New tupperware features nanoscale silver that are antimicrobial, to prevent food stored in them from going bad. It is so small that even the powerful conventional microscopes cannot see it. Dangerous side effects of current treatments like chemotherapy be engineered away. Even though current applications of nanotechnology might seem rather crude, they are advancing what we can achieve in significant ways. Its potential goes far beyond these products it will affect virtually all of the devices and materials we deal with in everyday life, from consumer products to food to medicine. Foods could be engineered to improve nutritional value, tasted, or shelf life.

Foods could be engineered to improve nutritional value, tasted, or shelf life. As new field, nanotechnology is just beginning to deliver on its promise. Nanosized particles of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used in many sunscreens, to block UV radiation more effectively without making your skin look pasty white. And computer chips using nanoscale components are ubiquitous in consumer electronics, from computers to mp3 players, digital cameras to video game consolesMoores Law, which states that processors double in computing power every two years, is driven by the relentless miniaturization of computer components deep into the nanoscale.

Even the fundamental questions about risk remain hard to answer. To put things in perspective, if the world were scaled down so that people averaged nanometers tall, the Moon would be about inches 20. 5 cm acrossabout the size of basketball or soccer ball. Nanosized particles of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used in many sunscreens, to block UV radiation more effectively without making your skin look pasty white. Foods could be engineered to improve nutritional value, tasted, or shelf life. As new field, nanotechnology is just beginning to deliver on its promise.

According to the US Governments National Nanotechnology Initiative NNI nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly to nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. Nanotechnology is unbelievably miniscule. Nanosized particles of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used in many sunscreens, to block UV radiation more effectively without making your skin look pasty white. It is so small that even the powerful conventional microscopes cannot see it.