Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--August 23, 2012.

Two commonly used nanoparticles

have a significant impact on the growth and yield of food crops, according to a team
of scientists led by University of California Santa Barbaras Bren School of
Environmental Science and Management. The studys conclusions echo similar
research findings that show human and environmental risks from nanoparticles are
not fully understood, and conclude that a precautionary approach should be used
until their fate and toxicity is better understood. The nanoparticles tested in the
PNAS study, Soybean susceptibility to manufactured nanomaterials with evidence for food
quality and soil fertility interruption, include zinc oxide, found in everyday products
such as sunscreen, lotions, and cosmetics, and cerium oxide, used in diesel fuels to
increase fuel combustion.
Zinc oxide nanoparticles enter agricultural fields
through the application of biosolid (sewage sludge)
fertilizers, which are composed of dried microbes
previously used to process wastewater in
treatment plants. Researchers discovered that
soybean plants grown in soil containing zinc oxide
particles bioaccumulate zinc, taking up the metal
and distributing it throughout edible plant tissue.
This caused a decrease in the food quality of the
soybeans, and researchers indicate that it is uncertain whether the zinc that
accumulates in the plants tissues is safe for human consumption in the form of ions
and salts. Juxtaposed against widespread land application of wastewater treatment
biosolids to food crops, these findings forewarn of agriculturally associated human
and environmental risks from the accelerating use of MNMs [manufactured
nanomaterial], the study notes.
Cerium oxide nanoparticles can contaminate agricultural fields through exhaust
fumes from farm equipment, a likely scenario given that most all conventional
soybean crops are produced with the help of industrial machinery. Soybean plants
exposed to cerium oxide show a notable reduction in plant growth and yield. Though
the cerium oxide particles did not bioaccumulate in plant tissues, they did have a
considerable effect on the ability of soybeans to fix nitrogen, an important
ecological function specific to leguminous crops. The nanomaterial concentrated at
the root nodules of the plant, blocking its ability to form a relationship with the
symbiotic bacteria that convert nitrogen in the air to plant-available ammonium
fertilizer. The impacts of nanoparticles could lead conventional farmers to apply
increasing amounts of synthetic fertilizers to make up for the loss of this natural
function.
The results of this study underline the urgent need for oversight and regulation of
emerging nanotechnology. While the U.S Environmental Protection Agency is
required to limit industrial metal discharge into public wastewater treatment plants,
there are currently no regulations curtailing the release of metal nanoparticles.
Researchers explain, MNMs while measurable in the wastewater treatment plant
systems are neither monitored nor regulated, have a high affinity for activated
sludge bacteria, and thus concentrate in biosolids. According to the scientists,
There could be hotspots, places where you have accumulation, including near
manufacturing sites where the materials are being made, or if there are spills. We
have very limited information about the quantity or state of these synthetic
nanomaterials in the environment right now. We know theyre being used in
consumer goods, and we know theyre going down the drain.

Nanotechnology is a relatively new technology for taking apart and reconstructing

nature at the atomic and molecular level. Just as the size and chemical
characteristics of manufactured nanoparticles can give them unique properties,
those same new properties tiny size, vastly increased surface area to volume ratio,
high reactivity can also create unique and unpredictable human health and
environmental risks. Many of the products containing nanomaterials on the market
now are for skin care and cosmetics, but nanomaterials are also increasingly being
used in products ranging from medical therapies to food additives to electronics. In
2009, developers generated $1 billion from the sale of nanomaterials, and the
market for products that rely on these materials is expected to grow to $3 trillion by
2015.
At its fall 2010 meeting, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) passed a
recommendation directing the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) to prohibit
engineered nanomaterials from certified organic products as expeditiously as
possible. While there is overwhelming agreement to prohibit nanotechnology in
organics generally, there is still debate over the definition of what exactly should be
prohibited and how to prohibit nanotech products in the organic industry. The
recommendation deals specifically with engineered synthetic nanomaterials and
purposefully omits those that are naturally occurring. Further it would block
petitions seeking an exemption, and keep nanomaterials out of food packaging and
contact surfaces.
http://www.enewspf.com/science/science-a-environmental/35846-study-reveals-nanoparticlesjeopardize-food-quality-and-soil-fertility.html

Welcome to the world of nano foods

'I'd like to drink a glass of water and know that the contents are going into my
stomach - not my lungs. We are giving very toxic chemicals the ability to go where
they've never gone before'
Willy Wonka is the father of nano-food. The great chocolate- factory owner, you'll
remember, invented a chewing gum that was a full three-course dinner. 'It will be
the end of all kitchens and cooking,' he told the children on his tour - and produced
a prototype sample of Wonka's Magic Chewing Gum. One strip of this would deliver
tomato soup, roast beef with roast potatoes and blueberry pie and ice cream. In the
right order. Violet Beauregarde snatched it, swiftly ate it and, at the pudding stage,
turned bright purple and blew up to three times her size.
Far-fetched? The processed-food giant Kraft and a group of research laboratories are
busy working towards 'programmable food'. One product they are working on is a
colourless, tasteless drink that you, the consumer, will design after you've bought it.
You'll decide what colour and flavour you'd like the drink to be, and what nutrients it
will have in it, once you get home. You'll zap the product with a correctly-tuned
microwave transmitter - presumably Kraft will sell you that, too.

