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The Dance of the Molecules: How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives |
Author: Ted Sargent
Published: 2006-10-29 |
List price: $15.95
Our price: $9.80
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As of: January 08th, 2009 03:27:30 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Neurite cells from DNA scaffolding
"Nanotechnologist have as their goal to design and build matter to order, specified by a functional requirement. Nanotechnology is coordinated movement, a choreographed dance among atoms and molecules to achieve a desired effect."
"Labs-on-chips and nanometer probes link the logical and the biological-the computational and the sensational, and the dry and the moist. They open avenues to apply our most powerful human-made engines of analysis to themost intricate, fascinating system ever engineered: the organism."
1. The near future for nanotechnology may see applications, such as, diabetic monitoring of blood sugar levels (bio-pharmacy), filtering cells for dangerous mutation (bio-chip), removing pollutants for the air and water, hardened nanotech polymer bullets, miniscule unmanned drones with aluminum oxide explosives, hydrogen powered muscle suits, digital paint that scan refreshes display scenes from across the world, wireless tracking - recording - and imaging devices the size of dust, DNA grown circuits and nanowires, DNA computing devices, protein inspired materials with increased tensile strength, blends of nano composites and organic scaffolding.
2. In 2005, $30 billion was invested in health research
3. Nanotechnology holds the promise of being able to detect cancer in the early stages when cell count ranges between 10-100 cells rather than 1 billion cell colonies. Shming Nie invented a light emitting beacon; the beacon has selective molecules that work like velco, sticking to the cancer cell; the 5 nanometer Quantum Dot emits a orange-red hue; the beacon is composed of a cancer recognizing polymer and protect against the toxicity of the cadmium selenide. DNA scaffolding extended the duration of light emissions by the beacons.
4. Millions of lab experiments and tests inside the person are done by biochips.
5. Bob Langer work focused on drug delivery in a consistent concentration release level. Drug decay prevention improved effectiveness by trapping the drug in wafers made of polymers, the sponge-like polymers controlled the escape speed of the drug. Langer improved delivery by taking the drug directly to the cell by using 100 nm, Liposomes filled with different drugs; the Liposomes were decoreated with molecules that bind to specific markers on the cancerous cells, the membrane fuses with the cell, and the drug is released into the cell. Liposomes have been used to treat, Kaposi Sarcoma.
6. Pharmacy on a chip is a programmed implant that can release drugs. The pharmacy chip is connected to a group of gold reservoirs containing 1 billionth of a liter of the drug and the thin gold containment membrane dissolves when under electric charge.
7. Russel Giodano discovered 3D structures like apartments for cells; George Whiteside discovered patterns on the apartment that allowed cells to live or die. Sam Stupp's work on neuron lead him to build a regenerative DNA scaffold, self-organized molecules forming a long rod with the ends covered with nerve tissue promoting proteins. Next, stems were injected into the scaffolding and the stem cells differentiated into neurite cells,instead of astrocytes, healthy cells that could integrate into future spinal injuries repairs or Alzheimer's patients.
 Making Nano understandable
Not being a scientist, and not having an understanding of Nanotechnology this book opened up a new world for me. Ted Sargent has shed light on a very complex subject so well that even I can understand it! And that is saying something. The book went beyond just the science for me and made me think about how we can utilise the thinking and the science. People tend to over analyse a book like this. Go with it and enjoy a new world. Loved it Ted!
Top-notch!
The Dance of Molecules is a great book and extremely interesting.
Prof. Sargent's writing is very impressive, with wonderful prose and excellent examples. He has a great talent at telling an engaging and relevant story.
Technically, the insights are exceedingly broad AND deep, and yet are very accessible to the lay-person.
 Too Many Metaphors
This book was a frustrating read. The topic is interesting even though technically challenging. In his attempt to make the subject accessible to the general public, the author used metaphors to an extreme throughout the book. As soon as he got close to revealing some interesting techical information about nanotechnology, he would appear to assume that his reader was too slow to grasp the real concepts and segue into a metaphor about stacked egg cartons or air traffic routes.
The metaphors do provide a simplistic visual similarity to the structures he is talking about, but I found them to be useless in trying to understand what is actually going on. There is just not much that stacks of egg cartons really have in common with a crystal lattice, and the metaphore breaks down almost immediately. It would have been better if he had included the detailed information and then offered the metaphors in case the reader didn't understand it. Instead, he left the details out, relying on only the metaphores to get his points across.
The book would also have benefitted from better illustrations. For example, when discussing the many ways that a sheet of carbon atoms can be wound into a cylinder, some drawings would have helped better than a metaphor about wrapping a label around a soft drink bottle and then trying to explain the fact that the atoms will align themselves in only a discrete number of positions, so the label can't really be put on the bottle just any old way. I was totally confused after reading that.
There is a great deal of enthusiastic hype for the future of the technology, and very little actual information about how it works.
broadly understandable
Sargent gives a broadly-painted view of nanotech, directed to a lay audience. He surveys the manifold promises for the coming decades. In medical diagnosis, healing, solar cells, computing etc. Glittering vistas indeed. Nanotech is presented as a panacea to many problems. With only glancing mention of possible complications. But then again, this is a high level book. And if the promises seem hypothetical, even more so are the conjectured complications.
The narrative is thankfully free of much jargon. Though a necessary modicum is presented, so that you get some understanding of what's being said in this field.
The book also has a good references section, where interested readers can get at more detailed articles.
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