On the market
This type of protective cosmetic product uses nanoparticles to improve UV resistance and make it more spreadable.
What is sunscreen?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, nanotechnology played a major role in the development of these types of vaccines, which deliver genetic instructions to cells.
What are mRNA vaccines?
By making solar cells more efficient, nanotechnology is helping reduce carbon emissions and fight this global environmental crisis.
What is climate change?
This futuristic term refers to microscopic robots that could one day perform medical procedures inside the human body or monitor our environment at an incredibly small scale.
What are nanorobots?
At just one-billionth of a meter in size, a nanometer is so small that about this many could fit across the width of a single human hair.
What is 100,000?
Thanks to nanotechnology, this carbon-based material strengthens tennis rackets and racing bicycles while keeping them lightweight.
What is graphene?
To minimize damage to healthy cells, chemotherapy drugs can be delivered directly to cancer cells using these nanoscale carriers.
What are nanocarriers?
In agriculture, nanotechnology is improving these crop-boosting substances by making them more efficient and reducing pollution.
Nearly invisible nanosensors could revolutionize data collection, but they also raise serious concerns about this fundamental right, which protects individuals from unwanted surveillance.
What is privacy?
This naturally occurring nanomaterial, found in volcanic dust and responsible for the iridescent shine of abalone shells, is formed by nanoscale structures that bend light.
What are nanostructures?
A futuristic fashion trend, these “smart” textiles can detect movement, generate energy from the sun, and even monitor health.
What are smart fabrics?
Some nanostructures act as tiny cages, allowing medications to be released gradually, reducing the need for frequent doses. This technique is known as this kind of drug delivery.
What is slow-release medication?
While nanotechnology offers many environmental benefits, concerns about this type of contamination—caused by tiny engineered particles entering ecosystems—remain poorly understood and unregulated.
What is nanopollution?
Because of their tiny size, airborne nanoparticles can easily be inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream, leading scientists to worry about this potential health and environmental hazard.
What is nanoparticle pollution?
At the nanoscale, this material, typically non-reactive in bulk form, exhibits a dangerous tendency to spontaneously combust or react explosively due to its increased surface area.
What is aluminum?
Some antibacterial bandages use nanoparticles of this metal, long known for its germ-killing properties.
What is silver?
While nanomedicine has great potential, scientists are still unsure of these effects, referring to the unknown consequences of long-term exposure to nanomaterials in the human body.
Nanotechnology-based soil sensors can detect moisture levels and these environmental contaminants, which include nitrogen-based compounds from fertilizers, toxic heavy metals, and pesticide residues that can leach into groundwater.
What are agricultural pollutants?
Also known as "smart dust," these nanoscale sensor networks could one day monitor buildings, detect environmental hazards, and even track human activity—sometimes without people knowing.
What are nanonetworks?
Due to its ability to appear red at the nanoscale, this precious metal is used in medical imaging to help scientists and doctors visualize biological structures.
What is gold?
By manipulating materials at the nanoscale, companies can produce these high-speed computer processors, named after a subatomic particle.
What are quantum processors?
Thanks to nanotechnology, doctors can now use these specialized contrast agents, often made from gold or silver nanoparticles, to enhance the precision of MRIs and CT scans for better disease diagnosis.
What are nanoparticle contrast agents?
By mixing certain metal nanoparticles into crude oil, scientists have discovered a way to make it magnetic, opening the door to this groundbreaking nanotech-based method for cleaning up marine oil spills more efficiently.
What is magnetically assisted oil remediation?
The expensive equipment required for nanoscale research could worsen this global issue, where wealthier nations advance technologically while lower-income countries struggle to keep up.
What is the digital divide?
This type of microscope, first developed in 1981, allows scientists to see and even manipulate individual atoms, paving the way for nanotechnology advancements.
What is a scanning tunneling microscope?