Nanotechnology: The Future Medicine

Nanotechnology can be defined as the science and engineering involved in the design, synthesis,
characterization, and application of materials and devices whose smallest functional organization, in
at least one dimension, is on the nanometer scale or one billionth of a meter. At these scales,
consideration of individual molecules and interacting groups of molecules in relation to the bulk
macroscopic properties of the material or device becomes important, as it has a control over the
fundamental molecular structure, which allows control over the macroscopic chemical and physical
properties. Nanotechnology has found many applications in medicine and this articles outlines some
such applications.

These materials and devices can be designed to interact with cells and tissues at a level, for
applications in medicine and physiology, with a high degree of functional specificity, thus allowing a
degree of integration between technology and biological systems not previously attainable. It should
be appreciated that nanotechnology is not in itself a single emerging scientific discipline, but rather, a
meeting of different traditional sciences, such as, chemistry, physics, materials science and biology, to
bring together the required collective expertise needed to develop these novel technologies. The
promise that nanotechnology brings is multifaceted, offering not only improvements to the current
techniques, but also providing entirely new tools and capabilities.

By manipulating drugs and other materials at the nanometer scale, the fundamental properties and
bioactivity of the materials can be altered. These tools can permit a control over the different
characteristics of drugs or agents such as: alteration in solubility and blood pool retention time,
controlled release over short or long durations and environmentally triggered controlled release or
highly specific site-targeted delivery

Thus, it is concluded that, nanotechnology or systems / device manufacture at the molecular level, is
a multidisciplinary scientific field undergoing explosive development. The genesis of nanotechnology
can be traced to the promise of revolutionary advances across medicine, communications, genomics
and robotics.
 Alternative Energy Sources

The rapid increase in the demand of energy has caused worry about its supply. The main sources of
energy are conventional sources. They are non-renewable and exhaustible sources. The demand of
energy has increased all over the world and the condition poses a threat on the sources of energy like
Petroleum and Natural gas. The Government of India gives high priority to the use of alternative, non-
conventional and renewable energy sources as supplement to the depleting conventional sources of
energy. These alternative sources include – Solar energy, Wind energy, Geo-thermal energy, Tidal
energy, Biomass energy etc. These energy sources have huge potential of energy and they can be
useful in various ways.

Solar energy is a wide source. Solar cells, solar cookers, solar ponds etc are the devices to trap solar
energy. It can produce electricity, cook food, heat water and can be converted to other forms of
energy. The solar photovoltaic system which uses solar cells to convert the solar energy into electrical
energy is the most promising and progressive sources of alternative energy.

Wind energy is in form of Kinetic Energy. A blade of windmill is moved by blowing winds and could be
exploited for doing work. Theoretically about 60% of the wind energy can be converted into other
forms of energy. Wind mill farms are being set up in the world to exploit this energy at suitable places.

Geothermal energy can be used to produce electricity. However, the inner heat of the Earth not
available everywhere which can be commercially exploited. Such potential has been found in Pegu
valley in Jammu and Kashmir in India.

Tidal energy associated with the kinetic energy of tides can be converted into electricity by using
turbine. In the coastal areas this possibility is available.

Biomass energy is being used in villages but improvement in method and scientific equipments can
increase utilisation. It reduces waste materials and gives cheap energy. Jathropa is a plant that
produces diesel and it is pollution free. Besides the railways lines, Jathropa planting is in
implementation. Hydrogen is also proved to be a great advantageous source of energy.

Nowadays, nuclear energy is gaining utmost importance. These alternative sources of energy promise
a new horizon in sustainable manner.