This will activate nano-capsules - each one about 2,000 times smaller than the
width of a hair - containing the necessary chemicals for your choice of drink: greenhued, blackcurrant-flavoured with a touch of caffeine and omega-3 oil, say. They will
dissolve while all the other possible ingredients will pass unused through your body,
in their nano-capsules.
The end of cooking? Probably not. Catch me having friends round for a
programmable nanocola? Not more than once. But our reaction to some of the
dafter promises of the new science is not really relevant. You may not want it, but
the food industry does. Every major food corporation is investing in nano-tech government in Europe has pumped 1.7 billion in research money into the field over
the past eight years. Nano-food and nano-food packaging are on their way because
the food industry has spotted the chance for huge profi ts: by 2010, the business,
according to analysts, will be worth $20 billion annually. And there is already a
prototype of a Wonka-esque chewing gum that, using nano-capsules, promises the
sensation of eating real chocolate.
The food industry is hooked on nano-tech's promises, but it is also very nervous. At
a conference in Amsterdam to discuss nano-technology, food and health, I found
representatives of all the big food corporations, mixing with some bumptious
academics, all thrilled with their latest nano-applications, and some less gung-ho
bioethicists.
The food people included Unilever, Kraft, Cadbury Schweppes, Tate & Lyle and
Glaxo-SmithKline: they were very shy and entirely off the record, if they spoke at all.
I was having a friendly chat with a research scientist from Numico, the European
baby-foods giant (their brands include Milupa and Cow & Gate) until he found out I
was a journalist. Then he refused to tell me his name and asked me to erase the
word 'Numico' from my notebook. I thought he was going to snatch it away. It's
obvious why they were edgy. Consumers are not ready for nano-food. Among some
scientists in the field there is a real sense that nano-technology, in food at least, is a
revolution that may die in its cradle - rejected by a public that has lost its trust in
scientists and its patience with industry's profi t-driven fooling with what we eat.
At the conference, the media was blamed, of course. The only journalist there, I got
some eggs thrown at me. Ignorant, sensationalist journalism was holding back
progress, fuelling the public's 'irrational' reaction to novel food processes. But Lynn
Frewer, professor of food safety and consumer behaviour at Wageningen University,
a leading centre of nano-tech research in the Netherlands, called the scientists to
order. It was the public's irrational fears that needed addressing, she said: 'It's
human nature. An involuntary risk, however remote, concerns people far more than
one over which they have a choice. That's why the public find gene technology
more threatening than eating fatty, unhealthy food.'
After the debates over GMO [genetically modified organisms] and BSE, she said,
public faith is very low, not just in the food industry but also the food regulators.
'The mechanisms to make [them] transparent must be put in place and enshrined there need to be principles that the public can understand.'

Dr David Bennett, a veteran biochemist now working on a European Commission

project on the ethics of 'nanobiotechnology', felt the prospect was bleak. He thought
public rejection of nanotechnology was 'almost certain'. 'Very little risk assessment
has been done on this area, even on some products already entering the market and it's an open question whether it will be done. To Greenpeace and Friends of the
Earth, it's a gift.' And, he went on, the lack of proper assessment of nanotechnology
'scares me shitless'.
What's to be afraid of, from a technology that offers so much - healthier food, fewer,
better targeted chemicals, less waste, 'smart' (and thus less) packaging, and even
the promise of a technological solution to the problem of the one billion people who
don't get enough to eat? Amid the papers on issues such as 'application of nanofiltration for demineralisation of twarog acid whey' (which will boost the yield in ice
cream and yoghurt production) one much-discussed question in Amsterdam was
how government should regulate the arrival of nano in the household. There are no
new rules in Europe, and some voices - including the man from Unilever's research
labs - dismissed the need for any. Nanotech is natural, he insisted: it uses no new
substances, just the same ones smaller. But other scientists in the field disagree.
'Matter has different behaviour at nano-scales,' said Dr Kees Eijkel from the Dutch
Twente University. 'That means diff erent risks are associated with it. We don't know
what the risks are and the current regulations [on the introduction of new food
processes] don't take that into account.'
Aluminium, for example, is stable in the 'big world' but an explosive at nano-levels.
Some of the carbon nano-structures that are being used in electronics have been
shown to be highly toxic if released into the environment. Some metals will kill
bacteria at nano-scale - hence the interest in using them in food packaging - but
what will happen if they get off the packaging and into us? No one seems to know and as signifi cant a body as the UK's Royal Society has expressed worries over the
lack of research into the health implications of free nano particles being introduced
to our environment.
The size question is central to these concerns. Nano particles that are under 100
nano-meters wide - less than the size of a virus - have unique abilities. They can
cross the body's natural barriers, entering into cells or through the liver into the
bloodstream or even through the cell wall surrounding the brain.
'I'd like to drink a glass of water and know that the contents are going into my
stomach and not into my lungs,' says Dr Qasim Chaudhry of the British
government's Central Science Laboratory. 'We are giving very toxic chemicals the
ability to cross cell membranes, to go where they've never gone before. Where will
they end up? It has been shown that free nano-particles inhaled can go straight to
the brain. There's lots of concerns. We have to ask - do the benefi ts outweigh the
risks?'
Asbestos is the analogy everyone comes up with. Sixty years ago, the stable, cheap
building material helped war-devastated Europe put up housing quickly, until it was
discovered that asbestos micro-fi bres, once free, could cause hideous and lethal
damage to the lungs.

