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Link: Nanotechnology Glossary N.
Nanarchist: Someone who circumvents government control to use nanotechnology, or someone who advocates this. [Eli Brandt, October 1991]
Nanarchy: The use of automatic law-enforcement by nanomachines or robots, without any human control - see blue goo [Mark S. Miller].
Nanite: Machines with atomic-scale components. (Popularized by the Star Trek episode "Evolution") As to their weight, a popular question: "Do you 'feel' heavier after you drink a mouthful of water? A mouthful of water, roughly 5 cm^3, would have the same mass as a ~2 terabot (2 trillion nanites) dose of 1 micron^3 nanorobots. You'll never feel it." Robert A. Freitas Jr. "Nanobot" and "Nanorobot" usually mean the same thing.
Nanoarray: an ultra-sensitve, ultra-miniaturized array for biomolecular analysis. BioForce Nanosciences' Nanoarrays utilize approximately 1/10,000th of the surface area occupied by a conventional microarray, and over 1,500 nanoarray spots can be placed in the area occupied by a single microarray domain. [BioForce Nanosciences] See The NanoPro™ System
Nanoassembler: the Holy Grail of nanotechnology; once a perfected nanoassembler is availble, building anything becomes possible, with physics and the imagination the only limitation (of course each item would have to be designed first, which is another small hurdle). See Bootstrapping a Nanofactory "So how hard is it to build a nanofactory? You need to start with a working fabricator, a nanoscale device that can combine individual molecules into useful shapes. But once you have that, the rest is pretty straightforward." —CRN
Nanobalance: Simply put, a nanoscale balance for determining mass, small enough to weigh viruses and other sub-micron scale particles. "A mass attached at the end of a nanotube shifts its resonance frequency. If the nanotube is calibrated (i.e., its spring constant known), it is possible to measure the mass of the attached particle." A nanobalance "could be useful for determining the mass of other objects on the femtogram to picogram size range." See Weighing The Very Small.
Nanobarcode: SurroMed's Nanobarcode™ technology uses cylindrically-shaped colloidal metal nanoparticles, in which the metal composition can be alternated along the length and the size of each metal segment can be controlled. Intrinsic differences in reflectivity between the metal segments allow individual particles to be identified by conventional optical microscopy. See SurroMed and Penn State Publish Pioneering Work in the Journal Science Describing Nanobarcode™ Particles
Nanobeads: Polymer beads with diameters of between 0.1 to 10 micrometers. Also called nanodots, nanocrystals and quantum beads. Impregnating fluorescent crystal chips into these beads allows simultaneous measurement of thousands of biological interactions, a stepping stone for breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. ... with the potential to accelerate drug discovery and clinical diagnostics." See Nanodots and Local Mechanical Properties of Cells.
Nanobiotechnology: applying the tools and processes of MNT to build devices for studying biosystems, in order to learn from biology how to create better nanoscale devices. Should hasten the creation of useful micro devices that mimic living biological systems.
Nanobot: See Nanite
Nanobubbles: tiny air bubbles on colloid surfaces. Thought to reduce drag, such as would be of benefit to swimmers wearing a suit coverd in them. See First Images of Nanobubbles
Nanocatalysis See LBL-UCB Scientists Demonstrate Nanocatalysis and Nanocluster arrays refine the catalytic process
Nanochips: we are approaching the limits of standard microchip technology; thus, the "nanochip" – a next-smaller microchip. [ed] They are also a next-gen device for mass storage, of significantly higher density, with greater speed, and much lower cost. [Tod Maffin (p)] See Getting a Line on Nanochips
Nanocomputer: A computer made from components (mechanical, electronic, or otherwise) built at the nanometer scale. These computers could be many orders-of-magnititude faster than today's, which enables software to take proportional leaps.
Nanochondria: Nanomachines existing inside living cells, participating in their biochemistry (like mitochondria) and/or assembling various structures. See also nanosome. [Ken Clements 1996]
Nanocones: Nonplanar graphitic structures. Carbon-based structures with five-fold symmetry that form due to disclination defects in two-dimensional graphene sheets. They have been observed as nanotube caps and as freestanding structures. [North Carolina State University] See Nanostructures Fabrication from Carbon Nanocones
Nanocontainers: "Micellar nanocontainers" or "Micelles," these are nanoscale polymeric containers that could be used to selectively deliver hydrophobic drugs to specific sites within individual cells. See Nanocontainers deliver on drugs.
