Nanotech benefits developing world
An application of nanotechnology known as "quantum dots" may be used for cheap, efficient handheld diagnostic devices available at point-of-care institutions in developing countries. Still, according to Fabio Salamanca-Buentello, nanotech applications related to energy are key. "Without energy," he said, "none of the other applications can be used."
DB: This is Earth and Sky, with a story about nanotechnology, the science of the very small.
JB: We spoke to Fabio Salamanca–Buentello with the University of Toronto’s Joint Center for Bioethics. He and his colleagues surveyed an international panel of 63 experts in nanotechnology from around the world. They asked them which nanotechnology applications will most benefit developing countries in the next 10 years in areas such as water, agriculture, nutrition, health, energy and the environment.
Salamanca–Buentello: Very briefly, the examples of energy are at the top, precisely because . . . without energy, none of the other applications can be used.
DB: According to Salamanca–Buentello, nanomaterials such as quantum dots have novel properties that make them useful in developing, for example, more efficient solar cells. He also said that developing countries – home for 5 of every 6 people on Earth – should do more than just focus on simple technologies.
Fabio Salamanca–Buentello: . . . it is very clear that science and technology are an important and essential component of development. So it’s not that science and technology are pursued by rich countries. It’s that the the rich countries got rich because they are interested in pursuing science and technology.
JB: With thanks to the National Science Foundation, I’m Joel Block.
DB: And I’m Deborah Byrd for Earth and Sky.
Taking nano to the needy: Q & A with Fabio Salamanca–Buentello, from Small Times
“Nano “top 10 for developing world, from the Washington Times
Invasion of poverty–fighting nano–bots, from Oneworld.net
Fabio Salamanca–Buentello is a researcher with the Joint Center for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Salamanca–Buentello is a Mexican physician who has worked in the molecular genetics of human cancer and in the molecular basis of memory. His interests now are in the development and implementation of new technologies in the developing world.