Dr Chaudhry has been leading a team of researchers reporting to the government's

Food Standards Agency on nanotechnology and safety. He is worried that the health
research is way behind the technology and that a whole range of tests has not been
carried out - for instance, on the nano-compounds already being tested for water
cleaning in Third World countries. Dr Chaudry's team has told the Department of
Environment, Food and Rural Aff airs that it thought companies and researchers
introducing nanoproducts should be obliged to notify the authorities about them.
DEFRA agreed and launched the list scheme in September, but decided notification
should be voluntary, not mandatory. And you and I cannot see the list - it will, out of
respect to commercial interests, be kept secret.
This doesn't sound like the sort of openness that will soothe a concerned public, all
too wary nowadays of the reassurances of the food industry and science . But the
FSA, which is awaiting the results next year of two research projects into nano-tech,
food and safety, says it is confident that existing regulations on 'novel' foods,
additives and food processes will cover any new products. And, at the moment, it
doesn't believe there is any nano-tech in food in Britain - though some scientists
think that is wrong.
As with GM, we may be overtaken by events in the States, where food regulators
have, under the Bush presidency, been steam-rollered by a food industry eager to
push in the new technology. So far, however, the list of kitchen nano-products
actually on American shelves is unimpressive. The Woodrow Wilson Center, a
Washington research institute, runs a database of nano-tech products that are
commercially available, and the list under Food and Beverage is only 29 products
long, compared with 201 under Health and Fitness (I'm excited by the nanosilverised self-cleaning socks). But the list has grown 50 per cent since March, when
it was only 19 products long.
Most of these products are self-cleaning and anti-bacterial food-packaging items :
cutting boards and so on. There's a couple of Samsung nano-silverised refrigerators.
There are nutritional supplements, under the well-established American brand
Nanoceuticals. There's a Vitamin B12 spray marketed by Nutrition-by-Nanotech. You
simply catch a child with an open mouth and spray the stuff straight in: they'll
absorb the nano-sized vitamins directly through the mucal cells. 'Tastes like candy...
Would you believe it, they are asking for more!' runs the copy line, less than
enticingly.
Only three items on the Woodrow Wilson list are listed as food. One is 'Nanotea',
from a Chinese company, that will increase tenfold the amount of selenium
absorbed from green tea (that's a good thing), through capsules engineered to
bypass the stomach and dissolve in your lower gut. There's Canola Activa Oil, an
Israeli invention: nano-capsule-delivered chemicals in rapeseed cooking oil that will
stop cholesterol entering the bloodstream - this is exciting technology, utilising
nano's ability to suspend or dissolve any substance you like in water or in oil. And fi
nally there's SlimShake chocolate - a powdered drink that uses nanotechnology to
cluster the cocoa cells, and thus cut out the need for sugar.
More important, what of the promise that nanotechnology offers hope to the one
billion habitually undernourished on the planet? Nothing yet. Dr Donald Bruce, a
chemist who heads a group examining technology and ethics for the Church of
Scotland, is doubtful. He sat on a committee 10 years ago examining the moral
implications of the introduction of GM. 'The public were told that genetic modifi

