Construction of Nanomachinery through Biotech

Paper Summary:

The paper introduces the concept of Nanotechnology, and considers the usage of both proteins and nucleic acids as molecular components of Nanomachines. Their pros and cons (including strength, speed, comparison to macro-scale materials) are considered in detail, and a conclusion is drawn based on these observations.

From the Paper:

"Our modern technology builds on an ancient tradition. Thirty thousand years ago, chipping flint was the high technology of the day. Our ancestors grasped stones containing trillions of trillions of atoms and removed chips containing billions of trillions of atoms to make their axe heads; they made fine work with skills difficult to imitate today. They also made patterns on cave walls in France with sprayed paint, using their hands as stencils. Later they made pots by baking clay, then bronze by cooking rocks. They shaped bronze by pounding it. They made iron, then steel, and shaped it by heating, pounding, and removing chips. We now cook up pure ceramics and stronger steels, but we still shape them by pounding, chipping, and so forth. We cook up pure silicon, saw it into slices, and make patterns on its surface using tiny stencils and sprays of light. We call the products "chips" and we consider them exquisitely small, at least in comparison to axheads."

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