Works of Fiction
- In The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson diamond can be constructed by simply building it out of carbon atoms. Also all sorts of devices from dust size detection devices to giant diamond zeppelins are constructed atom by atom using only carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and chlorine atoms.
- In the novel Tomorrow by Andrew Saltzman (ISBN 1-4243-1027-X), a scientist uses nanorobotics to create a liquid that when inserted into the bloodstream, renders one nearly invincible given that the microscopic machines repair tissue almost instantaneously after it is damaged.
- In the manga series Battle Angel Alita the scientist Desty Nova has specialized in molecular nanotechnology.
- In the roleplaying game Splicers by Palladium Books, humanity has succumbed to a "nanobot plague" that causes any object made of a non-precious metal to twist and change shape (sometimes into a type of robot) moments after being touched by a human. The object will then proceed to attack the human. This has forced humanity to develop "biotechnological" devices to replace those previously made of metal.
- On the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000, the Nanites (voiced variously by Kevin Murphy, Paul Chaplin, Mary Jo Pehl, and Bridget Jones) - are self-replicating, bio-engineered organisms that work on the ship, they are microscopic creatures that reside in the Satellite of Love's computer systems. (They are similar to the creatures in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Evolution", which featured "nanites" taking over the Enterprise.) The Nanites made their first appearance in season 8. Based on the concept of nanotechnology, their comical deus ex machina activities included such diverse tasks as instant repair and construction, hairstyling, performing a Nanite variation of a flea circus, conducting a microscopic war, and even destroying the Observers' planet after a dangerously vague request from Mike to "take care of little problem". They also ran a microbrewery.
Read more about this topic: Molecular Nanotechnology
Famous quotes containing the words works of, works and/or fiction:
“Every man is in a state of conflict, owing to his attempt to reconcile himself and his relationship with life to his conception of harmony. This conflict makes his soul a battlefield, where the forces that wish this reconciliation fight those that do not and reject the alternative solutions they offer. Works of art are attempts to fight out this conflict in the imaginative world.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“The subterranean miner that works in us all, how can one tell whither leads his shaft by the ever shifting, muffled sound of his pick?”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“... if we can imagine the art of fiction come alive and standing in our midst, she would undoubtedly bid us to break her and bully her, as well as honour and love her, for so her youth is renewed and her sovereignty assured.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)