The Strange World of Nanoscience

The Strange World of Nanoscience

2010, Science  -   64 Comments
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Ratings: 8.70/10 from 284 users.

Where and what is nano? How will it shape our future? Nanoscience is the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at the nanoscale, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale. The strange world of Nanoscience - it can take you into atoms and beyond the stars.

The nanoscale ranges from 100 nanometres down to the atomic level, where a nanometre is a millionth part of a millimetre.

Manipulating shape and size at nanometre scale, nanotechnologists are producing a wide variety of applications that take profit of the properties that this scale offers. Nowadays, thousands of researchers around the world are investigating the new contributions that NT can bring us by designing, characterizing and producing new structures, devices and systems.

This film was produced and directed by Tom Mustill for the NANOYOU Project (nanoyou.eu) as a resource for young people, teachers and anyone interested to get a quick introduction to Nanoscience.

It is mainly shot at and with the assistance of the Nanoscience Centre at the University of Cambridge and features researchers involved in exploring the world of Nano.

Directed by: Tom Mustill

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KJerry KMcDonald
KJerry KMcDonald
6 years ago

"Clemens van Stekelenburg

Good. Gun lovers should be turned off."

Are you implying people who have a different values than yours should be "turned off" (Wink wink... murdered)??

Well... in the spirit of Tolerance, I believe those same people you wish to be "turned off" should have the opinion that they should "turn you off" with those same guns you seem ready to end them for loving. Fair is fair.... right?

Tolerance Tim... serving tolerance one blind selfish fool at a time.

Tolerance Tim
Tolerance Tim
8 years ago

"Clemens van Stekelenburg

Good. Gun lovers should be turned off."

Are you implying people who have a different values than yours should be "turned off" (Wink wink... murdered)??

Well... in the spirit of Tolerance, I believe those same people you wish to be "turned off" should have the opinion that they should "turn you off" with those same guns you seem ready to end them for loving. Fair is fair.... right?

Tolerance Tim... serving tolerance one blind selfish fool at a time.

gwhosubex
gwhosubex
9 years ago

the tone is such a turnoff.

Pat
Pat
9 years ago

Cheers TDF. Great website & nice to see the new Highest Rated, & Most Voted catagories:) Keep up the good work!

murali
murali
10 years ago

Good

Joshua Marks
Joshua Marks
10 years ago

I guess this is an interesting intro into the world of nano science and the nano scale. But it has the distinct feel of propaganda as the narrator speaks as if addressing a class of 2nd graders and he will be sending us home with a coloring book.

The implications of nano self-replication, self-assembly, self-organization and persistence (difficult to terminate) in the nano world has far reaching implications, infinite applications, and enables insidious agendas... none of which is dealt with or even implied in this short doc. And the state of current use in the industrial world is underplayed very substantially as nano-tech is commonly used now (and in 2010 at time of release) in industrial applications, bioengineering, geoengineering, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, fracking and energy production, chemical spill clean-up (e.g., corexit and gulf oil spill) and of course extensively within the military industrial complex... Would have appreciated a more serious introduction to the topic.

Is Don
Is Don
10 years ago

Wow a few deep comments. I actually agree with a lot of it and from a deep thinker to other like minded thinkers I offer an out of the box view on things (bear with me I'll keep it as brief as). " Nothing in existence matters." To elaborate.. the lifespan of the entire human race, past, present and future, is gonna b less than a flash in the pan compared to the life span of the universe's entire existence. Its quite unfathomable that the universe has a number attached to its existence and one can only partly conceive the inconceivable number (ball park figure being high trillions i.e. ??? 000 000 000 000's of years) vaguely grasping how very insignificant earthling's spec of space is, was and always will be right to the death of our Sun (a mere 4 billion years from now roughly). My point I think is this.. we should each try 2 live our 80 or so years with the appreciation that each individual has within them something that doesn't actually matter, doesn't actually mean anything and has no actual purpose... yet paradoxically is the most beautifully majestic, awe inspiring mind blower the universe has to offer- the unrivalled absolute Pinnacle of what the universe can do- that wonderful spark we call life...

