A research team at Singapore's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering has made a 1.2-nm gear that can be directly and precisely controlled. (Edit: ScienceDaily has an article with the same text plus a cool picture of the gear.)
This is cool. But what really impressed me is the quote from the Executive Director of IMRE, Dr. Lim Khiang Wee: "Christian and his team's discovery shows that it may one day be possible to create and manipulate molecular-level machines. Such machines may, for example, walk on DNA tracks in the future to deliver therapeutics to heal and cure. There already exists at least one international roadmap for creating such productive nanosystems. As we push the frontiers of nanotechnology, we increase our understanding of new phenomena at the nanoscale. This paper is a valuable step on the long road to applying this understanding for discoveries and breakthroughs in nanotechnology and bring to reality the tiny nanobots and nanomachines from science fiction movies."
Let's look at that quote closely. Dr .Wee references Drexler's roadmap for productive nanosystems. He uses Drexler's term: "productive nanosystems," meaning nanomachines that not only move, but build stuff. Drexler has invented several terms that didn't fly, such as "zettatechnology," and others that were mutated beyond recognition, such as "nanotechnology," so it's nice to see this one adopted.
He has included some qualifiers: "may one day be possible," "a valuable step on the long road."
He cites DNA as a possible building block for nanomachines. Recent breakthroughs have made me hopeful that DNA-based productive nanosystems are getting closer fast - so fast that I hesitate to estimate when the first one will be built.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he's not afraid to acknowledge that research into tiny controllable gears is leading toward nanoscale machines that are considered science-fictional today.
Hat tip to Paul Suliin and Sander Olson.
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