Nanocrystals: also known as nanoscale semiconductor crystals. "Nanocrystals are aggregates of anywhere from a few hundred to tens of thousands of atoms that combine into a crystalline form of matter known as a "cluster." Typically around ten nanometers in diameter, nanocrystals are larger than molecules but smaller than bulk solids and therefore frequently exhibit physical and chemical properties somewhere in between. Given that a nanocrystal is virtually all surface and no interior, its properties can vary considerably as the crystal grows in size." [LBL] See Nanocrystals: The shapes of things to come
The first atomic-scale images of nanocrystals that help reduce pollution show a surprising triangular, rather than hexagonal, shape. The new information should help researchers improve the chemical process.
"Nanocrystals might be used to make super-strong and long-lasting metal parts. The crystals also might be added to plastics and other metals to make new types of composite structures for everything from cars to electronics." See Discovery could bring widespread uses for 'nanocrystals'. Single atoms caged inside nanocrystals gives you a "quantum confined atom", or QCA, "with potential uses ranging from clear-glass sunglasses to bio-sensors to optical computing and just about anything optical in between." See Researchers Turn Scrap to Strength with Nanocrystals.
Single-electron transistor (SET) is a three terminal device, where single electron current between a source and a drain through a nanocrystal is controlled by a gate. The nanocrystals are the tiny light specs.
Nano Cubic Technology: an ultra-thin layer coating that results in higher resolution for recording digital data, ultra-low noise and high signal-to-noise ratios that are ideal for magneto-resistive (MR) heads. It is capable of catapulting data cartridge and digital videotape to one-terabyte native (uncompressed) capacities and floppy disk capacities to three gigabytes. To help visualize the potential, 1TB can store up to 200 two-hour movies. [Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc.]
Nanodefenses: any of the "good" goo's, such a Blue Goo. Protectors against Grey Goo, destructive nanoswarms, and the like.
Nanodisaster: See the various 'goo' scenerios that have potentially negative outcomes.
NEMS - nanoelectromechanical systems: A generic term to describe nano scale electrical/mechanical devices. [ZY]
Nanoelectronics: Electronics on a nanometer scale, whether made by current techniques or nanotechnology; includes both molecular electronics and nanoscale devices resembling today's semiconductor devices. [NTN]
Nanofabrication: construction of items using assemblers and stock molecules. See Nanofacture. AKA: nanoscale engineering.
Nanofacture: The fabrication of goods using nanotechnology [Geoff Dale 1995]. See Nanofabrication
Nanofilters: One opportunity for nanoscale filters is for the separation of molecules, such as proteins or DNA, for research in genomics. See Selective nanofilters for proteins, DNA Another, as "masks to prevent exposure to biological pathogens such as viruses that can be as small as 30 nanometers in diameter." See Biologically inspired nanotechnology. Another use is in water filtration.
Nanofluidics: controlling nano-scale amounts of fluids
Nanogate: A device that precisely meters the flow of tiny amounts of fluid. Precise control of the flow restriction is accomplished by deflecting a highly polished cantilevered plate. The opening is adjustable on a sub-nanometer scale, limited by the roughness of the polished plates. Thus, the Nanogate is an Ultra Surface Finish Effect Mechanism (USFEM). The Nanogate can be fabricated on a macro-, meso- or micro- (MEMs) scale. [James R. White]
Nanoguitar: "Made for fun to illustrate the technology – the world's smallest guitar is 10 micrometers long – about the size of a single cell – with six strings each about 50 nanometers, or 100 atoms, wide. Just one of several structures that Cornell researchers believe are the world's smallest silicon mechanical devices. Researchers made these devices at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, bringing microelectromechanical devices, or MEMS, to a new, even smaller scale – the nano-sized world." See World's smallest silicon mechanical devices are made at Cornell.
