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Nanotechnology draws investment, but still seeks return, Pryor said Tuesday, Aug 9, 2005 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE - Nanotechnology, the cutting edge making of things that are very small, has surpassed the Apollo space program to land a man on the moon as the most expensive scientific investment the U.S. government has made, Sen. Mark Pryor said in remarks to a nanotechnolgy conference at the University of Arkansas on Monday. It is an investment that is keeping the United States ahead of other countries such as Japan in stiff competition, Pryor said. However, Dr. James A. Tour of Rice University, a leading expert in the field, said the most promising of the technology is still at least six years away from being a commercial product, mainly because of a wait in getting approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration. Pryor introduced Tour at the conclusion of the state's first nanoscience summit, hosted by the university. Pryor and Tour's remarks Monday afternoon were given at the theater in the university's student union. Nanotechnology gets its name from making devices and structures whose size is measured in nanometers - one millionth of a millimeter. The university has a $3 million contract with the federal Department of Defense to study ways to improve electronics. Most investment in nanotechnology has been in making extremely small computer chips, which would create processors with much more power in a small space. However, Tour said that research has shown that nanotechnology can best be used to enhance and improve the silicon chips such as those used today, rather than replace them. Development of silicon technology "is trillions of dollars in investment and millions of man-years in development ahead of us," Tour said. That research has produced impressive results, more technically advanced than nanotechnology advocates have realized, he said. However, nanotechnology can make impressive improvement of silicon-based technology. This would make "a well-entrenched, well-established industry" a major ally instead of a competitor, he said. There are nanotechnology products available for use now or in the short term, but scientists have discovered "that marketing is key," Tour said. Having a great product, such as a material that protects metal against corrosion very effectively, does not mean that investors will line up and pay for its manufacture, he said. The most promising commercial product in development is a weave of material enhanced with nanotechnology that will hold crushed bones together while they heal, then decay naturally and harmlessly. Broken bones are relatively easy to mend, but crushed bones often never fully heal. That is the nanotechnology project that is awaiting FDA approval, he said. |