cation was going to feed the world. And so we looked for evidence of any
application of that science that had addressed the needs of a poor subsistence
farmer. We couldn't fi nd any. The industry went for agronomic benefits, not for
people benefits.'
With nano-tech, the food industry has once again got it back to front, he feels. '
Such innovation must be consumer-led - the consumer must be able to see what's in
it for them.' Violet Beauregarde would certainly agree.
Arrival of the nano state Self-cleaning fridges, turning red wine into white - the
future's tiny
What is it?
Tiny technology with big results Nanotechnology is the science of the tiny - the
precision engineering of substances at molecular and atomic level. The scale is
amazingly small. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter: the width of a human hair is
80,000 nanometers and this industry is manufacturing complex nanomaterials 30
nm wide or less.
The industry exploits the fact that physics and chemistry change at nano-scale and
common substances behave very diff erently - thus many of the metals and
chemicals that industry works with take on startling new properties. 'It's like having
a brand new tool box,' says one enthusiastic scientist. The uses these tools can be
put to are amazing but, like any only partially explored and tested technology,
potentially dangerous. Nanotech is all around you, already: in clothing, electronics,
manufacturing and increasingly in health and cosmetics. If you buy a clear
sunscreen that promises it blocks ultraviolet light, it is using nano-particles of
metals like zinc or titanium - it's clear because the particles are too small to aff ect
ordinary light. L'Oreal (backed by the food company Nestl) is marketing anti-ageing
cosmetics that exploit the tininess of the particles, 'nanosomes', and their ability to
penetrate deep into skin cells.
Nano in the kitchen
Bacteria-bashing and choice of colour As yet there are officially no foods on sale in
Europe that contain nanomaterials, though they exist in the States. But regulation is
very light and food, along with health products, are high on an excited industry's
target list - that's where big money is.
Nano-packaging with 'self-cleaning' abilities will be the first application you'll see but the science behind that isn't very different from that in the 'anti-bacterial' food
containers on sale now. It is with nano-engineered food ingredients that things get
mind-boggling. Just arriving are techniques that will turn established food chemistry
and processing upside-down. Precisely- engineered nano-scale filters allow you to
remove all bacteria from milk or water without boiling. Or take the red out of red
wine. Water into oil doesn't go? Nano-encapsulation technology can already allow
you to dissolve as much oil in water, and the other way round, as you wish. It does
this by encasing the water or oil molecules individually in capsules that the liquid
will accept. This has enormous implications for altering the fats and salt content of
our foods. For cooks, it will turn sauce-making on its head, allowing the emulsifi
cation of any two liquids - just for starters, that's a vinaigrette you won't have to stir
together before pouring. The nanocapsules, 2,000 times narrower than a hair, allow
the suspension of almost any substance in clear liquids, without altering their look,
or giving any taste.
Nano-delivery systems are already making feeding via our stomach out of date:
nano-encapsulation can deliver nutrients - and anything else - through the mucal
walls in your mouth, or your nose or via your lower gut. This is scary, though useful:

many nutrients are destroyed or wasted by the digestive process; releasing them
later is a way of ensuring that much more of the substance enters the bloodstream.
Already nano-capsule cases are being made that are resistant to stomach acid but
can be broken down further on in the digestive process, say, by the bacteria in the
colon.
Nano researchers talk of being able ultimately to design nano-capsule delivery
systems that will take any substance to any part of the body. In the kitchen, the
promise is that, with microbiochemistry and nanotechnology, chefs will one day be
able to pin down tastes, textures and colours and deliver them to order. They will be
able to design dishes at molecular level and build the food that you receive on your
plate just as a composer chooses the notes that an orchestra plays. Heston
Blumenthal should relax, though - that's a long way ahead.
Nano now
Chocolate-flavoured chewing gum, milk that tells you when it's off Thanks to nanoencapsulation (see above), some truly Willy Wonka-ish nano products are on their
way. An American company has claimed to have created 'the Holy Grail of chewinggum design' - chewing gum with real chocolate in it. Hazelnut-cappucino fl avour is
next. You'll first meet nanotechnology in food packaging. Most people have heard
about the 'smart' food packaging that will warn when oxygen has got inside, or if
food is going off - research on that is complete and the products are arriving.
Samsung has fridges on the market in Asia and America that use nano-silver to kill
bacteria. Already in use in brewing and dairy production are nano-filters - screens so
small they can fi lter out micro-organisms and even viruses. In lab experiments, the
colour has been removed from beetroot juice, leaving the fl avour; and red wine
turned into white. Lactose can now be filtered from milk, and replaced with another
sugar - making all milk suitable for the lactose-intolerant. This could mean less use
of chemicals and heat treatments in food processing.
Also available in American supermarkets is cooking oil that, in theory, can be kept
fresh and soluble forever - thanks to nano-ceramic particles that enable clustering
of dirt molecules. Nano-engineered molecules, which lock onto contaminants, will
simplify the process of cleaning drinking water - potentially hugely important for the
developing world. Parents are a big market for nano, obviously. Nano-encapsulation
means no more bribing your kids to eat fruit and oily fish: vitamin C-enriched
cooking oil and omega-3 fi sh oil-carrying juices are already available. In Australia,
you can buy a bread - Tip-Top - that contains undetectable nano-capsules of omega3.
Nano soon
Teeth cleaning chewing gum, self-cleaning cutlery
Fancy a programmable drink? Beverage companies such as Kraft are working on
prototypes of soft drinks containing nano-capsules that will carry a range of fl
avours, colours, preservatives or nutrients. You buy the drink and then choose which
elements to activate. Your milk carton will tell you when its contents are sour,
thanks to particles that sense the gases of decomposition and change colour, and
nano-molecules in the ink on the label that tell you how old it is and duly change
colour. Kraft and Unilever have products on test.
The food industry is excited about sell-by dates and self-preserving food. Nanocoatings will make the life span of manufactured food even longer. Mars has a US
patent for nano-scale fi lms that have been tested on M&Ms, Twix and Skittles. The
coatings are made from oxides of silicon or titanium, are undetectable, could kill

