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the world is shrinking there's a deep
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and relatively unexplored world beyond
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what the human eye can see
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the microscopic world is truly alien and
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truly fascinating
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i'm delving further than the microscopic
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scale i'm going to explore the
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potentials of working at a nanoscopic
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level working at a level a billion times
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smaller than the average scale we work
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at today
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this is nanotechnology
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nanotechnology means any technology on a
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nanoscale that has applications in the
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real world
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nanotechnology is the science of
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building small and i mean really really
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small
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it's pretty difficult to imagine how
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small an animator is but let's just take
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a moment to try and wrap our heads
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around it the tip of a pen is around a
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million nanometers wide so nowhere near
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close a single sheet of paper is around
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75 000 nanometers thick my human hair is
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around 50 000 nanometers thick
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and i ran out of things to compare let's
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just take a different approach
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if a nanometer was the size of a
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football the coronavirus would be the
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size of an adult male a donut would be
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the size of new zealand and a chicken
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would be the size of the earth
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in fact on a comparative scale if each
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person on earth was the size of a
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nanometer every single person on the
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planet would fit into a single car
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a hot wheels car
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you get the idea nano is super super
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tiny we're talking subatomic so that's
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how big or rather small a nanometer is
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but why does it matter why look at
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really small things
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well they ultimately teach us about the
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universe that we live in and we can do
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really interesting things with them
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when we move into the nanoscale we can
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work with new domains and physics that
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don't really apply at any other scale
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nanoscience and nanotechnology can be
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used to reshape the world around us
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literally
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everything on earth is made up of atoms
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the food we eat the clothes we wear the
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buildings and houses we live in our own
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bodies
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now
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think for a moment about how a car works
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it's not only about having all the right
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parts they also need to be in the right
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place in order for the car to work
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properly
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this seems obvious right
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well in pretty much the same way how the
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different atoms in something are
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arranged determines what pretty much
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anything around you does
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with nanotechnology it's possible to
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manipulate and take advantage of this
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much like arranging lego blocks to
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create a model building or airplane or
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spaceship
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but there's a catch and here's where
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things start to really get interesting
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the properties of things also change
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when they're made smaller
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phenomenon based on quantum effects the
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strange and sometimes counterintuitive
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behavior of atoms and subatomic
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particles occur naturally when matter is
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manipulated and organized at the
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nanoscale
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these so-called quantum effects dictate
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the behavior and properties of particles
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so we know that the properties of
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materials are size dependent when
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working at the nanoscale
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this means that scientists have the
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power to adjust and fine-tune material
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properties and they've actually been
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able to do this for some time now it's
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possible to change properties such as
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melting point fluorescence electrical
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conductivity magnetic permeability and
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chemical reactivity to just name a few
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but where can we actually see the
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results of this kind of work
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well
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everywhere
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there are numerous commercial products
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already on the market that you and i use
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daily that wouldn't exist in the same
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way without having been manipulated and
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modified using nanotechnology some
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examples include clear nanoscale films
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on glasses and other surfaces to make
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them water resistant scratch resistant
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or anti-reflective
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cars trucks airplanes boats and
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spacecraft can be made out of
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increasingly lightweight materials
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we're shrinking the size of computer
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chips in turn helping to enlarge memory
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capacity
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we're making our smartphones even
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smarter with features like nano
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generators to charge our phones while we
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walk
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we're enabling the delivery and release
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of drugs to an exact location within the
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body with precise timing making
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treatments more effective than ever
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before
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there's quite a list and that's only a
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few of the potential applications
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let's delve into a few of these in more
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detail
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nanotechnology has been pivotal in
00:03:49
advancing computing and electronics
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leading to faster smaller smarter and
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more portable systems and products it is
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now considered completely normal for a
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computer to be carried with one hand
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while just 40 years ago a computer
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infinitely slower was the size of a room
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this has been made possible through the
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miniaturization of the world of
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microprocessors
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for example transistors the switches
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that enable all modern computing have
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reduced drastically in the briefest
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amount of time from roughly 250
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nanometers in size in the year 2000 to
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just a single nanometer in 2016.
