nano- [NA noh], nan-, nanno-, -nania
(Greek: dwarf, dwarfish; pygmy; "little old man;" very small or tiny; also, a decimal prefix used in the international metric system for measurements)
This prefix is used in the metric [decimal] system as billionth [U.S.] and thousand-millionth [U.K.], 10-9 [0.000 000 001]. The metric symbol for nano- is n.
2. A branch of nanotechnology that either uses biological starting materials, biological design principles, or has biological applications.
3. The practical application of biological knowledge and techniques for industrial purposes; for example, fermentation.
4. The use of contemporary biological techniques to produce new substances or to perform new functions; for example, recombinant DNA technology.
Under an electron microscope, nanobacteria look like typical bacteria, and even resemble cells undergoing division.
Nanobacteria have been heralded as the smallest cellular forms on earth and also as candidates to explain how cellular life began on earth and other extraterrestial bodies; such as, meteorites and Mars.
2. Tiny autonomous robot.
Nanomachines are largely in the research-and-development phase, but some primitive devices have been tested.
An example is a sensor having a switch approximately 1.5 nanometers across, capable of counting specific molecules in a chemical sample.
The first useful applications of nanomachines will likely be in medical technology, where they could be used to identify pathogens and toxins from samples of body fluid and destroy them.
Another potential application is the detection of toxic chemicals, and the measurement of their concentrations, in the environment.
2. An abnormally small head of a newborn with a congenitally small brain; microcephaly.
The circuit is one-fifth the width of a human hair and can only be viewed under an electron microscope.
The circuit is not designed to be used in a computer chip; instead, it is a proof of the principle that allowed the research team to test the switching speed of its design.
Using this setup, researchers have claimed that they could achieve a speed of 50 megahertz, hundreds of times slower than the gigahertz speeds of silicon processors seen in most personal computers. Even so, the researchers say the circuit is 100,000 times faster than any previously recorded for a device made with a carbon nanotube, and with continued refinement they hope to push speeds beyond those possible today.
Recently reported results indicate that across the main radiation environments, including heavy ion, total dose and proton irradiation, different types of nanoscale materials and circuits may outperform their conventional counterparts.
In each case, the improvement was traced to the use of a nanoscale functional entity and its apparent radiation resiliency. These results indicate that the research direction of fundamental radiation interactions in nanoscale materials is well worth pursuing.