Nanotechnology and its applications to healthcare Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Principal Fellow

The overheads (in PowerPoint) are available on the web at: http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/talks/ppt/ France 010608.ppt Slides on web

The overheads (in PowerPoint) are available on the web at:

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/talks/ppt/

France 010608.ppt

Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology November 9-11, 2001 Santa Clara, California Introductory tutorial November 8 www.foresight.org/Conferences/MNT9/ Foresight

Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology

November 9-11, 2001

Santa Clara, California Introductory tutorial November 8

www.foresight.org/Conferences/MNT9/

Foresight www.foresight.org/SrAssoc/ www.nanodot.org Gatherings

Health, wealth and atoms

Arranging atoms Diversity Precision Cost

Diversity

Precision

Cost

Richard Feynman,1959 There’s plenty of room at the bottom

1980’s, 1990’s Binnig and Rohrer Experiment and theory

President Clinton, 2000 “ Imagine the possibilities: materials with ten times the strength of steel and only a small fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the information housed at the Library of Congress into a device the size of a sugar cube -- detecting cancerous tumors when they are only a few cells in size.” The National Nanotechnology Initiative

“ Imagine the possibilities: materials with ten times the strength of steel and only a small fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the information housed at the Library of Congress into a device the size of a sugar cube -- detecting cancerous tumors when they are only a few cells in size.”

Arrangements of atoms . Today Overview

The goal . Overview

Core molecular manufacturing capabilities Today Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Products Overview

Positional assembly

Experimental 100 microns

H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719, NOVEMBER 1999 Experimental

Theoretical

Property Diamond’s value Comments Chemical reactivity Extremely low Hardness (kg/mm2) 9000 CBN: 4500 SiC: 4000 Thermal conductivity (W/cm-K) 20 Ag: 4.3 Cu: 4.0 Tensile strength (pascals) 3.5 x 10 9 (natural) 10 11 (theoretical) Compressive strength (pascals) 10 11 (natural) 5 x 10 11 (theoretical) Band gap (ev) 5.5 Si: 1.1 GaAs: 1.4 Resistivity (W-cm) 10 16 (natural) Density (gm/cm3) 3.51 Thermal Expansion Coeff (K-1) 0.8 x 10 -6 SiO2: 0.5 x 10 -6 Refractive index 2.41 @ 590 nm Glass: 1.4 - 1.8 Coeff. of Friction 0.05 (dry) Teflon: 0.05 Source: Crystallume What to make Diamond physical properties

Property Diamond’s value Comments

Chemical reactivity Extremely low

Hardness (kg/mm2) 9000 CBN: 4500 SiC: 4000

Thermal conductivity (W/cm-K) 20 Ag: 4.3 Cu: 4.0

Tensile strength (pascals) 3.5 x 10 9 (natural) 10 11 (theoretical)

Compressive strength (pascals) 10 11 (natural) 5 x 10 11 (theoretical)

Band gap (ev) 5.5 Si: 1.1 GaAs: 1.4

Resistivity (W-cm) 10 16 (natural)

Density (gm/cm3) 3.51

Thermal Expansion Coeff (K-1) 0.8 x 10 -6 SiO2: 0.5 x 10 -6

Refractive index 2.41 @ 590 nm Glass: 1.4 - 1.8

Coeff. of Friction 0.05 (dry) Teflon: 0.05

Source: Crystallume

Making diamond today Illustration courtesy of P1 Diamond Inc.

Hydrogen abstraction tool

Other molecular tools

Bearing

Planetary gear

Fine motion controller

Theoretical

Self replication A redwood tree ( sequoia sempervirens ) 112 meters tall Redwood National Park

The Von Neumann architecture Universal Computer Universal Constructor http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/vonNeumann.html Self replication

Replicating bacterium DNA DNA Polymerase Self replication

http://www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_6.html Drexler’s proposal for an assembler Self replication

Von Neumann's constructor 500,000 Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140 Drexler's assembler 100,000,000 Complexity (bits)

Von Neumann's constructor 500,000

Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140

Drexler's assembler 100,000,000

Micro rotation

Exponential assembly

The impact of a manufacturing technology depends on what we manufacture Impact

The impact

of a manufacturing technology

depends on what we manufacture

We’ll have more computing power in the volume of a sugar cube than the sum total of all the computer power that exists in the world today More than 10 21 bits in the same volume Almost a billion Pentiums in parallel Impact Powerful Computers

We’ll have more computing power in the volume of a sugar cube than the sum total of all the computer power that exists in the world today

More than 10 21 bits in the same volume

Almost a billion Pentiums in parallel

Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison Impact Nanomedicine

Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level

Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison

In the future, we will have fleets of surgical tools that are molecular both in size and precision. We will also have computers much smaller than a single cell to guide those tools. Impact Nanomedicine

In the future, we will have fleets of surgical tools that are molecular both in size and precision.

We will also have computers much smaller than a single cell to guide those tools.

Scale “ Typical” mitochondrion ~1-2 by 0.1-0.5 microns Size of a robotic arm ~100 nanometers 8-bit computer

Scale “ Typical” cell: ~20 microns Mitochondrion Size of a robotic arm ~100 nanometers 8-bit computer

Remove infections

Clear obstructions

Respirocyte

Today: preserve function Tomorrow: preserve structure A Revolution

Today: preserve function

Tomorrow: preserve structure

Liquid nitrogen Time Temperature Cryonics

Would you rather join the control group or the experimental group? (www.alcor.org) What to do?

Would you rather

join the control group

or

the experimental group?

(www.alcor.org)

“ Thus, like so much else in medicine, cryonics, once considered on the outer edge, is moving rapidly closer to reality” ABC News World News Tonight , Feb 8 th “… [medical] advances are giving new credibility to cryonics.” KRON 4 News, NightBeat, May 3, 2001 Perception

“ Thus, like so much else in medicine, cryonics, once considered on the outer edge, is moving rapidly closer to reality”

ABC News World News Tonight , Feb 8 th

“… [medical] advances are giving new credibility to cryonics.”

KRON 4 News, NightBeat, May 3, 2001

By Robert Freitas, Zyvex Research Scientist Surveys medical applications of nanotechnology Volume I (of three) published in 1999 Theory Nanomedicine http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine

By Robert Freitas, Zyvex Research Scientist

Surveys medical applications of nanotechnology

Volume I (of three) published in 1999

Human impact on the environment depends on Population Living standards Technology The Vision

Population

Living standards

Technology

Restoring the environment with nanotechnology Low cost greenhouse agriculture Low cost solar power Pollution free manufacturing The Vision

Low cost greenhouse agriculture

Low cost solar power

Pollution free manufacturing

Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings. K. Eric Drexler

Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings.

K. Eric Drexler