Nanorobotics (2016 Chemistry Nobel Prize)

     This IFLScience article details the work for which the most recent Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded. Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard Feringa were awarded the honor for thier groundbreaking work in the field of nanomachinery. According to the Nobels, "they developed the world's smallest machines: a tiny lift, artifical muscles, and miniscule motors." Indeed, the names of these researches have appeared in the news several times over the past few decades. In 1983, Sauvage succeeded in linking to molecular rings mechanically, rather than through covalent bonding. This is an early example of a molecular machine, as it technically contains individual parts capable of moving with respect to one another.

     This early advancement layed the groundwork for future achievements in the field of nanomachinery. Later, in 1991, Stoddart succeeded in developing a rotaxane, which consists of a molecular axis along which small molecular rings can move. These advancements have continued to develop, reaching higher and higher levels of sophistication. As recent as 1999, Bernard Feringa successfully developed a molecular motor. With his discovery, he succeeded in rotating a glass cylinder 10,000 times the size of the tiny machine.

 

     The work of the 2016 Nobel laureates only represents a part of the broadening field of nanorobotics. Bacteria-based nanomachines have been proposed, with a group at University of Nebraska successfully creating a humidity gauge from a bacterium cell fused to a silicon chip. In addition, chemistry-based machines have been used to treat cancer by giving them ligands which bond to unique surface proteins on cancer cells.

     This emerging field is definitely one of the more interesting contemporary developments in science and engineering, and though we can imagine this leading to a myriad of vast improvements in the living conditions of the average human, it's fun to speculate on what the public reaction will be when these devices become advanced enough to see common usage. We've observed how media spin can turn something innocuous and beneficial into a boogeyman in the public subconscious, so one has to wonder if a similar aversion will be displayed when nanomachines, in any of the miraculous applications that have been proposed for them, finally arrive on the scene.