Many sunscreens now contain nanoparticles,which can help absorb dangerous ultraviolet rays.In addition,nanoparticles can cover the surface of human skin more smoothly.Similar nanoparticles are also used in food packaging to reduce ultraviolet radiation to food,thereby extending the shelf life of food.Some plastic bottles used for carbonated drinks now also contain nano clay,which can extend the shelf life of carbonated drinks for months.Of course,the significance of nanotechnology is far more than that.
Nano robots based on nanotechnology are broadening the boundaries of the human material world,and reshaping concepts in manufacturing,medical and other fields in many different ways,bringing imagination that can overturn the future.
3D printing and nano robot
3D printing is a technology of manufacturing products layer by layer according to the digital characteristics of products.When manufacturing,first lay a layer of ultra-thin bottom material,and then add incense layer by layer until a complete three-dimensional product is formed.Of course,3D printing is not limited to scanning consumers,and then making dolls that can be placed on the wedding cake or anywhere,although it looks very trendy.
More importantly,as an advanced manufacturing technology,3D printing is the only way for future manufacturing,and its subversive effect is at least no less than that of assembly line production in the 20th century.For example,in the medical field,3D printing can produce titanium alloy mandibles for patients,including articulated joints connected with the real jaw,grooves that can accommodate vein and nerve regeneration,etc.3D printing also has unparalleled advantages in prosthetic manufacturing.
Another example of using 3D printing is the manufacture of prototype products,such as aircraft prototypes tested in wind tunnels.One reason why 3D printing is widely used in prototype production rather than mass production in the back line is that prototype production is more flexible,while mass production emphasizes efficiency.In terms of production efficiency,3D printing cannot be compared with traditional manufacturing methods for the time being.
At the same time,another obstacle in front of 3D printing technology is the accuracy of 3D printing technology.It is undeniable that 3D printing promises a bright manufacturing prospect.In the future,when we want to buy,maybe we just need to receive a digital design drawing file of the product,and then as long as we input the file into our own portable multifunctional 3D printer,we can quickly produce it.However,the factor that cannot be ignored is that the accuracy of 3D printing determines the quality of the final product.
Of course,the range of raw materials used by current 3D printing devices is very limited,and its accuracy is not enough for many applications.only when the development of general 3D printing technology reaches the field of nanotechnology,that is,manipulating substances with atomic or molecular accuracy,or when manipulating substances,the dimension of a space extends up to 100 nm,can it meet the precision manufacturing at the atomic level.
From 3D printers to precise atomic manufacturing,precision will have a very large span.For example,the thickness of each layer printed by the advanced 3D printer manufacturing the jaw is about 30 microns,which is equivalent to the thickness of 100000 atoms.Therefore,if you want to control only one layer of atoms at a time,it means that the accuracy should be improved by 100000 times.
For future manufacturing,an unavoidable question is,to what extent can humans finally achieve accurate atomic manufacturing?The reason why people focus on the nano level is that the nano scale is 1000 times smaller than the micro scale,and 1 billion times smaller than the meter scale world we experience every day.This is quite different from the macro world we know.Nano is a unit of length to measure the micro world.The special length of nano also gives nano special properties.
In order to achieve high-precision atomic precision manufacturing,one of the possibilities is that the nano robot,the arm of the nano robot,can transport and place molecular fragments or single atoms in a specified position,and the key is the chemical properties of the tip of the robot arm.
However,nanotechnology experts have different views on the feasibility of precise atomic manufacturing outside biology.A 2006 report from the National Academy of Sciences expressed this uncertainty:
"Nowadays,although it can be calculated theoretically,it is still impossible to reliably predict the ultimate achievable cycle range,error rate,reaction speed of chemical reactions,and the thermodynamic efficiency in this bottom-up manufacturing system.Therefore,although the perfection and complexity of the manufactured products can be calculated theoretically,the actual product performance can not be accurately predicted."
Life changing possibilities
In addition to making a difference in the field of precision manufacturing,nano robots have more promising applications in the medical field-in fact,the human body is the most precise machine in the world.
only 43%of the cells in the human body are human cells,while other cells are extremely tiny"colonists",including trillions of bacteria,viruses,molds and archaea.This also provides a broad application for nano robots.Obviously,it is not impossible to add millions of nano robots to these microorganisms other than human cells,not to mention that nano robots can also improve our lives and health conditions.
Among them,a study that scientists have been following is to put a large number of nano robots into human blood.American physicist Robert Freitas is one of the most important forward-looking figures and advocates of this research.Freitas believes that aging is a curable disease,and aging may be cured soon through nano robots:"although we can't make such micro robots today,we may be able to make them by the 1920s of the 21st century."
