Nano Nano

In the past six months, five articles about nanotechnology have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.  The most recent, in the July 6 WSJ, was about the development of an inexpensive water purifier in India made from rice husk ash and particles of nano-silver.  Other applications of nanotechnology mentioned in these articles include “memristors” or memory resistors developed by Hewlett Packard that present an alternative to silicon chips and perform equally well in a much smaller space.  A group in Silicon Valley named Siluria has found a way to convert methane to ethylene without needing the equipment and extremely high temperatures that have been used to synthesize ethylene from petroleum.  In Russia, a major leader in the privatization programs of the 1990’s is now leading Rusnano, a state-owned company developing nanotechnology solutions.  And Nexus Venture Partners apparently has a program to invest in nanotechnology product development in India, according to a June 22 WSJ article.  There seem to be infinite possibilities for application of these new technologies.  Nanotechnology promises to be the wave of the future that will improve how human beings accomplish their goals and make a better life for themselves.