Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Eduardo R.
Absolutely, if we had a micro machine that could stand by and make sure all the bases in a cell attatched to the proper bases we would be able to keep our cells in perfect working order and if nothing else be in perfect shape until the day we died.
|
Here is a great article on Nano-machines. Check it out. Here is an excerpt:
"What are Nanomachines?
As the terminology implies, nanomachines are extremely small devices. Their size is measured in nanometers (a nanometer is about 1 billionth of a meter) and they are built from individual atoms. During the 1980's and 1990's, futurist and visionary K. Eric Drexler popularized the potential of nanomachines. For Drexler, the ultimate goal of nanomachine technology is the production of the 'assembler'. The assembler is a nanomachine designed to manipulate matter at the atomic level. It will be built with extremely small 'pincers' (as small as a chain of atoms) which will be used to move atoms from existing molecules into new structures. The idea is that the assembler will be able to rearrange atoms from raw material in order to produce useful items. In theory, one could shovel dirt into a vat and wait patiently for a team of nanomachine assemblers to convert the dirt into an apple, a chair, or even a computer. The machines in the vat would have a molecular schematic of the object to be built encoded in their 'memory'. They would then systematically rearrange the atoms contained in the dirt to produce the desired item.
This is a representation of a nanomachine. The colored balls represent the individual atoms that comprise the machine. (Picture from Twibell (2000), see references.)
Another goal of nanotechnology is to design nanomachines that can make copies of themselves. The thought is that if a machine can rearrange atoms in order to build new materials, it should also be able to build copies of itself. If this goal is achieved, products produced by nanomachines will be extremely inexpensive. This is because the technology (once perfected) will be self-replicating and will not require specific materials, which might be rare and therefore cost money. Arthur C. Clarke has predicted that nanotechnology will herald an end to conventional monetary systems.
If scientists manage to build nanomachines that can rearrange atoms, a world of exciting possibilities will open up. Purpose designed nanomachines could be used to provide breakthrough treatments for many diseases. Medical nanomachines programmed to recognize and disassemble cancerous cells could be injected into the bloodstream of cancer suffers, thus providing a quick and effective treatment for all types of cancer. Nanomachines could be used to repair damaged tissue and bones. They could even be used to strengthen bones and muscle tissue by building molecular support structures by reassembling nearby tissue. With the ability to manipulate human cells at the atomic level, medical science will rapidly devise treatments for most human illnesses. And since nanomachines will be designed to make copies of themselves, these treatments will be inexpensive and available to the entire population.
Food shortages and starvation will be a thing of the past if nanotechnology is perfected. Nanomachines will be able to turn any material into food, and this food could be used to feed millions of people world wide. Again, since the technology is self replicating, food produced by nanomachines will be low cost and available to all.
As well as food, nanomachines will be able to build other items to satisfy the demands of our growing population of consumers. Clothing, houses, cars, televisions, and computers will be readily available at virtually no cost. Furthermore, there will be no concern about the garbage produced by the new consumerist society because nanomachines will convert it all back into new consumable goods.
Environmental problems such as ozone depletion and global warming could be solved with nanotechnology. Swarms of nanomachines could be released into the upper atmosphere. Once there, they could systematically destroy the ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and build new ozone molecules out of water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Ozone (O3) is built out of 3 oxygen atoms, and since water and carbondioxide both contain oxygen, the atmosphere contains a plentiful supply of oxygen atoms. While the ozone construction teams are at work in the upper atmosphere, teams of specialized nanomachines could be employed to destroy the excess CO2 in the lower atmosphere. CO2 is a heat trapping gas, which has been identified as one of the major contributors to global warming. Removing excess CO2 could help halt global warming and bring the planet's ecosystem back into balance. This will benefit all species on Earth."
http://www.def-logic.com/articles/nanomachines.html
