Soft Nanoscience Letters, 2013, 3, 45-45
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/snl.2013.33008 Published Online July 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/snl) 45
Nanotechnology: An Urgent Need
Francisco M. Marquez Linares
Nanomaterials Research Group, School of Science and Technology, USA.
Received June 1st, 2013, revised July 2nd, 2013; accepted July 9th, 2013
Copyright © 2013 Francisco M. Marquez Linares. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
From the first forecasts and expectations of nanotech-
nology, in the late 90s, there are many things that have
changed and too many expectations not fulfilled. By
2050, the population is expected to exceed 9 billion peo-
ple. At that time, or even before, the situation in the
world can be very difficu lt if we do not p ut all the means
at our disposal.
It is true that nanotechnology has helped to improve
many things, includ ing life expectancy, but it is also true
that environmental sustainability should be promoted so
that in a few years, our descendants may have a decent
life.
Improvements obviously go through the scientific and
technological development. Developing countries under-
stand this and are investing significantly in research and
development. Yet, there is much, very much, to do. The
current global crisis has jeopardized the technological
development of many countries. In countries like Spain,
where public investment was never enough, the crisis has
imposed savage cuts in science. These cuts, which for
some people are not transcendental, will mark a before
and after in the development of this and many other
countries. Deficiencies of these countries are overcome,
at least partially, by the expectations of investment, re-
search development and growth potential of other coun-
tries like China. However, the design of a “future” must
be necessarily a global action that addresses specific ob-
jectives such as the Climate Change, water scarcity, en-
vironmental pollution and energy. These objectives can
be achieved wit h the help of n a not ec hn ol o gy .
The main areas of development in nanotechnology in-
clude the production and storage of energy, environ-
mental diagnostics and cleanup, development of new
nanocomposites, synthesis of increasingly efficient che-
mical, biological and physical sensors, cell and tissue-
based sensors, nanomedicine and manufacturing at the
nanoscale. During the coming years, these and other ar-
eas will need to be globally coordina ted and developed in
a sustainable manner.