Nanotechnology is often referred to as a general purpose technology. That's because in its mature from it will have significant impact on almost all industries and all areas of society. It offers better built, longer lasting, cleaner, safer, and smarter products for the home, for communications, for medicine, for transportation, for agriculture, and for industry in general. It is sometimes seen as "the next industrial revolution". It is a revolutionary, transformative and powerful technology.
Nanomedicine, (the engineering of tiny machines) an offshoot of nanotechnology, refers to the prevention and treatment of disease in the human body. This discipline is in its infancy. It has the potential to change medical science dramatically in the 21st century.
The most elementary nanomedical devices will be used to diagnose illness. Chemical tests exist for this purpose; nanomachines could be employed to monitor the internal chemistry of the body. Mobile nanorobots, equipped with wireless transmitters, might circulate in the blood and lymph systems, and send out warnings when chemical imbalances occur or worsen. Similar fixed nanomachines could be planted in the nervous system to monitor pulse, brain-wave activity, and other functions.
This book on nanomedicine touches upon some of the leading areas to which nanotechnology tools, materials, devices, and intelligent materials and machines are currently applied in medical research.