Modern medicine has given a clear conclusion that aging is the cumulative damage of human macromolecules,cells and tissues caused by"genomic instability,telomere loss,epigenetic changes,protein inhibition disorders,nutrient induction disorders,mitochondrial dysfunction,cell aging,thousand cell depletion,intercellular communication changes".According to Freitas,all these damages can be repaired by nano robots.
Nanorobots will be able to cross the blood and then enter or approach cells to perform various tasks,such as removing toxins,cleaning up cell debris,correcting DNA errors,repairing and restoring cell membranes,reversing atherosclerosis,regulating the levels of hormones,neurotransmitters and other metabolites,and many other tasks.
In addition,in the future,nano robots may also be able to scan the brain,including studying the function of the brain,reverse engineering the brain,manufacturing generalized artificial intelligence,and finally uploading human thinking to the computer.Kurzweil,the author of"singularity approaching",predicts in his book that billions of nano robots can pass through every capillary in the brain and scan every relevant neural feature in a close range.Nano robots will also use high-speed wireless communication to communicate with each other,connect with computers,and compile databases based on scanned data.
However,at present,a more realistic application of nano robots is to use nano robots to get rid of cancer.Scientists at Arizona State University used"DNA origami"to design a team of nano robots to find and eliminate cancer tumors,while ensuring that healthy cells are not damaged.These nano robots work by targeting the blood supply of tumors and blocking the flow of blood.Because all tumors need blood to survive,this technology also has the potential to treat many different cancers.
Researchers believe that mixing a variety of reasonably designed nano robots together and then allowing them to carry different drugs may help achieve the ultimate goal of cancer research,that is,to eradicate solid tumors and eliminate tumor vascular invasion and metastasis.
However,it is one thing to inject a team of nano robots into blood vessels,and another thing to guide them to the right position.At Purdue University,researchers took the lead in trying to use ultrasound and magnetic fields to guide these micro robots.This approach can not only provide power for the nano motors,but also guide them to the right position in the human body.only when they reach the right position can they participate in the treatment of cancer,supply drugs at the designated position,or draw the specific structure of the human brain.
Concerns about nano robots
From the perspective of the advantages of nano robots,Kurzweil said,"the intelligent nano robot in our blood will protect our cells and molecules,so as to maintain our health.This nano robot will also enter the brain through capillaries,interact with our biological neurons,and directly expand our intelligence.based on the law of accelerated return,in the next 30 years,the functions of these technologies will be billions of times stronger than now."
But everything has two sides.Just like people's concerns about artificial intelligence,nano robots may also lose control-Nano robots that can devour plaques,destroy cancer cells and kill bacteria may also make mistakes and start devouring our bodies regardless of our enemies.
Another worry is that the growth rate of nano robots is beyond control.The reason is that carbon is the most likely raw material used to make nano robots,because it has unique and flexible chemical properties.For the same reason,carbon is also the main component of biological organisms,which makes it possible to become an ideal raw material for self replicating nano robots to produce more nano robots.Water robots that escape the control of human laboratories may consume the whole biosphere in a few weeks.
This hypothetical scenario led people to put forward the so-called"grey doomsday"theory.This will be a disastrous scene.After losing control,the self replicating nano robot will gradually consume all biological substances on the earth and turn every living organism into a pile of gray paste.The novel"the year of the plague"describes that runaway nanotechnology devours all warm blooded creatures living below 10000 feet by infection.This forced the remaining humans to flee to higher floors,where they struggled to survive.
Of course,this is the most pessimistic concern,and there is also a middle ground that provides the possibility of avoiding the"grey doomsday".On the one hand,as long as human beings abide by a certain safety agreement,they can continue to develop nano robot technology;On the other hand,if we ignore these preventive measures,it is likely to become a real danger.
As for how to make nano robots self replicate in a controlled and safe way,a key view is that the self replication ability of an object(whether an organism or a robot)is always closely related to its environment.Even a set of blacksmith's tools can create a set of identical new tools in the appropriate environment,which can also be described as self replication.Self replication always requires the supply of raw materials and energy.Therefore,if the self replication machine we build contains some materials that are not available in the natural environment,we can avoid the uncontrolled replication of nano robots.
At present,we are reshaping everything around us by controlling the constituent modules of the physical world at the most microscopic level.The fact is that one day in the future,we may become very dependent on this technology,because human expansion desire will continue to push people to sink inward into this subatomic dominated field,and further outward into the Unknown Universe.The farther people go in these two directions,the more soberly they may realize the insignificance of human beings and the vastness of the universe.