Week 8: Nanotech + Art

The 21^st century is all about going big, but in a small way – on a nano-scale that is. When Richard Feynman issued his challenge of building a motor that was 0.4mm per dimension, he had no idea we would today be building carbon nanotubes just nanometers in diameter. More impressive perhaps is the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM), which exploits the tunneling phenomenon of tiny particles in order to resolve the contours and troughs and peaks of molecules. This has additionally allowed us to manipulate the positions of atoms and molecules to makes words and even artistic configurations.

A rendering of carbon nano tubes.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Types_of_Carbon_Nanotubes.png

I found Chris Orfescu’s work in this field to be particularly exciting. Orfescu, a materials scientist by trade, not only creates art on a nano-scale but holds competitions for others to do the same. What happens here is a powerful scanning electron microscope is used to visualize an atomic structure, and this visualization is processed with various artistic techniques in order to make artworks.

One example of Orfescu's method is this piece by Dolores Kaufman. This takes the nano-sculpture and modifies it to look like a waterfall (and it was aptly entitled "Nano Niagra"). I found this very clever because, as Kaufman says, it "creates something so very large from something so very small, just as occurs in nature."
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/17/technology/17NANO_NIAGRA.jpg

A more practical use of this technology can be found in the biotech realm, where scientists have discovered how to use bismuth nanoparticles in conjunction with a spectral Computed Tomography scanner to find a blood clot’s exact location. Gregory Lanza, a researcher at Washington University predicts more technology will be developed to not only find blood clots but also seal weak spots in the blood vessels. Given the tremendous rate at which innovations are being made today, this means there’s no telling what kind of medical procedures will be possible ten, twenty, or thirty years from now. In a hopeful vision for the future, we may just be able to inject certain nanoparticles to deal with any maladies for which today we may have to be hospitalized. 

The top image depicts a blood vessel with ruptured atherosclerotic plaque (with will develop into a clot) and the nanoparticles, are attracted to the protein fibrin in the blood clot. On the bottom left is an image of a traditional CT scan, which cannot distinguish between the blood clot and the calcium in the plaque. The spectral CT image however, shows the bismuth nanoparticles that are attracted to the fibrin.
http://nanowiki.info/img/clots.jpg

Works Cited

Ball, Philip. "Honey, I Shrank the Motor." The Guardian.  Web. 24 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2004%2Fjun%2F10%2Fscience.nanotechnology>.

Feder, Barnaby. "The Art of Nanotech." Bits The Art of Nanotech Comments.  25 Jan. 2008. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/the-art-of-nanotech/?_r=0>.

Lovgren, Stefan. "Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier to Understand?" National Geographic. National Geographic Society, Web. 25 May 2015. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/12/1223_031223_nanotechnology.html>.

"NanoArt International Online Competition." NanoArt International Online Competition.  Web. 25 May 2015. <http://nanoart21.org/nanoart_contest.html>.

"New Nanoparticles Make Blood Clots Visible." Nanowiki.  Web. 24 May 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fnanowiki.info%2F%23%255B%255BNew%2520nanoparticles%2520make%2520blood%2520clots%2520visible%255D%255D>.

Viktor, Erik. "Nanotechnology Now." Nanotechnology Art Gallery. Web. 25 May 2015. <http://www.nanotech-now.com/Art_Gallery/erik-viktor.htm>.