The Nanotechnology Revolution Is Here—We Just Haven’t Noticed Yet

Before there was a “metaverse,” before there were crypto millionaires, before

nearly every kid in America wanted to be an influencer, the most-hyped thing in

tech was “nanotechnology.” “Nano-,” for those who could use a refresher, means

“one billionth,” and nanotechnology generally refers to materials manipulated at

an atomic or molecular scale.

For decades, computer scientists and physicists speculated that, any minute now,

nanotechnology was going to completely reshape our lives, unleashing a wave of humanity-saving inventions. Things haven’t unfolded as they predicted but,

quietly, the nanotech revolution is under way.

You can thank the microchip. Engineers and scientists are using the same technology perfected over decades to make microchips to create a variety of other

miniature marvels, from submicroscopic machines to new kinds of lenses. These nano-scale gizmos have become so integrated into the fabric of our lives, and the devices in our pockets, that we seem to have missed the fact that they are real-life examples of the nanotechnology revolution we were promised over the past half-century.

Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2022

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Close-up view of Metalenz chips on a silicon wafer