A tiny vision for the future A tiny vision for the future (January 20, 2006)

NASA Ames director urges Mountain View to promote nanotechnology

By Molly Tanenbaum

Imagine a hole so small that a single strand of DNA fits through it. This feat could enable scientists to decode the entire human genome in mere minutes -- just one of many ways the growing field of nanotechnology is going to change our world, according to NASA Ames Research Center director Scott Hubbard.

Hubbard, giving a talk at a Mountain View Chamber of Commerce lunch Jan. 10, urged residents of Silicon Valley to promote this technology in order to make the state a national and global leader in the field.

Sequencing the human genome with "nano pore technology," Hubbard said, may be on the horizon, along with advances in space and medical technology. But nanotechnology is already used in paints, car bumpers, textiles and cosmetics, Hubbard said.

"People think nanotechnology is way out there in the future. It's with us today," he said, going on to explain that nanotechnology is "using the physics of what goes on at a very small atomic scale to create new materials, new devices."

In space, the technologies may be used in X-ray tubes to analyze molecules and determine if life was ever viable on different planets. In water, nanotechnology could assist in rapidly detecting toxic materials. What's more, he said, bringing together computer science, biology and nanotechnology will create endless possibilities.

During the past year, Hubbard was part of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, commissioned by Congressman Mike Honda and State Controller Steve Westly, to find out ways California can position itself as a leader in what promises to be a trillion-dollar industry over the next decade.

Hubbard reported some of the goals generated from the task force, including understanding all the societal, ethical and environmental implications of the technology. The task force also requested that a yet-to-be-commissioned organization give strategic focus to the effort to make California a nanotech leader.

On a community level, Hubbard believes there are things Californians can do to promote the advancement of nanotechnology, especially when it comes to getting kids interested in the field.

"We've got to capture kids in middle school and get them excited about science, technology and mathematics," he said.

The NASA Ames Research Center is already a leader in nanotech research, but Hubbard does not want California, and particularly Silicon Valley, to assume that it will be naturally dominant in this area, when research centers in New York and Texas are also poised to compete for federal research dollars.

"We're at a good place, but we need to do better," he said.

E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.