Today I was inspired by the topic of nanotechnology in medicine and all the different research being done to find cures for horrible diseases that were once deemed as incurable such as cancer, Parkinson’s, or sickle cell. The idea of nanobots, or robots on a nano scale, is a great example of how the sciences and arts are coming together and becoming less distinct. I believe artists or engineers are needed in the designing and structure of these machines while the sciences develop the theory and how it will work. The future of nanobots is that they will have the capacity to sense their environment and adapt to it. This leads to the question of once we have such advance technology what are some harmfully things it could lead to. Plus, is there going to be restrictions on what this technology can be used to do. Thinking about the affects of this technology reminded me of the series The Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld which has to do with using technology to take away the flaws of human life. Also in the story there is the technology of placing skin grafts on a wound to heal it, which is what some researchers are now using to heal wounds or holes inside the body or most commonly burns. There are two different types of skin graft. The more common one is where a thin layer of skin is removed from a healthy part of the body, donor section, and used for the skin graft. The second type is more of a risk; it is a full thickness skin graft, which involves cutting skin away from the donor section. This is more of a risk in terms of the body accepting the skin graft and not rejecting it from the body or killing it. The risks of this procedure are bleeding, infection, loss of the graft, or nerve damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanobot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_damage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_grafting
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