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this revolution and transistor size may
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soon enable the memory for an entire
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computer to be stored in a single tiny
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chip increasingly faster systems have
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also been made possible using nanoscale
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magnetic tunnel junctions that can
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quickly and effectively save data during
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a system shutdown
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it's expected that using magnetic ram or
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random access memory with these
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nanoscale junctions computers will soon
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be able to boot almost instantly
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flexible bendable foldable and
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stretchable electronics have been
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developed using semiconductor
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nanomembranes they're monocrystalline
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structures with thicknesses of less than
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a few hundred nanometers
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in normal terms they're really small and
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super bendy they're particularly useful
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for applications in smartphones and
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wearable technology like smartwatches
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nanotechnology is a definite answer to a
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digital world that is focused on
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becoming smaller and more efficient but
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it can also help us start to clean up
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some of the world's bigger and more
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pressing problems
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there are many applications for
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detecting and cleaning up environmental
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contaminants
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it is anticipated that nanotechnology
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could contribute significantly to
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environmental and climate protection by
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saving raw materials energy and water
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and reducing greenhouse gases and
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hazardous waste from increasing the
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durability of materials that they last
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longer and reduce waste to the creation
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of insulation materials that improve the
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efficiency of paper towels allowing them
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to absorb 20 times its own weight
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nanotechnology really has the potential
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to do great things for the conservation
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of our planet and the human race
00:05:41
the availability of fresh clean drinking
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water is an increasingly pressing issue
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that can be linked back to population
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growth urban mitigation pollution and
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the vast effects of events associated
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with climate change nanotechnology holds
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the power and promise to not only detect
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pollutants but to filtrate and purify
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the magnetic interactions between
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ultra-small specks of dust can remove
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arsenic this is incredible given that it
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is naturally present at high levels in
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the groundwater in a number of countries
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similarly the development of
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nanoparticles that can purify water
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pollutants which cost less than the
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process of pumping it out of the ground
00:06:12
for treatment also holds a great promise
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basically getting clean water is a huge
00:06:16
problem and nanotechnology can help
00:06:18
solve it this all sounds almost too good
00:06:21
to be true
00:06:22
there have to be downsides to the
00:06:23
seemingly endless potential of
00:06:24
nanotechnology for the environment
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actually quantifying and confirming the
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effects of a product on the environment
00:06:30
both positive and negative is achieved
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by examining the entire life cycle from
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production of the raw material to
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disposal at the end of its life cycle
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there is a genuine concern that
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nanotechnology will further increase
00:06:41
energy and environmental costs given
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that the production of the nanomaterials
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themselves takes a large amount of
00:06:46
energy water and environmentally
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problematic chemicals such as solvents
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in order to produce things that will
00:06:51
help the environment we have to use
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things that will harm the environment
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scientists are on the verge of new
00:06:57
frontiers all the time nanotechnology is
00:06:59
an act of exploration and we're very
00:07:01
much still in the early stages but we're
00:07:03
closer than you might think to this
00:07:05
actual goal the idea of subatomic
00:07:07
disease fighting machines have been in
00:07:08
science fiction for decades so this idea
00:07:11
is not really a new one but we've
00:07:12
definitely come a lot closer to making
00:07:14
this idea a reality in the past decade
00:07:16
it sounds like a near perfect solution
00:07:18
to many modern medical problems but
00:07:20
let's just explore how and where science
00:07:22
fiction meets fact and what challenges
00:07:24
may lie ahead
00:07:26
nanotechnology is already heavily
00:07:27
incorporated into medical tools
00:07:29
knowledge and therapies already widely
00:07:31
in use
00:07:32
nanomedicine is the application of
00:07:34
nanotechnology in medicine it's used for
00:07:36
disease prevention diagnosis and
00:07:38
treatment
00:07:39
nanoparticles can encapsulate or
00:07:41
otherwise help to deliver medication
00:07:43
