Nanotechnology - Rahul Rao ****

There was a time when nanotechnology was both going to transform the world and wipe us out - a similar position to our view of AI today. On the positive transformation side there was K. Eric Drexler's visions in the 1986 Engines of Creation. Arguably as much science fiction as engineering possibilities, it predicted the ability to use vast armies of assemblers to put objects together from individual atoms.

On the negative side was the vision of grey goo, out of control nanotechnology consuming all in its path as it made more and more copies of itself. In 2003, for instance, the then Prince Charles made the headlines when newspapers reported ‘The prince has raised the spectre of the “grey goo” catastrophe in which sub-microscopic machines designed to share intelligence and replicate themselves take over and devour the planet.’

These days the expectations have been eased down a notch or two. Where nanotechnology has succeeded, it has been with the likes of atom-thick materials like graphene, and where it has problems it is often where nanoparticles, particularly of plastic, cause a concern about possible entry into living things. Rahul Rao gives us a good, short overview of the latest position on nanotechnology, mostly from a positive viewpoint, but also taking in those nano nightmares.

There is still a degree of the science fiction aspect, particularly in the chapter Nano Dreams, which looks at what might (strongly emphasis here on'might') be possible in the future: this is clearly mostly speculation, but not uninteresting.

Nanotechnology has not gone away, even if it has been pushed out of the headlines by AI, and this is a useful reminder that the science of the very small, whether in materials science or electronics, is something we can't ignore.

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