Uldrich and Newberry compare November 9, 1989, with the day the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. This was the day two IBM scientists coaxed individual atoms to build a structure, the IBM logo.
As a result, nanotechnology, the science of manipulating material at the atomic level, was born.
I had heard Bill Gates talk about many of the advancements mentioned in this book, but I had no idea they were so close. Some of them are being produced already. Embedded nanoparticles are being used to make stain-repellent khakis, for instance. Also, in 2001 Toyota introduced bumpers that are sixty percent lighter and twice as resistant to scratching and denting.
Uldrich and Newberry predict that in ten years Nanotechnology could be a trillion dollar industry. Two companies, Nanosys, Inc. and ZettaCore, are working on constructing computer circuits that will create a 10,000-fold increase in computing power. Some applications could include tiny computers embedded in your clothing to monitor your health. In the health field, nano-sized drugs, because they are undetectable by the body's immune system, can reduce or eliminate side effects.
One of the reasons Ulrich and Newberry are so optimistic is because of the industry jumping that nanotechnology will engender. They use Hostess Twinkies as a hypothesis. R&D for the company may spend money studying vitamin supplements and aroma therapy (to increase taste sensation).
And there's good news for environmentalists. According to a Nationa Science Foundation official, "nanotechnology applications have the potential to save four hundred million gallons of gas annually and emit eleven billion fewer pounds of carbon dioxide into the air."
Remember that anthrax scare? According to Uldrich and Newberry "two separate nanotechnology-related products will be able to render anthrax harmless" by the end of 2003.
Much of what Uldrich and Newberry have to say is aimed at businessmen who may wind up extinct if they don't pay attention to nanotechnology. For instance, titanium dioxide nanoparticles can break down and loosen dirt smudges from materials, leading to such applications as a coating for new cars with self-cleaning nanoparticles. Car washes and gas stations beware!
Even more stunning is Uldrich and Newberry's prediction that within ten years nanotechnology will help cure blindness and hearing loss: "... parts of our bodies that already operate at the nanoscale, such as the retinal cones and rods that allow sight and the stereocilia in the inner ear that allow hearing, can be replicated."
If you're thinking that much of what I've said is "pie-in-the-sky," you should know that the National Science Foundation pegs the "probability of the type of commercial applications covered in this book actually occurring within the next fifteen to twenty years" within the 90 to 100 category.