Inventors and scientists have been continuously working towards reducing the size of technological components. Room-sized computers to laptops that are slimmer than a pane of glass? It’s done. Huge bulky telephones to smartphones that can fulfil a lot more? A thing of the past. The real question is, to what extent can all this go? Will we see smartphones that can be embedded in human bodies? Or is there more to it?
Nanotechnology has been around for a while now. It is a branch of technology so minuscule that it can operate on a microscopic level. And what’s more, it can be programmed to do whatever is desired of it. Richard Feynman was the physicist who first gave birth to an idea of nanotechnology and nanoscience in 1959. With his paper titled “There’s plenty of room at the bottom”, Richard laid the vision on top of which nanotechnology is being developed today. And in the future, it is expected to greatly change the way our world operates.
“Nanobot” is a term that people may have gotten used to because of Hollywood science fiction movies. As the name suggests, a nanobot or a nanorobot measures about a few nanometers, where 1 nm = 10-9 meter. With properties like self-replication (producing copies of themselves to replace defective units) and molecular manufacturing (building nanoscale circuits and devices), nanobots have a host of applications that can be implemented in our day-to-day life. They are highly valued in healthcare, construction, telecommunications and disaster management.
Here are some of the areas where nanobots can be of immense help and value
News This Week
Novel Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer Uses a Nano-Carrier to Deliver Chinese Medicine
Researchers from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), in collaboration with Cornell University, have developed a novel targeted therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) that uses a specially-designed nano-carrier to deliver the Chinese medicine compound [...]
Efficiently smuggling drugs into cells
Modern vaccines such as those against Sars-CoV-2 use tiny lipid spheres to transport genetic information into cells and let the body build up an immune defense against the virus. A team of scientists from [...]
B.C.’s biotech sector plays key role in developing COVID-19 treatments and vaccines
By early 2020, concern was mounting about a new, deadly coronavirus first detected in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization had declared the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency just days before. There had been [...]
Graphene-coated Face Masks: COVID-19 Miracle or Another Health Risk?
As a COVID-19 and medical device researcher, I understand the importance of face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. So I am intrigued that some mask manufacturers have begun adding graphene coatings [...]
Scientists Uncover Nanoplastics and Other Pollutants Released from Disposable Face Masks
Swansea University scientists have uncovered potentially dangerous chemical pollutants that are released from disposable face masks when submerged in water. The research reveals high levels of pollutants, including lead, antimony, and copper, within the [...]
Nanotechnology offers new hope for bowel cancer patients
Bowel cancer survival rates could be improved if chemotherapy drugs were delivered via tiny nanoparticles to the diseased organs rather than oral treatment. That's the finding from Indian and Australian scientists who have undertaken [...]
Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment pill could be available by year’s end
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says his company’s experimental COVID-19 treatment, a pill that can be taken at the first sign of the illness, could be available before the end of the year. Speaking on CNBC, Bourla said clinical [...]
New “Nanotraps” Could Capture and Destroy Coronavirus Within the Body
At the University of Chicago, scientists have developed an absolutely innovative, promising treatment for COVID-19 in the form of nanoparticles with the ability to trap SARS-CoV-2 viruses inside the body and use the body’s [...]
Nanobodies inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, including emergent variants
Australian researchers have identified neutralizing nanobodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells in preclinical models. The discovery paves the way for further investigations into nanobody-based treatments for COVID-19. Published in PNAS, the research [...]
DNA robots designed in minutes instead of days
Someday, scientists believe, tiny DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will deliver medicine inside our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens, and help manufacture increasingly smaller electronics. Researchers took a big step toward that [...]
Scientists’ horror over ‘escape mutation’ of new COVID strain
Experts have discovered what they believe is the world’s most mutated COVID strain – and there’s one detail in particular that has scientists worried. Scientists have detected what is believed to be the world’s [...]
Coronavirus Does Not Infect the Brain but Still Inflicts Damage
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, likely does not directly infect the brain but can still inflict significant neurological damage, according to a new study from neuropathologists, neurologists, and neuroradiologists at Columbia University Vagelos [...]
Research finds a potential new ‘silver bullet’ nanoparticle to treat brain cancer
ANSTO has contributed to a comprehensive investigation of a promising type of nanoparticle that could potentially be used for intractable brain cancers in a combined therapy. The study, which was led by Dr. Moeava [...]
Trial to study effect of immune system on Covid reinfection
The immune response needed to protect people against reinfection with the coronavirus will be explored in a new human challenge trial, researchers have revealed. Human challenge trials involve deliberately exposing healthy people to a [...]
Duke working on developing flu shot using new CoV vaccine technology
Researchers from Duke University are developing a flu shot with the new technology that was used for two coronavirus vaccines. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna shots use part of the virus's genetic code [...]
Long-acting injectable medicine as potential route to COVID-19 therapy
Researchers from the University of Liverpool have shown the potential of repurposing an existing and cheap drug into a long-acting injectable therapy that could be used to treat Covid-19. In a paper published in the journal Nanoscale, [...]
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