directly to cancer cells and minimize
00:07:44
the risk of damage to healthy tissue
00:07:46
this could ultimately change the way
00:07:48
cancer is currently treated and
00:07:49
dramatically reduce the toxic effects of
00:07:51
chemotherapy
00:07:53
suffice to say researchers are working
00:07:55
on it the increased capabilities of
00:07:57
imaging and diagnostic tools enabled by
00:07:58
nanotechnology are also paving the way
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for increased success rates for many
00:08:02
different therapies
00:08:03
quantum dots are tiny semiconductor
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particles just a few nanometers in size
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sometimes referred to as artificial
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atoms due to their ability to behave
00:08:11
like naturally occurring atoms or
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molecules
00:08:13
because of those quantum phenomena i
00:08:15
mentioned earlier quantum dots have
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optical and electric properties that
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differ from larger particles
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as a result they have many applications
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and are widely used in various sectors
00:08:25
however creating quantum dots is an
00:08:27
extremely expensive process which
00:08:28
generates a huge amount of waste and we
00:08:30
find ourselves revisiting those
00:08:32
environmental concerns
00:08:34
amazingly though scientists have
00:08:35
recently developed a low-cost method to
00:08:37
make these quantum dots using some
00:08:38
chemicals and green leaf extracts tea
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leaves
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the procedure is economical and the
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by-products are non-toxic
00:08:46
the results are genuinely amazing with
00:08:48
heaps of potential the research proves
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that the quantum dots created with tea
00:08:51
leaves can penetrate the skin and reduce
00:08:53
the growth of cancer cells by about 80
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percent
00:08:56
so not a cure but a huge leap forward in
00:08:58
progress that doesn't come with the
00:08:59
environmental payoff
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it's not just how we face the big
00:09:02
diseases that nanomedicine can transform
00:09:05
researchers are now exploring ways to
00:09:07
grow complex tissues with the goal of
00:09:08
one day growing human organs for
00:09:10
transplant
00:09:11
nanotechnology can also improve the way
00:09:13
vaccines are delivered and how
00:09:14
successful they are including vaccine
00:09:16
delivery without the use of needles
00:09:18
still a work in progress though an
00:09:20
amazing feat once achieved but the
00:09:22
emerging era in nanomedicine really is
00:09:24
the era of the nanobot
00:09:26
nanorobots are building tiny packages
00:09:28
that can complete tasks in an automated
00:09:30
way they hold the ability to sense
00:09:32
respond detect friend or foe within the
00:09:34
body and deliver payloads and cargo
00:09:37
all at the nanoscale
00:09:39
why do we need them
00:09:40
well conventional water soluble drugs
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are far from perfect and present
00:09:44
difficulties in treatment however
00:09:47
diagnostic nano machines allow doctors
00:09:49
to monitor the internal chemistry of the
00:09:50
body's organs providing direct access to
00:09:52
diseased areas
00:09:54
nanobots can also be equipped with
00:09:55
wireless transmitters so that doctors
00:09:57
can change the treatment method to
00:09:59
respond specifically to the state of the
00:10:00
medical condition
00:10:02
they also hold the potential to
00:10:03
completely replace pacemakers by
00:10:05
treating the heart's cell directly
00:10:07
research regarding nanobots and medicine
00:10:08
offers several opportunities such as
00:10:10
artificial antibodies artificial white
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and red blood cells and antiviral
00:10:14
nanobots they are super durable and
00:10:16
could theoretically operate for years
00:10:18
without any damage
00:10:19
nanobots in fact hold the potential to
00:10:21
address many health problems besides
00:10:23
cancer such as unblocking blood vessels
00:10:25
in hard to reach areas taking biopsies
00:10:27
or measuring the level of certain
00:10:29
chemicals in otherwise inaccessible
00:10:30
areas of the body so we are much much
00:10:33
closer than you might have thought in
00:10:34
the field of medical nanorobotics holds
00:10:36
considerable promise for advancing
00:10:38
medical progress
00:10:39
but the phrase so close yet so far comes
00:10:42
to mind because there are many
00:10:43
challenges and roadblocks to face before
00:10:45
surgical nanobots will reach clinical
00:10:46
trials
00:10:47
a few months ago i made a video on
00:10:49
neurolink and they're facing the same
00:10:50
exact issues we mentioned here
00:10:53
scientists have numerous challenges to
00:10:54
overcome before the potential of
00:10:55
nanobots and medicine can truly be
00:10:57
realized getting the boss to travel
00:10:59
safely where we want them to in the body
00:11:00
and actually having them stay there long
00:11:02
enough to carry out a procedure is
00:11:03
incredibly difficult scientists also
00:11:05
have yet to work out how to keep the
00:11:06
nanobots from being destroyed and
00:11:08
expelled from the body like any other
00:11:09
toxic or foreign bodies so while
00:11:11
nanobots hold the key to an infinitely
00:11:13
less toxic solution to treating cancer
00:11:15
the challenges in getting the solution
00:11:17
to the stage of becoming a viable
00:11:18
treatment are still a bit in the future
00:11:21
we're not quite there yet
00:11:23
however if past progress has anything to
00:11:25
go by
00:11:26
i don't think we're so far off
00:11:31
[Music]
00:11:38
nanotechnology sounds like a solid
00:11:40
solution to many modern medical and
00:11:42
technological issues it makes you wonder
00:11:44
how prominent they'll be in daily life
00:11:46
in the future
00:11:47
if you're interested in nanotechnology
00:11:49
and want to learn more about it
00:11:51
brilliant has exactly what you're
00:11:52
looking for
00:11:53
brilliant is the best place to go to
00:11:55
learn about everything math science and
00:11:57
computer science related
00:11:58
it's extremely interactive with each
00:12:00
course either having code to write
00:12:02
puzzles to solve or some other challenge
00:12:04
to overcome they're constantly adding
00:12:06
new courses and finding new ways to
00:12:07
challenge your brain
00:12:09
for example they have a course on
00:12:10
computational biology there's actually a
00:12:13
quiz that talks about richard feynman
00:12:14
and his argument for nanotechnology as
00:12:16
well as some of the limits that you run
00:12:18
into
00:12:19
the rna enzymes they discuss essentially
00:12:21
function as nano machines at that scale
00:12:24
brilliant has courses that cover almost
00:12:25
any science related interest you have
00:12:27
it's definitely worth looking into
00:12:30
they show you what you're learning and
00:12:31
provide visual examples to solidify your
00:12:33
understanding i find this a lot easier
00:12:35
than learning through actual books or
00:12:37
videos on youtube as each course is
00:12:38
tailored to making things simple to
00:12:40
understand with over 60 courses and new
00:12:42
ones being added constantly you are
00:12:44
guaranteed to learn something new
00:12:46
if this sounds fun and you're interested
00:12:48
head to brilliant.org aperture for a
00:12:50
free trial the first 200 of you to check
00:12:52
it out will get 20 off of a premium
00:12:54
subscription and will allow you to take
00:12:56
every single course that brilliant has
00:12:57
to offer you'll be supporting my channel
00:12:59
and your future at the same time
00:13:06
[Music]
00:13:21
you
