses. Professor Brad Nelson’s nanorobot is able to cure a certain type of blindness. Guided by electromagnetic fields, the nanorobot delivers a small amount of medicine to unclog blood vessels, allowing blood to flow into the eye again (PBS Nova).
In cancer research, various forms of nanotechnology are also explored to treat cancer. These include nanomedicines storing hollow nanoparticles with the cancer drug inside and using nanoparticles to deliver chemotherapy drugs to tumor cells (Boerner). The paradigm shift is truly exciting and I look forward to seeing how nanotechnology can be harnessed in improving our lives.
I thought the process of creating stained glass was really interesting! It is intriguing to see how nanotechnology has applications throughout history. Similar to your blog post, I noticed that nanotechnology has many medical and scientific applications (referred to as nanomedicine), which will be interesting to see how the medical field changes when these treatments are regularly used.
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