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| nanotechnology [2011/07/11 17:26] – [Examples of Nanotech Constructs] - clarified size of utility foglets hagalaz | nanotechnology [2011/09/10 17:08] – [Examples of Nanotech Constructs] - added vacuum diamondoid circuitry hagalaz |
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| MILITARY NANOMACHINES: During the 'Diamond Age' of humanity, micro-sized robots were created that could serve a number of specialized functions on the battlefield, such as reconnaissance, attack/defense, equipment repair, and providing field emergency medical care. These tiny robots functioned best in large groups (a typical swarm would hold around one thousand individual robots), and, as a swarm, were capable of semi-autonomous operation to accomplish specific tasks (each type of [[microbot swarms|microbot swarm]] was equipped with specialized, task-specific tools and sensors). In the years immediately prior to the Apocalypse War, technological advancements allowed for further miniaturization of these microbots into nanoscale machines capable of the same functions. The ability to reproduce combat nanobots - and their larger microbot cousins - was lost as a result of the Apocalypse War, but horror stories of combatants being reduced to 'ground meat' - and of rogue clouds of hungry nanobots prowling Earth - persist to this day. | MILITARY NANOMACHINES: During the 'Diamond Age' of humanity, micro-sized robots were created that could serve a number of specialized functions on the battlefield, such as reconnaissance, attack/defense, equipment repair, and providing field emergency medical care. These tiny robots functioned best in large groups (a typical swarm would hold around one thousand individual robots), and, as a swarm, were capable of semi-autonomous operation to accomplish specific tasks (each type of [[microbot swarms|microbot swarm]] was equipped with specialized, task-specific tools and sensors). In the years immediately prior to the Apocalypse War, technological advancements allowed for further miniaturization of these microbots into nanoscale machines capable of the same functions. The ability to reproduce combat nanobots - and their larger microbot cousins - was lost as a result of the Apocalypse War, but horror stories of combatants being reduced to 'ground meat' - and of rogue clouds of hungry nanobots prowling Earth - persist to this day. |
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| | VACUUM DIAMONDOID CIRCUITRY: In the early 21st Century, Vanderbilt University, using a grant from the United States Army, pioneered research into creating nanoscale logic gates and transistor-like circuits out of nanoscale diamondoid film. Applications included military electronics, circuitry that operates in space, ultra-high speed switches, ultra-low power applications and sensors that operate in high radiation environments, at extremely high temperatures up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit and extremely low temperatures down to minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, EMP resistance was found to be similar to old-fashioned vacuum tubes. Because the electrons in vacuum diamondoid circuits flow through empty space, instead of bumping into atoms in a silicon chip's pathways, heat management is a non-issue. //(OOC Note: See [[http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/08/nanodiamond/|here]] for a news item regarding lab research into this field. - Hagalaz)// |
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| ====== Medical Nanotechnology ====== | ====== Medical Nanotechnology ====== |
| One of the few areas where new nanomachines are still manufactured and used is in the medical field. These are injected or ingested into the body, and are pre-programmed to perform some useful function: scrubbing artery walls, scavenging for toxic molecules, killing viruses, bacteria or cancer cells, inserting gene therapy, compensating for mutational stresses, or repairing some forms of tissue damage. They can be highly effective and are a powerful tool in the medical trade, but they don't perform miracles of healing massive wounds overnight or giving the patient super-powers. Neither do they stay for very long in the body. In a matter of days, or more often hours, they will run out of fuel, break down, and be cleaned out of the body, usually through the kidneys. | One of the few areas where new nanomachines are still manufactured and used is in the medical field. These are injected or ingested into the body, and are pre-programmed to perform some useful function: scrubbing artery walls, scavenging for toxic molecules, killing viruses, bacteria or cancer cells, inserting gene therapy, compensating for mutational stresses, or repairing some forms of tissue damage. They can be highly effective and are a powerful tool in the medical trade, but they don't perform miracles of healing massive wounds overnight or giving the patient super-powers. Neither do they stay for very long in the body. In a matter of days, or more often hours, they will run out of fuel, break down, and be cleaned out of the body, usually through the kidneys. |