Be kind to each other and always enjoy the little things, don't take things more seriously than u have to,

this pointless universe will run its course either way ; )

morsie2
morsie2
10 years ago

Nano technology will be put to some good use, but mainly for war.

drag gon
drag gon
10 years ago

In response to Jack1952 about "lack of will in the rest"

Foreign governments, created the way they are, which was just like how ours was and shaped, which is; to do, see and think.

The U.S. and other countries have tried helping out "3rd world" countries. For example, humanitarian aid was given to small 3rd world countries in africa. Whole villiges, people, cities, were given access to 1rst world technology and which helped in finding and accessing waterwells, indoor water, indoor plumbing, farming and other agricultural technology and equipment. What ended up happening to these developing countries were; over population, over farming of land, over fishing of the oceans; rivers; natural bounties and resources, The over-use other local resources ending up in over population which led to what we see now. Whole villages starving, children being stillborn civil war, and other large disasters that were preventable. The corruption of governments, whole races of villages being murdered and/or raped (bred out) because a male will never marry a woman who is not a virgin. The negative effects have killed and murdered more people and populations than the problems we tried to help and/or "fix" for them.

I personally agree with some of the people who say to keep everything within our borders. We have problems like anyother 1st or 3rd world country we need to solve and fix ourselves. how can we help others if we can't even fix our own problems, or even come to some stable middleground. We have gov. corruption, lack of funds for education, the dumbing down of our generations. We have our governments saying their cutting funding for healthcare, medicare, housing assistance, nutrition assistance. We have Obama saying our country is broke as hell, then not 2 weeks passes, and the FBI roll out the biggest "big brother" surveilance technology In Utah which they spent OVER 1 BILLION DOLLARS ON. All the while we have children, teens, mothers, daughters, brothers, sons, getting raped and murdered and sold. We have illegals flooding into our country, even though unemployment rate is skyrocketing. We have "OBAMA CARE" which now is letting million of people get health care. While we were short of "DOCTORS BY OVER 60%" FOR THE PEOPLE THAT HAD HEALTH CARE BEFORE OBAMA CARE.!! To simplify it, I'll round down the number of individuals that are getting healthcare to 3 million people. There aren't going to be more doctors, appearing within this 3million grp of people. I'd say doctors are allready coverd with healthcare. How in the F**** are these doctors going to find time to help every1? That is a question the so called "news," or "investigative journalism" never asked, and was never answered. Also in "Obama "doesn't" Care, is the article passed by congress, I don't recall which one at the moment, but a little "goggle" on your part, and you'll find it, is where obamacare says that the price of seizure medication, aids medication will stay the same, and "birth control, classes and other learning material in the matter" will be "free". It allready is free if not very cheap. The most I've seen anyone pay for 1months supply of birth control was 25 U.S. Dollars. So if the medicines that are used the most are going to cost "roughly the same" what the hell is Obama-care really doing besides taking much needed appointments away from people, and "OVER USE" of our nations medical staff, and Doctors, from of the mass flooding of patients? If you thought the wait in the E.R. was long before, just wait until Obama-care really kicks itself in gear.

We have our own problems within our own borders, not to mention playing "world police" and trying to help every1. It will end up like Gaza Strip. There were never "battles, wars, fighting, suicide bombers on Gaza Strip until land was taken from Palestine and taken over by the Jewish People, after WWII; all because the U.N. passed 181, which made it "legal" for the jewish people to make their borders of Israel. ("F.Y.I. .. Russia lost more people durring the war than the U.S. and the Jews."" Japan was less than 2 weeks from surrendering. The Russians successfully stoped the Nazi war machine dead in its tracks on it's western flank while defending and fighting off the "Reds" on their Eastern Flank. dropping down the threat from the east to almost zero, by themselves, from patriatism, fear of their leader, and just plain survival, whittling the "reds" numbers down so low the Japanese Emperor was quoted, " We have less then 2 weeks to surrender or we'll be annihlated by the Russians. The U.S. President KNEW THIS, and dropped the A-bombs anyway, saying "I want to show the world what this power can do." successfully murdering million of Japanese, then playing the American People, the media into believing the Atom Bomb was the solution to the end of WWII. When Eistein, first promoting atom technology and developing it for the U.S. Wrote a final leter to the president requesting that the wepons not be used, and the greatest mistake he ever made was being part of the development of this technology.

