Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

A revolution is occurring in science and technology, based on the recently developed ability to measure, manipulate and organize matter on the nanoscale - 1 to 100 billionths of a meter. At the nanoscale, physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering converge toward the same principles and tools. As a result, progress in nanoscience will have very far-reaching impact. The nanoscale is not just another step toward miniaturization, but a qualitatively new scale. The new behavior is dominated by quantum mechanics, material confinement in small structures, large interfacial volume fraction, and other unique properties, phenomena and processes. Many current theories of matter at the microscale have critical lengths of nanometer dimensions. These theories will be inadequate to describe the new phenomena at the nanoscale. As knowledge in nanoscience increases worldwide, there will likely be fundamental scientific advances. In tum, this will lead to dramatic changes in the ways materials, devices, and systems are understood and created. Innovative nanoscale properties and functions will be achieved through the control of matter at its building blocks: atom-by-atom, molecule-by- molecule, and nanostructure-by-nanostructure. Nanotechnology will include the integration of these nanoscale structures into larger material components, systems, and architectures. However, within these larger scale systems the control and construction will remain at the nanoscale.