Nanotechnology Takes Tiny Steps Toward ProgressNanotechnology Takes Tiny Steps Toward Progress

If it seems that there hasn't been much progress in the market for nanotechnology, it's with good reasons. Any nano-sized technology is built at the atomic or molecular level and is about one-billionth the size of non-nano technologies, so they take time to develop. Add to that the ongoing debate about the impact of nanotechnologies on industry, the environment and society.

Progress should soon get a boost with Arizona State University's opening on Monday of its Center for Nanotechnology in Society at its Tempe campus to study the societal impacts of nanotechnology. A $6.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation made it possible for the school to build and operate the center. Its goal is to foster nanotechnology's potential to improve human health and welfare, including the creation of nano-bots that could perform microsurgery or in-body sensors that could monitor a person's health. Nano-materials are already being used in computers, cosmetics, stain-resistant fabrics, sports equipment, paints, and medical diagnostic tests. Scientists also hope to use nano-materials to help clean up polluted sites.

Arizona State's Center for Nanotechnology brings nanotech scientists and social scientists under the same roof through the collaboration between the school's Biodesign Institute and its Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, a group within the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The Center for Nanotechnology opens its doors only a few weeks after a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars report noted that little is known about the possible adverse effects of nanotechnology. The report's author, J. Clarence Davies, stressed that stronger regulations are needed before nano-devices can be released into the environment.

An imagination could run wild with potential malicious uses for this tiny technology. Since nano-devices are too small to be seen by the human eye, some fear that they could be used to control human brains or record and transmit private conversations. In anticipation of these concerns, several existing laws including the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act have provisions that apply to nano-materials.

The nascent nanotech industry is quick to point out that preliminary studies show no imminent danger from these tiny machines. Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., which makes "nano-particles" between 5 and 2,000 nanometers in size that can be used in products such as batteries, fuel cells, and thermal spray coatings, expects by the end of February to have data from its study, which consisted of collecting and analyzing nano particles and air samples at Altair's Reno, Nev., facility. The company says that preliminary results indicate particulate aggregates are of a size that would not likely harm the environment, employees, or consumers. Altair's study was done in partnership with the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health and the University of Nevada.

There appears to be no shortage of funding for nanotech research, although it's debatable whether the money is being put to good use. The National Science Foundation predicts the market for nanotechnology-related products and services will be $1 trillion in 2015. Consulting Resources Corp., a management consulting firm to the chemical process and biotechnology industries, estimates the current U.S. market for nano-materials is $200 million and forecasts the market to exceed $4 billion by 2007.

Others see a lack of commercial impact of nanotechnology, given that the technology since 1997 has received $18 billion in public funding. In a report entitled, "Where Has My Money Gone? Government Nanotechnology Funding and the $18 Billion Pair of Pants," English market research firm Cientifica interviewed government funding agencies and researchers around the world to find that many of them have only just begun working on nanotechnologies. The report's "pants" are a reference to Nano-tex treated pants that resist spills and stains.

The Cientifica report finds that global government spending on nanotechnologies totaled $4.8 billion in 2005 but that Japan spends three times as much as a proportion of its gross domestic product on nanotech R&D as the United States. Cientifica also reports that government nanotechnology funding takes an average of two to three years before it even reaches the lab and that much government spending is concentrated on research areas with little immediate commercial impact. The report's conclusion is that the true impact of nanotechnology will only start to be felt from 2007 onwards. Keep your eyes peeled.