The Promise and Perils of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is a relatively recent and rapidly expanding technology concerned with the intentional manipulation of matter.  It utilizes materials that have been greatly reduced in size, measured in nanometers (nm).  One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; this is 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, 1,000 times smaller than a red blood cell, and half the diameter of the DNA helix.