I digress. don't get me wrong, I don't agree with Hitler and the 3rd Reich, I am an army veteran myself, but I don't agree with the U.N. decision to "take land, from 1 person (ignore protests and revolts from the action,) to give to another because they had a "ROUGH TIME." I'm down playiNg the seriousness of what the Jewish people lost, but thats ESSENTIALLY what happened.

It's also how we and our children are being lied to by our government.

I'ts happened all through history. "Democracy doesn't appear 1 time in the U.S. Constitution, Alexander Bell didn't patent the first telephone, Elli Whitney didn't invent the cottin gin. Jimi Hendrix was murdered by the FBI, he didn't drown in his own vomit. The FBI released documents admiting these facts.
Our government knows this, they have released documents proving this.
"The Police used to watch-over the people....
Now they're WATCHING the people..."
quote from Unknown author

Carl Toersbijns
Carl Toersbijns
11 years ago

this is alot like the theory of dark energy... interesting for sure..

Prion Indigo
Prion Indigo
11 years ago

Instead of just using nanotechnology to connect with one another...imagine, what if we could use our natural abilities...like the few people who can naturally be empathic or telepathic.

Monika Robnik
Monika Robnik
11 years ago

As a sanitary engineer I am a bit worry about nanoscience. Hope it will develop in way it was performed, otherwise that could be a huge treath to mankind.

Vicki_in_Greece
Vicki_in_Greece
11 years ago

Nanoscience is amazing. I predict that very soon we'll all be healthier and our homes will be more energy efficient due to nanoscience applications.

Louis Charles
Louis Charles
11 years ago

It's interesting how atheists reference 'Mother Nature'.

Mookleong
Mookleong
11 years ago

Jack 1952 , hope that you still flip back to this site once you are done or bored of others not so challenging exchange . Darwin and his strong suitors propagate natural selection in our evolution. In short it does mean that those powerful and rich got to have more children . In the not so distant past, this was a fact with kings , emperors , rich landlords and the powerful all having numerous wife and countless children . Our modern society with so call civility have very much stop such process . Much to do with women right and raising cost of bringing up children that make parents think twice to have more than a pair of kids . Does this mean that our evolution has stop ? The weak is producing much bigger number of offspring . Look at the third world , their population is still growing fast whereas the developed world are experiencing decline or negative growth rate . Maybe it explain why lots of ancient technology is lost forever , our natural selection process was stopped with our advancement in science and civility resulting man of developed world experiencing lowered sperm count .

Jared Boyes
Jared Boyes
11 years ago

Well said, Jack1952. I completely agree with you. Some humans are so stuck in the "humans are separate and special from the rest of the natural world". They just lack the knowledge and ability to see things at different levels and to view those same levels from different angles and under different lights. It's almost as if they don't want to know! We are just now coming into the era where a single human is to the Earth as a single neuron is to the brain. The internet will connect us all like a central nervous system and from there... Ability to experience another dimension? Global and ultimately Universal consciousness? Who knows? It's going to be awesome though!

LAR60
LAR60
11 years ago

always fascinated by this kind of stuff. Have nothing against sciene, but isn't there a danger that for the want to do good we do harm?
I mean, there has to be a kick-on effect to using this nanoscience to cure cancer, as welcomed as that may be. As has already been mentioned in some recent posts, Mother Nature has been doing alright without our intereference up to now.
We discover cures for this that and the other, next thing we know our countries can't cope with people living longer.
What's really wrong with trusting to nature instead of forcing the issue?