bacteria, and would increase the life of many manufactured foods, even after they
are opened.
Packaging that absorbs oxygen, making food last longer, is on its way. Kodak
already has it in development for photographic film. Food manufacturers including
Unilever and Nestl plan to use nano-encapsulation to improve shelf life and
engineer taste sensations in fat-based foods like chocolates, ice creams and
spreads. There could be huge reductions in fats and salts in processed foods.
Unilever believes it can reduce the fat content of ice cream from 15 per cent to one
per cent.
When it comes to chewing gum, nano-particles will shortly be able to carry teethcleaning chemicals that you won't be able to taste. Pleasing to the lazy, as will be
self-cleansing cutlery, an advance made possible by the engineering, at atomic
level, of hydrophobic surfaces that allow substances to break down and drop off .
This is already in use with industrial glass products. Nano-fi lters will allow you to
choose the amount of caffeine you want to remove from your coff ee. Making tap
water sterile should be possible too.
Nano-scale sensors are in development that will monitor toxins and bacteria at all
stages of food processing. This will help producers spot salmonella in chickens, or Ecoli in spinach, long before the products reach the shops. Self-monitoring food
packaging will mature into technology like the nano-tongue. Wired into your fridge,
it will detect and warn you of a whole range of chemicals given off by rotting food,
or the presence of bacteria. And then clean them.
Nano in the future
Interactive chicken, nano-noses
Atomic-level encapsulation techniques will get more sophisticated. Food processors
will offer engineered food catering to your specific tastes, and all sort of options to
shoppers. If your chicken is going to sit in the fridge for a while, just activate the
nano-encapsulated preservatives held dormant in its flesh. Fancy a fillet with a
tarragon-and-butter taste? Trigger a different nano-capsule. Nano-encapsulation
could let chefs choose, exactly, how strong a taste or smell should be and when it
should be delivered, and design a food's mouth-feel. The capsule's casing is to be
made of substances ranging from starches, proteins and fats, and can be tailored to
break down and release its contents to order.
A chef might decide that some flavours in his dish would only be released to the
eater a certain number of seconds or minutes after chewing, or when they sip a
glass of wine. Another nano-system to excite cooks uses stable molecules to tie
down volatile ones: manufactured starch such as cyclodextrin is being used to bond
to those frustratingly evanescent fl avours in food - like the fast-fading taste of dill,
for example. The perfume industry is already using this to make scents perform
longer.
Go food shopping, or out to a restaurant, and you could carry your own nano-nose,
a personal tasting sensor programmed to test food for things you don't like, or
chemicals and allergens which may make you ill. Meanwhile, nano-sized bar codes
will enable random molecules of an animal's meat to be tagged and monitored from
farm to every end product.
Further ahead, the industry is looking at food that is pre-engineered to cater for
your tastes, your dislikes and your allergies. Or just built from scratch. Ultimately,
says Franz Kampers, a scientist at the Netherland's Wageningen University, 'The
Holy Grail of the food industry is to create something like this' - he shows a picture
of a glistening roast turkey with all the trimmings - 'from plant protein. That would

be really something!'. You may not want it, but the scientists are already halfway
there.
http://observer.theguardian.com/foodmonthly/futureoffood/story/0,,1971266,00.html

Nano in food
Nano nosh
There is lots of speculation about how nano could help enhance foods, from
futuristic ideas about foods that change to respond to your nutritional needs or
taste preferences - to more down to earth applications - such as better ways to add
flavours, create textures or enhance nutritional benefits.
At the moment, though we can't be certain, there seems to be very little use of
nano in food in the UK, though many companies, large and small, are researching
what it could do. The known uses are confined to wrapping nutritional ingredients
into nano-sized parcels for better absorption in food or mineral supplements, though
nano is likely to be used more widely in packaging.
Companies don't talk much about their research because they don't want their
competitors to know and becausethey are concerned about a negative consumer
reaction to the idea of nano in food.
For these reasons it is likely that in the near future nano will be more about
enhancing existing foods than creating new materials or new food products.
What's nano and what's not?
On a fundamental level, foods like milk have natural components on the nanoscale,
while processes such as flour milling, some cheese making and certain sorts of food
processing, which have been used safely for many years, can in some forms also be
described as nanotechnologies. This is what adds to the confusion that exists about
nano in food.
But we use the term today to mean when we deliberately use tools, processes, and
materials that work at the nanoscale to develop new, and hopefully improved food
products, e.g. with less salt or fat, but tasting like the real thing. Some of these are
likely to be an extension of existing technologies and others more complex.
NATURAL NANO
Nano particles are also found in nature. Milk is in fact an example of a
nanotechnology in which incredibly small particles of protein are suspended in
water.
Ricotta Cheese is another example of nanotechnology which is made by creating
the conditions for nanoparticles of protein to stick together to form gels which give
it that special texture.
http://www.nanoandme.org/nano-products/food-and-drink/

Nano in medicine
Nanomedicine - a 'Fantastic Voyage'?
Many of us will remember the miniature submarine in which Rachel Welch travelled through the human body
to zap a bloodclot in the film Fantastic Voyage. Some will be disappointed to know that this is not going to
be possible and will never happen. But the good news is that nanotechnology may be able to help do the job
of targeting and zapping diseases in our body much better than the Proteus ever could, and without the risk
of becoming submarine-sized halfway to finishing the job!

