h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Heh Heh! Nobody will ever find me in here.

I hear that there is a new chip for computers a... Terabite?? I think that the way technology is progressing, within just a few years memory chips will have a massive (even by todays standards) capacity, and they will be smaller than at present, operating on a very small amount of electrical power. CPU's will have to change from their present state to that similar to that of a spiders web. The spider sits in the middle of it's web with its feet on all the main threads, and when a fly lands on the web- even between these threads it knows exactly where it's location is. This gives the spider a very rapid response time. Transfer this to the computer and you have a near instantaneous access to all information.

If the size of these chips were as small as pin head,and a transmitter/reciever of the same size is implanted into the brain and it's connections could be connected to the main nervous system for power, and then to the main optic nerve and various parts of the brain. A person 'pluged in' like this could be an expert in everything from flying a 747 to brain surgery. He/she would have a VERY private telephone/communications system, and what they saw could be passed to the person at the other end of the 'line'. He/she could watch TV as the images would be fed directly into the optical system.

The 'chip' could be used alongside the brain's VERY FAST imaging system to draw plans of things such as space craft, this can then be downloaded. Thus, cutting the cost and time to plan complex structures.

I enjoy constructive critisism, isn't that how the human race progresses? Now that I have lit the blue paper I shall sit back and watch what happens.

TTFN

We are well on our way towards computers much smaller than a pin head. Hewlett Packard and UCLA recently announced that they have created a logic gate out of molecules, which could lead to the production of memory chips that are "just a hundred nanometers wide, smaller than a bacterium." Fascinating stuff. Most of this research involves growing molecular components in large batches using chemical reactions (which means vast quantities for virtually no cost). Granted, a molecular computer is still a ways off, but not as far as you might think. Other researchers have created molecular motors, molecular 'wires', and so on. Eventually we'll put it all together to create a computer barely visible to the naked eye that easily operates over 100 times the speed of the fastest CPU made to date. Of course, what we do with this technology is rather open to debate.

Some details on Hewlett Packard's work can be found here:

http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/molecules_that_compute.html

WELL!!! what can I say. I had a quick look at the link you put in and found it fascinating. The potential of all this is massive. The only restrictions are the limits of our own imagination. I shall have to have time to think about this. At first glance it would appear that buildings could be built with an organic compound which would be waterproof and have good insulation, plus with these new 'chips' they would be self repairing. This would have aplications at sea as well as on land (even in space).

I can't stay long tonight as I have much to do. Talk to you soon.

TTFN

The realm of nanomechanics is also very fascinating: molecular machines that work at the molecular level. It would be a great thing if we could build nano-machines that could, say, clean up an oil spill by breaking down the petrolium at the molecular level and creating something else out of it, like ice cream, or shoes, or something.

Here's another article about medical research being done at MIT using nanotechnology. Results are likely further off than they say, but the possibilities are fascinating nonetheless.

http://www.techreview.com/articles/jan00/voss.htm

As you say the potential of all this is virtualy limitless. The part about being able to 'bomb' cancer is very good news. Do you think it could also bring an end to the common cold or flu? or is that asking too much? . While this technology is fascinating I wonder how long it will be before the human body reacts to all these drugs and micro whatnots that are being pumped into us. The dead man in the report from NEC is testament to this. The theory behind nanotechnology is basically a fantastic idea. I cannot help but wonder if it would be better if they could be introduced into the body to combat 'cancer' then afterwards be removed. I realise that this may not be feasible but they could be either on a self destruct time limit or be programmed to be expelled by the bodies normal funtions.The ability to be able to remove bad cancers like Astrocytoma, without damaging the brain would benefit mankind everywhere. Blood clots in the brain would not require major surgery. It all sounds too good to be true. In saying all this it may be possible to introduce these nano thingys into a body, then the bodies frame, and flesh make up may be copied to a point where, if the body lost an arm, leg, or even a Kidney, the 'nano's' would be able to grow a new one in situ at a very fast rate.

