© 1999 Robert A. Freitas Jr. All Rights Reserved.

Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 1999

10. Other Basic Capabilities

This final Chapter describes a miscellany of important technical capabilities that may prove useful in some or all medical nanodevices, in various scenarios or theaters of operation. Any one of these subjects deserves an entire chapter to itself, but unfortunately there is only space in this introductory text for a brief survey of each area. The most important of these topics is computation (Section 10.2), including nanomechanical, nanoelectronic, and biological computing, as well as nanoscale data storage technologies. However, the fields of organic and fullerene nanoelectronics, biocomputing, and quantum computing are advancing so fast that whatever is written here will quickly become obsolete. Thus our coverage in this Volume is limited to a broad overview. Interested readers are strongly advised to consult the current literature for the latest results.

Other important basic capabilities covered in this Chapter include timers and nanoclocks with long-term nanosecond stability (Section 10.1); high-pressure materials storage (Section 10.3); defensive cytocidal and antiviral weaponry to allow the efficient destruction of pathogenic intruders and unrepairable tumor cells (Section 10.4); and the effects of very hot or very cold temperatures on nanorobot materials and operations (Section 10.5).

Last updated on 22 February 2003