Nanotechnology No Longer Just For Star Trek. But Is It Safe?

Remember how the TV show “Star Trek: The Next Generation” would always refer to nanites and nanotechnology? They were used by doctors on board the U.S.S. Enterprise to aid physicians during futuristic operations.

It was a work of fiction, but truth is sometimes stranger than any scriptwriter’s imagination. It turns out nanotechnology is very real and being used today in a variety of areas – although without the tiny robot factor of sci-fi.

They’re microscopic particles that are about a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a piece of your hair. And despite their size – or maybe because of it – there’s no end to what they can do.

“People have started to coat bowling balls with folarenes and carbonnanotubules because it creates less resistance when the ball is thrown,” explains Associate Prof. Warren Chan, Ph.D at the Integrated Nanotechnology and Biomedical Sciences Lab of the U. of T.

They have a variety of different colours and electric and magnetic properties which gives them limitless uses. So why aren’t they being employed like they were in Star Trek? Experiments in that area are already going on, with encouraging and often exciting results.

“Nanomaterials can be used as a way to colour-code a disease,” explains Chan. “They can be used as contrast agents in cancer imaging.”

But there’s a catch. Anything introduced into the human body can have unexpected consequences and not enough is known about these almost invisible wonders to have them deemed safe.

And it turns out, they’re already in a lot of products you use everyday and may not know about, like cosmetics, glass cleaners, bandages, air purifiers and even the adhesives used to bind fast food burger boxes. See the full list here .

“The problem is we don’t know the health effects of these microscopic particles when they get into our bodies,” Chan concedes. “Even within the research community, there is still controversy over whether these things are toxic or not.”

A recent comprehensive report on the technology by the Council of Canadian Academies came to the same conclusion. So for now, in the medical field at least, those Star Trek reruns are the only operating theatres where they’ll be in use.

But researchers are continuing to take a close look at them – as close as you can for something that’s too small to be seen.

And with their presence turning up so frequently in everyday life, there’s reason for both concern – and hope. “The notion is that nanocrystals are toxic,” Chan concludes. “But based on our animal studies, it shows that they are relatively benign.”

Perhaps proving the old slightly inverted adage that what you don’t see can’t hurt you. Scientists are hoping that one day, it could really help you, as well.

See the report on the health implications of this amazing technology here.