Social and ethical issues

Some of the more exciting developments which may be enabled, or made cheaper and more accessible by
nano may also give rise to some social and ethical issues. How much do we really want to know now about
what diseases we may get in the future? What are the implications of enhancing our minds or bodies to
make us smarter or live longer?
Go to our Social and Ethical section and explore some more

Healing nano
Nanotechnologies may have the greatest impact in the medical and healthcare fields. There are some nanoenabled uses at the moment, with others not so far away. However many of the much talked about

applications - creating artificial body parts or remotely diagnosing and delivering drugs may be a long way
off, or may not even be possible.
The most notable changes will come from improvements in diagnosing illnesses more easily and treating
them by better targeting of drugs. It will also make existing medical applications much cheaper and easier
to use in different settings like GP surgeries and homes.

http://www.nanoandme.org/nano-products/medical/

Nano in textiles and clothing

Nano style
Nano is used in textiles mainly to provide stain-resistance or anti-bacterial properties. Some clothes made
from these textiles can now be purchased in high-street shops, usually with these properties described on
the tags attached, though they may not mention the words nano or nanotechnologies.

Stain-resistant fabrics
If you spill something, even something as drastic as red wine, down the front of your nano-enhanced shirt or
suit, all you have to do is wipe it off with a dry cloth and it looks like new. This is often called The Lotus
Effect

What is the 'Lotus Effect'?

The leaves of a lotus plant actually repel water and other liquids, even glues. They are structured so that
when it rains, little beads of water form on the plants leaves and instead of spreading out, they just roll off.
The plant does this using its own nanotechnology. Basically, nano-sized hairs combine with the wax coating
of the leaf to make the water droplets sit up on the surface without dispersing onto the leafs surface below.
This doesnt just happen with lotus leaves. A similar process works for some insects, the wings of butterflies
and the proverbial water off a ducks back. Whenever a textile, or other product like glass or paint, repels
water in this way, it is referred to as the Lotus Effect.

The 'Lotus Effect' in fabrics

Nano coatings (such as Teflon-like substances) are created and bond with the textile, so that little nanosized molecular hooks attach to the fabric of the garment and the hair-like structures repel the water like
the lotus leaf. But because these are nano-sized they dont make the fabric stiff, so keeping the softness of
whatever is coated.

ANTI-BACTERIAL
FABRICS
Silver nanoparticles are being included in a lot of different fabrics as anti-bacterial agents to stop smelly socks and odorous
armpits. They are also used in pillows, bedding and fabrics of other products to kill bacteria.
These silver nanoparticles are either incorporated into the fibres of the fabric, or coated on afterwards. If they are
impregnated into the material then the useful effect lasts longer than if they are coated on the surface.
Goose-down jacket fillings clump up when the garment is washed, but some no longer need to be washed ever because
they are anti-stain, and use the silver nanoparticles to keep them fresh.
http://www.nanoandme.org/nano-products/textiles-and-clothing/

Nano in cosmetics and personal care

There are a number of nano-enhanced products available in the UK ranging
from sunscreens and anti-ageing products to razors and curling tongs, (though
at the moment we can't give a comprehensive listing.)
Here are some of the main areas and what they claim to do:

Sunscreens
It's long been known that titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) block the harmful effects of
ultraviolet light - the stronger the sunblock the whiter the lotion, with total sunblocks becoming a thick white
paste.
But when you break down these substances to nano-sized particles, they become transparent. So you get
the beneficial effect without the 'face pack' look.
So when you see a high-factor sunscreen in a moisturiser or sun cream which is clear, not white, you know
that it is nano.
This use of nano-sized TiO2 and ZnO2 in sunscreens and moisturisers is one of the largest uses of nano in
the cosmetics and personal care markets.

Killing bacteria
Silver nanoparticles and so-called colloidal silver, which contains silver nanoparticles, are used in many
personal care products, because they are very effective at killing bacteria.
They are mainly used to ensure cleanliness in equipment, such as make-up instruments, hair brushes,
curling tongs, foils for electric razors, foot massagers, tooth brushes, bottle brushes, rubber gloves, hair
dryers, hearing aids, facial ionic steamers, and even bidets, though most of these are more likely to be
available in Asia.
Outside the UK also, nano silver is used in soaps, toothpastes, wet wipes, deodorants, lip products, as well
as face and body foams.