With regard to the biomedical section, the grid system sounds good and I suppose they have tried this in many tests, how about Aids. We have been told that the aids virus attaches itself to healthy blood cells. This would make it bigger then it will not pass through this Biomedical grid and as a result it could be screened out of the blood stream. I realise that this is a very simplistic way of looking at it, but HAVE THEY TRIED IT?

Well I shall get down off my soapbox and let you get a word in. Talk to you soon.

TTFN

It's hard to imagine just how complex these nano-devices could get. Constructed from molecules, they could be very, very large and very complex, yet still remain invisible to the naked eye (and most microscopes as well). It's disconcerting to think that such a device could be made to operate indefinitely (creating its own fuel using photosynthesis). People in general tend to fear what they don't understand, but what about something they can't even see? How do you convince people that _any_ nano-device is safe? That it can be turned off or expires automatically after a pre-determined length of time?

I remember everyone's reaction to the notion of irradiated food. People wrote that technology off just because it had the word 'radiation' in its name, although the process itself was inherently safe. This is why marketing firms continue to prosper. Never let a scientist name his or her own invention.

Nanomedicine seeks to replace the current technology (it's this current technology which killed the man in the article). However, like the technology we have now, nanomedicine would only be used if the patient wants the treatment. The patient in the article understood that his treatment could kill him, but he decided to take the risk, and this, like irradiated food, is what will ultimately make or break this technology. I'm pretty certain that, on an individual basis, nanomedicine will be a hard sell.

A DNA molecule is essentially a blueprint, read like a ticker-tape by proteins (whose name I forget) to create the cells that make us up. It's a very small chemical-mechanical process. Who's to say whether scientists will be able to create nano-devices that can self-replicate in the same way, perhaps using water or some other molecule as 'construction' material? What would happen if this process could not be stopped? Will we have to create nanodevices whose purpose is to attack and destroy these rampant devices? Will nanotechnology become the new bioweapon of the future? After all, if you could build nano-devices to heal people, you could build devices that kill people. Will nations fight their wars at the molecular level?

It's a little unsettling to think that this technology is forging ahead before we have even begun to address all the issues at stake. But, that's scientists for you.

There are other areas where technology has made massive strides in the last twenty years. I remember when I was younger (which was not last year but the year before) I sat in our front room and watched some of the first TV pictures in the UK. I even remember the little white dot when you turned it off Then came colour, WOW what a difference that made. More recently came digital giving us clearer sharper pictures. There were even experiments with liquid crystal screens (I wonder what happened to that?) I see that the BBC research department are trying out a lazer projected holographic imaging system. With interactive programs it may be possible to actually be part of the movie, so if you are watching a war movie make sure you keep out of the way of the tanks

Seriously. all this technology is moving forward so fast it can be hard to keep up with it. If it could all be brought tegether who knows where it will lead us. There is an awful lot of concern about global warming due in part to all the transport systems used around the word. There are three things on this planet we have plenty of, and they are:- water, air, and magnetism. If we take water and break it down to it's component parts most of which is Hydrogen and Oxygen. on their own they are very volatile gases, mix these gases and ignite them they cause an explosion (be it small) and return to the water state. Air has Oxygen which every fire fighter knows that if an item is saturated in oxygen and is lit, it not only burns very hot but is very hard to extinguish. Magnetism is the stuff that keeps us all stuck to the planet's surface, without it our bodies would explode and we would be dead meat, so it is very powerful stuff.

In the 1940's a British inventor invented a car engine which ran on water using the above system, The big petrol companies bought the patent from him and nothing was heard about it again. Oxygen and hydrogen would give the power to propel a car. (it must be good they use it in space rockets) but it is too volatile to be allowed to be used in the family car (there could be large explosions on a fairly regular basis) But Magnetism is (I feel) the way forward. If a vehicle could be manufactured to repel the earth's magnetic field, (as in the magnetic North South repelling each other) with a large magnet fitted along the bottom of the vehicle and smaller magnets fitted around the edges. These small magnets could be rotated to use their North/ South power to steer, stop, and push/pull. The base plate would have to be regulated to stop the vehicle from disappearing into space.

I had better close for now. Talk to you soon.

TTFN

Might make privacy a bit difficult.