"Are these guys NUTS!"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/02.html

Wednesday at 9pm on Public Television.

Once again the modern technology available to us today that just simply wasn't 20 years ago...or 10...or heck 18 months ago is remarkable.

Cancer researchers believe that further engineering the shape or surface properties of nanoparticles can enable the particles to actively target tumors, and thereby maximize their diagnostic or therapeutic function at the cancer site, while minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissue

This is merely the beginning, for this early nanotech being tested is for better, more targeted deployment of current medicines.

"We're not trying to re-invent every aspect of the science," said Seth Feuerstein, president of Carigent Therapeutics in New Haven, Conn. "We focus on delivering current drugs better, and we're also working with companies whose drugs haven't yet been approved, to help make them more effective."

It may remain primarily a deployment mechanism, but even so this could be a harbinger of the end of chemotherapy.  I know two people in chemo right now and for medical science to be creating the technology to avoid that fate is welcome news.

My opinion, and it is only that, is nanotech will become one of the most useful tools available when treating cancer. 

Beautiful.

While there are plenty of pie in the sky nano-technology dreams out there: space elevator ribbon, artery cleansing robots, oxygen increasing blood.  But in reality those are still far off.

What we will end up seeing in our day to day lives will be more mundane applications that appear to have marginal impact on change, but over the long term may have as much impact as the grandiose ideas.

For example here: Nano-layered plastic sheet is strong as steel

This stuff could be used in a lot of applications ranging from grocery bags to space vehicle linings.  It will all depend on how efficient the process can become.  It sounds like the process uses simple materials and that there is potential for big automation.

It will be very interesting to see what other "mundane" nano-technology innovations come out over the next several years.

This story appears to be jumping the gun a bit: Micro-robot that can clear arteries.

Larry Greenemeier over at Scientific American appears to be skeptical: Not seeing evidence of artery-cleaning nanobots

And wouldn't something so prominent be found on the universities own website?  http://chonnam.ac.kr/en/, I can't find a mention of it anywhere.

So while cool and impressive and probable in some near future, I think it is premature to say it has already been invented.  At least the jury is out until we have more concrete evidence.

Comparison of the very small and the very large.  Let's take a look at the empty space inside a hydrogen atom.

Do NOT grab the horizontal scroll tab, but click to the right in the scroll bar and see how far to the right the hypothetical electron resides in comparison to the proton...11 real world miles of scrolling supposedly, good luck.

...ok, once you get the idea grab the horizontal scroll tab.

...or go to the web page if you prefer: http://www.phrenopolis.com/perspective/atom/index.html

Now compare that to the cool planet and stars scale video...

I don't have anything else...I just thought it was cool

Look! Kittens!