KsDevil
KsDevil
11 years ago

Nice quick summary of Nano stuff.

Maxime Bergeron Falardeau
Maxime Bergeron Falardeau
11 years ago

ManyNanoThumbsUp

Givemescienceoverreligion
Givemescienceoverreligion
11 years ago

What we learn in science from the movie is what mother nature has been experimenting for billions of years. Nature makes mistakes as well and their are cost with that. We make mistakes as well, its part of the learning process. Jack1952, I disagree with your premise about not trusting the government. If you have a problem with the system then you would go to the courts and settle your claim. Jumping to the statement about stopping science as whole because you feel science getting out of hand is idiotic.

As you may have read on this web site that there is a war on science by the religious groups. Your statement about stopping science, is not natural with life as we know it, again mother nature does these experiments all the time.

If you think my statements implies force of religion, your wrong again. With the current state of affairs we in the world are faced with the coming to a head with a likely possible act of nuclear war. Currently, no single participating country has a solution to prevent it from happening. Religion is at the center of it again, when will we learn that religion is an evil in itself. They are the one's controlling the holding of the gun/missile.

So I do not have to force anything on anyone, because more than likely it will happen and then we may learn that religion is evil. Mother nature does not have religion only people do, so it is an unnatural to all living things to prepare for death. If we choose to ignore this, then it will repeat again and again until it is learned.

Givemescienceoverreligion
Givemescienceoverreligion
11 years ago

Maybe it would be better to stop all religion, which starts all though's wars, and drive people into madness. Religion prepares people for death and science prepares people for life, maybe you, Jack1952 should think about that.

David Ewer
David Ewer
11 years ago

Interesting, but as with all technology there are critical questions to be asked as well - this film didn't go there. So who will own these ideas and inventions? Will they be used to help the majority or to control us as at present? What are the military doing? Nano-thermite anyone? Do you really want to be connected to a global grid where your government knows where you are, what you ate, what you are saying, thinking and doing at all times?
The problems that face us are political not technological - the world's population could be fed now but the political systems work to create shortages to enrich the elites.
Every new technology is sold as the 'greatest development ever' - steam, electronics, genetics, Internet etc etc.
I would have hoped for some more critical thinking from the comments posted, but perhaps everyone's minds are blown by a few superlatives and Stephen Fry's silly voiceover.
It's a small world after all...

Aaron K' Kalat
Aaron K' Kalat
11 years ago

Awesome doc! Highly recommended.

olinka31
olinka31
11 years ago

"More surface means more area for reaction" . Elements encountered at the nanoscale behave differently than their larger counterparts creating a potentially dangerous interaction with the environment and the human body.

Mookleong
Mookleong
11 years ago

Slightly over one hundred years of our short advances in technology already brought us such fantastic gadget that most of us can use but never understand the theory nor the working mechanism behind it . I look around my house and can not understand how a fridge works even i had been using it for ages let alone the computer i am using to post this comment . What will we have in another 100 years ? 1000 years or a million year later if the world allow us peace and resources to develop our future , what will we have then ?

Algonquin Gear Reviews
Algonquin Gear Reviews
11 years ago

pretty cool stuff..

suluna143
suluna143
11 years ago

That is so the guy who talks in little big planet. <3

oQ
oQ
11 years ago

very interesting...yes it is too short.
Stephen Fry once again is the host with the most.
1i

megatron_mcdaniels
megatron_mcdaniels
11 years ago

Just enough dubstep.

pwndecaf
pwndecaf
11 years ago

Why are shows about the nano scale always so short?

lakhotason
lakhotason
11 years ago

I have at present 1137 questions from watching this. I would believe this documentary served its purpose.

No wait....... make that 1138 questions........

Epicurus
Epicurus
11 years ago

This was excellent.

PaulGloor
PaulGloor
11 years ago

so much awesome !