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SPRING 2007
The Art of Science:
Nanostructures Un-Structured
 

When K. Eric Drexler popularized the term ‘nanotechnology’ in the early 1980s, he spoke of building machines on the scale of molecules—motors, robot arms, and even computers—smaller than a single cell. Nanotechnology’s advance will affect almost all industries, offering the possibility of nano-scale products with improved physical, chemical and biological properties for use in communications, medicine, transportation, agriculture and general manufacturing. The structure above, an electron microscope image of multi-layer nanosprings and nanorods grown on polystyrene microbeads, is part of a collaborative art exhibit put together by UGA faculty—physicist Yiping Zhao, engineer Zhengwei Pan, and artist Michael Oliveri.