No Small Matter : : Science on the Nanoscale / / Felice C. Frankel, George M. Whitesides.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP eBook Package Archive 1893-1999
• VerfasserIn: Frankel, Felice C.,; Whitesides, George M.,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2009]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (192 p.)

A small revolution is remaking the world. The only problem is, we can’t see it. This book uses dazzling images and evocative descriptions to reveal the virtually invisible realities and possibilities of nanoscience. An introduction to the science and technology of small things, No Small Matter explains science on the nanoscale. Authors Felice C. Frankel and George M. Whitesides offer an overview of recent scientific advances that have given us our ever-shrinking microtechnology—for instance, an information processor connected by wires only 1,000 atoms wide. They describe the new methods used to study nanostructures, suggest ways of understanding their often bizarre behavior, and outline their uses in technology. This book explains the various means of making nanostructures and speculates about their importance for critical developments in information processing, computation, biomedicine, and other areas. No Small Matter considers both the benefits and the risks of nano/microtechnology—from the potential of quantum computers and single-molecule genomic sequencers to the concerns about self-replicating nanosystems. By making the practical and probable realities of nanoscience as comprehensible and clear as possible, the book provides a unique vision of work at the very boundaries of modern science.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Small -- 1 Santa Maria -- 2 Feeling Is Seeing -- 3 Quantum Cascades -- 4 Water -- 5 Single Molecules -- 6 Cracks -- 7 Nanotubes -- Alice in Wonderland -- 8 Vibrating Viola String -- 9 Prism and Diffraction -- 10 Duality -- 11 Interference -- 12 Quantum Apple -- 13 Molecular Dominoes -- 14 The Cell in Silhouette -- 15 Laminar Flow -- 16 The Wet Fantastic -- 17 Fingers -- Life -- 18 Soap Bubbles -- 19 The Cell as Circus -- 20 Ribosome -- 21 Bacterial Flagella -- 22 Life as a Jigsaw Puzzle -- 23 As the Wheel Turns -- 24 Quantum Dots and the Cell -- 25 Sequencing DNA -- 26 Molecular Recognition -- 27 Harvesting Light -- 28 The Elegance of Simple Animals -- 29 Antibodies -- 30 Virus -- Why Care? -- 31 Writing with Light -- 32 Eleanor Rigby -- 33 Abacus -- 34 Counting on Two Fingers -- 35 Babbage’s Computing Engine -- 36 Computers as Waterworks -- 37 Microreactor -- 38 Templating -- 39 Catalyst Particles -- 40 Christmas-Tree Mixer -- 41 Self-Assembly -- 42 Synthetic Nose -- 43 Millipede -- 44 E-paper and The Book -- 45 Lateral-Flow Assay as Crystal Ball -- 46 Testing Drugs in Cells -- 47 Cooling the Fevered Brain -- A CHEETAH IN THE UNDERBRUSH? -- 48 Phantoms -- 49 Privacy and the Nest -- 50 Soot and Health -- 51 Robots -- 52 Fog -- 53 In Sickness and in Health -- Whale or herring? -- 54 The Internet -- 55 Reverse Osmosis Membrane -- 56 Nuclear Reactions -- 57 Flame -- 58 Fuel Cell -- 59 Solar Cell -- 60 Plants and Photosynthesis -- Coda -- Five Not-So-Easy Pieces: Notes from the Photographer -- Further Reading -- Acknowledgments -- VISUAL INDEX