Smooth moves
Nano is used in curling tongs for example, as it is purported to smooth the hair and reduce static through a
nano ceramic and silver coating.

Moisturisers and anti-ageing creams

Forty years ago cosmetic companies started using nano-sized parcels of ingredients (also called liposomes or
now nanosomes) to improve the solubility of ingredients and add shimmer.
Essentially, liposomes are made out of the same material as a cell membrane and act as small capsules or
bubbles able to hold and deliver active ingredients and cosmetic materials such as Vitamin E. In the
healthcare sector, they are used to deliver therapeutic drugs or vitamins.
Nano emulsions are another process in skin creams. Emulsion just means mixing two unblendable liquids
(like oil and vinegar in a salad dressing) where one of the liquids is suspended in the other. With nano
emulsion, as opposed just plain emulsion, one liquid disperses in nano-scale droplets throughout the other.
Nano emulsions, unlike normal emulsions are so fine that they can be sprayed on. Companies that sell them
claim that nano emulsions can transport beneficial compounds deep into the skin and in high concentrations.
Nano gold is also being used in one moisturiser available in the UK, allegedly bringing healing and antioxident properties.

Fullerenes, or bucky balls as they are also known, are carbon molecules that are only about one nanometre
in diameter and resemble the structure of some footballs. They are allegedly used for anti-oxidant and
smoothing properties in moisturisers.
One product using fullerenes was withdrawn from the UK market because of concerns about its safety as a
cosmetic ingredient, though they are thought to be used in some moisturisers and anti-ageing formulas in
other parts of the world.

http://www.nanoandme.org/nano-products/cosmetics-and-sunscreen/

What is nano?
Nano is short for nanotechnology, although the word itself just means really,
really small.

Nanotechnology, or more accurately nanotechnologies, describe the many ways that scientists can now work
with the actual molecules and atoms that make up our world. Its basically a way of making things.
We measure things in metres and centimetres, but nano scientists work in nanometers, thats a billionth of a
metre. Thats very very VERY small!

Why does small make a difference

At this nanoscale things dont always behave as they do when they are larger. They might be stronger or
lighter, or, more reactive or because they are so small, they can be used in different ways than in their
larger form.
What scientists do with nanotechnologies is take
control of these reactions to make new products or processes, from mobile phones to sunscreens, airplanes
to medicines.

http://www.nanoandme.org/what-is-nano/

The science bit

Here you can explore some of the science behind nanotechnologies:

What is the 'nanoscale'?

A nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre, a billionth of a metre.

Nanotechnology is usually referred to as working with materials at between 1 and 100 nanometres in size,
however this has not been properly defined yet and sometimes people use 1-300nm as the definition of
nano. Scientists argue a lot about this stuff, but it matters because it has an implications for safety, for
regulation and for research. What really matters is what size the properties change, not particularly the size
when that happens.

VIZ LAB IMAGE SCALER

There is an image scaler that lets you see the amazing difference between human scale and
nano scale.
Take a look at it here.

The nano effect...

Scientists are interested in the nanoscale because when we get down to these tiny sizes, many materials
start to behave in different ways. They are sometimes much stronger, or conduct more electricity, opaque
substances can become transparent, solids become liquids at room temperature or insulators become
conductors. This is often down to the change in their surface area when they are used at this tiny scale.

THE SURFACE AREA THING

The Surface Area Thing is what makes nano really interesting - that is the surface area to volume ratio - and it gets talked
about a lot in nanotechnology. But what on earth does it mean?

WHAT IS THE SURFACE AREA?

Well, the surface area of an object is the amount of surface it has and the volume is a measure of how much space it takes
up. When we talk about the ratio between these two things, we are comparing how much of each quantity it has.

WHY'S THAT INTERESTING?

In a nanoparticle, the amount of surface area the particle has is larger compared to its volume. This means there are more
atoms on the surface of the particle than in the middle of it, and that makes them the most important. Surface atoms act
differently to atoms inside a particle, so when there are more surface atoms than inside atoms the way they behave
dominates the whole behaviour of the particle.
The opposite is also true, when the particle is bigger it has a large volume compared to its surface area and the number of
atoms inside the particle is much higher than the number of atoms on the outside (the surface) of the particle. What the
inside atoms are doing is the most important thing and the behaviour of the particle will be decided by them.

SO WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

How surface atoms and inside atoms behave can be very different. This means that when we get a very small piece of
material, with comparatively large numbers of surface atoms, the material can act very differently to what we are used to
(aluminium nanoparticles explode!). In nanotechnology we are making use of particles with lots of surface atoms and the
fact that this makes them behave differently it allows us to do new and exciting things.

What counts as a nanotechnology?

Any technology that makes use of the properties of atoms and molecules at the nanoscale or is able to
observe and manipulate at the nanoscale is a nanotechnology. In fact, it is one of the few research areas
that overlaps physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and engineering.

http://www.nanoandme.org/what-is-nano/the-science-bit/

So how will nano help us?

As with many new technologies theres lots of hype about what nano might do, some of which may come off,
some wont. Also not everyone is keen on everything nano could do.
Some think that nanotechnologies will be used where less technological solutions would be better and some
that its use will marginalise those countries who cant afford it, while others are concerned as to where such
advances may take us as human beings and as a society. Take a look at the Social and Ethical section for a
little more detail
There are also some uncertainties about the safety of some nanomaterials, take a look at the safety section
for a little more detail.

Nano now
But at the moment nano is being used to change some every day things - for example reducing the size of
particles in something like sunscreen to the nanoscale makes it clear, not white and sticky like it used to be.
A nano-coating on clothes can stop them getting dirty or smelly, while another can improve the acceptance
of medical implants like hip replacements in the body.
Take a look at the our Nano products page to find
out more.

What next?
This new ability to work with atoms and molecules means that nano processes or
materials could enable some exciting new breakthroughs - though some people think a
lot of these futuristic applications are more nano-hype than real possibilities.
But whatever happens in the deep future, there wont be many areas of product manufacturing over the
next few years which wont be enhanced in some way by the various nanotechnologies, though for that to
happen successfully the safety issues in many areas need to be satisfactorily resolved.

Nano future?
In the future, products made using nanotechnologies may enable us to heat our houses through solar panels
that are printed like wallpaper, deliver medicines straight to the bit in the body which needs it or run our
cars on hydrogen not petrol.
But we dont yet know what will turn from potential to reality. As we have seen with new technologies
before, what may look like a promising application now, might never turn into a sensible product, but
something we havent even thought about might be 'The Next Big Thing' in 2020.

Have a look at our Nano Products section for current uses, but, some of the most talked about future areas
include:

Solar energy
As society tries to find alternatives to fossil fuels, renewable energies are high on the priority list. Solar
panels are likely to be very useful in supplying some of our energy needs in the future. Even here in the UK
we get enough sunlight for a substantial part of our energy needs to be supplied by the sun.
Nanotechnology might even allow us to spray solar panels onto our roofs, or, pretty near to happening at
the moment, to make them from new materials that are lighter, more flexible and cheaper to make.

Clean water
Fresh water is being talked about as the oil of the 21st Century, because of its scarcity in many countries,
including the UK. Nano holds out great hopes in three very important areas of water treatment - simple
filtration, recycling or desalination techniques; sensing and detecting contaminants at very low levels and
preventing pollution in the first place.

Even speedier computers

Computers are already significantly faster and with greater storage capabilities and processing power than
they had 10 years ago, but there are still improvements to be made.
The computer industry is reaching its limits of making things smaller and faster, but nanotechnology holds
out promise to overcome these limits and allow computer technology to continue its path of smaller, faster
and stronger.

Nano-medicine
There are many ways that nanotechnology may be be useful in medicine. One potential application is to use
nanoparticles to stick blood vessels together in surgery, instead of the surgeon having to stitch them.
Another is to search out and kill cancerous tumours. This kind of technique would significantly reduce side
effects because nanoparticles could be targeted directly at tumour cells leaving the rest of your body
alone.

Space elevator
One slightly less probably idea that has been around for a long time, but was seen as an impossible dream is
a space elevator a real-life Jacks beanstalk! It would be a kind of lift to take people and objects like
satellites into space.
What makes it slightly less of a dream now is that carbon nanotubes, at least in theory, are strong enough
to build this lift - but as is sometimes the case, what is possible in theory is actually very difficult to do in
practice - so dont hold your breath on this one! (By the way, thats whats flying up and down on our home
page!)

Incremental nanotechnology

The nanotechnology in the products available today and in the near future, like most of the applications
above, have been called incremental nanotechnology. In other words, they are just lots of small
improvements to fields like chemistry, physics and advanced materials.

The 'really big thing' molecular nanotechnology

The next, and really BIG THING, which has been talked about for almost 25 years, has been the promise
ofmolecular nanotechnology, or radical or advanced nanotechnology, as a real paradigm shift in the way
products are manufactured. With molecular nanotechnology, ordinary objects, like the computer you are
using to read this website, would be assembled atom-by-atom by machines that operated on the molecular
scale.
Some obstacles in how physics operates on the scale of atoms have made the practical development of this
sort of thing difficult to realise. But it has long been argued that since this is the way nature produces its
products, its conceivable that we could do something like this too.
Scientists are trying to duplicate natures methods, by building with biological molecules like DNA rather
than with weird nanobots made out of inorganic materials.
Groundbreaking work is now being done in creating and programming a machine made out of DNA
molecules so that it will move molecules around where we want them to go.
Its an early step in this area and huge challenges remain, not least of which are the major social and ethical
issues which will come out of this area of science. However a future in which manufacturing is more efficient
and cheaper is a long way off, but somewhat more conceivable within the coming decades.

http://www.nanoandme.org/what-is-nano/so-how-will-nano-help-us/