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

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

10.5 Temperature Effects on Medical Nanorobots

Will medical nanorobots retain functionality at unusually high or low operating temperatures? This is an important question for nanodevices at work in human limbs that may be subjected to hot scalding, combustion, explosion, or other burn traumas, or, at the cold temperature extreme, to severe frostbite or exposure of the extremities whether in space or in arctic conditions, accidental ice burial after an avalanche, or in situations requiring the repair and resuscitation of cold-vitrified or cryogenically-preserved tissues, organs, or whole organisms.

A complete review of the many effects of environmental temperature on the operations of medical nanodevices is beyond the scope of this text. This Section can only briefly mention a few of the many design issues that may arise if nanorobot operations are contemplated significantly above or below normal human body temperatures.

Last updated on 24 February 2003