Advancements in Nanotechnology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Advancements in Nanotechnology - Research Paper ExampleBoth nano erudition and nanotechnology represent almost perfect fulfillment of contemporary science for a number of reasons. It has unceasingly been characterized as a unexampled Frontier (Barben et al, 2008), an emerging sketch, emergent, highly interdisciplinary field, a transdisciplinary research front and a rigorous scientific field with many signs of protodisciplinarity (Milburn, 2004). It eradicates the limits between research and development and practical application as well as between science and engineering field, having formed at the crossing of several handle in science and engineering. Since the late 1990s nanotechnology has witnessed extensive investment and attention from corporate and governmental sectors as a linchpin for creating economical wealth and solving a vast number of societal problems (Barben et al., 2008, p. 982). Nanotechnology and nanoscience united efforts of governments, venture investors, NGOs, and small enterprises.Bainbridge (2004) explained that there are two very different nanotechnology movements in existence today. One is closely tied to chemistry, physics and materials science, based in research institutions and working to create actual technical finds. The other is based more often than not in science fiction literature, but has a profound influence on the perspectives of people who are not scientists or engineers. Nanotechnology, according to N. Katherine Hayles (2004), has become a potent cultural signifier attracting scientific research, along with entrepreneurial interest, government funding and fictional speculation. It represents not so much a theoretical breakthrough as a concatenation of previously known theories, new instrumentation, discoveries of new phenomena at the nano-level, and synergistic overlaps between disciplines that appear to be converging into a new transdisciplinary research front (p.11). Nanotechnology is a relatively new field, but ove r the past decade it has already strongly influenced the reorganization of the disciplinary landscape of science and engineering world unspecific (Schummer, 2007). It is an emergent field taking form at the interstices of several fields of science and engineering (Wajcman, 2008) (p. 816).Nanostructures have been studied in a variety of contexts throughout scientific history.Colloidal solutions, block copolymer microdomains, integrated circuits, scanning tunnelingmicroscopes, the molecular and microstructure of steel and aluminum alloys, and the crystalstructures of countless proteins and cellular structures provide simply glimpses of the numerousnanostructures that chemists, physicists, materials scientists, and biologists have studied fordecades (Ozin & Arsenault, 2005). Over the past decades, scientific investigations have grown increasingly broad and encompassing, with many research efforts relying on techniques and insights from neighboring fields to address ever more complex c hallenges and to pursue ever more enticing opportunities (Foster, 2009). Consequently, a new paradigm of truly interdisciplinary research has emerged that promises to expedite the generation of knowledge not just at the nanoscale, but in the entire scientific endeavor. Whereas nanomaterials were before simply used and studied as a means to an end, now formally distinct communities of researchers have begun to study nanoscale phenomena as part of a dedicated research effort (Foster, 2009). Because nanoscience crosses such a wide range of disciplines, the challenges addressed, tools employed, and materials created are extensive. It is possible to create general distinctions based on a variety of classifications, though two methods