What is nanotechnology and how is it changing the medical field?

Nano- refers to a billionth of a meter. To understand how small is a nanometer click here. It's a size somewhere between atoms and molecules. The matter behaves very differntly at nano scale, like gold which is solid and inert becomes a liquid and is a good catalyst. Imagine this technology giving us the ability to make machines (nanorobots) that when targeted to the right locations on or inside the cell or cellular organelles like the nucleus or the mitochondria will analyse and correct the defects in your genes and the cellular machinery thus helping us remove or repair portions of the cell and help not only find cures for cancers, autoimmune diseases like lupus, diabetes, heart disease, AIDS etc. This will lengthen the human life by decades.

This technology's application can be looked at performing surgery and repair at the cellular and sub-cellular level using molecular machines which can be remote controlled. We plan to use synthetic nanotechnology to generate not only damaged DNA but to replace entire organs with synthetic ones.

As nanotechnology advances, we will see more and more application in the filed of Medicine.

Here are some great vidios to undestand more about this cutting edge technology and it's application in modern medicine: