"Nanomania," one could call it -- the growing excitement and anxiety about super-small gadgets that might transform our world for better or worse.
Two decades ago, techno-visionaries titillated the world with their prophecy of machines so small -- measurable in nanometers, or billionths of a meter -- that they'd be invisible to the naked eye. Nano-robots, they speculated, would patrol your bloodstream and attack viruses, cholesterol and tumors; or they'd clean up oil slicks and toxic spills; or they'd become micro-"spies" for monitoring enemy movements without being seen.
For now, however, those science-fiction-like dreams remain just that -- dreams. Today's nano-visionaries face a less heady dilemma: How to reassure the public, environmental groups, regulatory agencies and lawsuit-fearing insurance companies that nanotechnologies won't become environmental-political-legal nightmares like DDT, thalidomide and asbestos.
Details here from the San Francisco Chronicle.