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February 25 2012
‘Alp’ Turns Containers into Refrigerators
Transporting and displaying cold food is an incredibly wasteful and inefficient process. Current display refrigerators, like those that display meats or cheeses in supermarkets, create cold air that is quickly lost to the open environment. The volume that is cooled is inevitably greater than the volume. Alp, by Ethan Frier, is a transportation and refrigeration concept for the supermarket of 2021. It consists of standardized, reusable boxes in which food items are packed, shipped and displayed.
The boxes are constructed of highly thermally conductive nanomaterials. They cool food via contact with a refrigerated “wall” that is permanently installed in the supermarket for display purposes, or in the wheeled containers used for transport. This system replaces the cardboard boxes typically used to ship food, the refrigerated infrastructure used to transport cold food (refrigerated trucks, large industrial holding refrigerators) and replaces the refrigerated shelving systems used to display cold food for sale. Alp is completely modular and scalable, and can be configured to replace almost any type of refrigerator, from mini fridge to industrial size. Alp challenges us to critically think about how we refrigerate and transport our food.
For additional documentation, visit the project page.
Want to design your own speculative nanotech? Check out the Call for Products in the second edition of the NANO Supermarket.
February 21 2012
Nanotech Bracelet Detects Allergies
Designed by Luc de Smet, Awear is a speculative bracelet that can detect and record the sources of allergies for children in uncontrolled environments, such as schools and playgrounds. While the child wears the bracelet, parents or teachers can check the results on a computer or smartphone. It can be removed at any time when it is deemed no longer necessary or in the way.
Awear works by using an array of nanosize Raman spectroscopes that can scan any surface where light pierces. These miniature spectroscopes would look inside the wearer’s skin to see if an allergic reaction is occurring, and then analyze the surrounding air to detect what allergens are in range. GPS or another similar technology would record the location. The bracelet could be linked with others to share information, and could be modified to give warnings when certain known allergens are in range.
Want to design your own speculative nanotech? Check out the Call for Products in the second edition of the NANO Supermarket.
February 14 2012
The Relative Size of Old Nature
Created by Cary Huang, this interactive scale of the universe shows the relative sizes of everything from quarks to the Hoover Dam. Be prepared for some cosmic gee-whiz moments when you get out to the nebulas. The objects are complimented with cheeky facts such as “If you were to stretch your skin over Vatican City, the coating would be 200 nanometers thick.” Just a reminder that there’s still an incomprehensibly huge amount of ‘old nature’ out there left to explore.
February 13 2012
Nano Supermarket 2nd Edition: Call for Products
The NANO Supermarket is evolving! After two successful years touring the globe, the supermarket is now entering its second edition. We are calling upon designers, technologists and artists to submit their speculative nanotech products for the next round of the NANO supermarket. A selection of the most innovative products will be exhibited in the physical space, and featured in the accompanying catalogue. The best product overall will win a € 2500 prize.
Nanotechnology is an important emerging technology – it radically intervenes with our sense of what is natural – yet most people are still relatively unaware of its consequences. The Next Nature NANO Supermarket is a physical “supermarket” that features debate-provoking visions on nanotech products that could be expected to hit the shelves between today and 2020.
Just what is a nano product? Click through for some examples of our past entries:
Self–cleaning windows, contact lenses with a display, smart medicines that are delivered exactly on the spot, molecular printed food, blush–reducing make-up, self–healing anti scratch surfaces, nano-particle tagging spray that may identify your possessions when stolen, cyborg insects, breathing textiles, tooth phones, organic jewelry and implantable microprocessors.
For information and updates, visit nanosupermarket.org.
January 08 2012
Fake Leaf is Twice as Efficient as the Real Thing
Improving on photosynthesis has long been a dream for scientists. The so-called artificial leaf – which wouldn’t necessarily look like one – would run on only solar energy and CO2, just like a normal leaf. But unlike a real leaf, an artificial leaf could be made far more efficient at collecting solar energy, and would turn that energy into electricity.
With their new ‘bionanodevice’, researchers at the University of Michigan have moved one step closer to that goal. Splicing together proteins from cynobacteria, Synechococcus, and Clostridium with nano-scale wire, they have created a frankenstein device that is more efficient at photosynthesis than any of the bacteria on their own. Their research joins recent efforts at MIT, where scientists have developed a ‘leaf’ that produces hydrogen from water and sunlight.
Fake leaves producing real energy are still a way off, since producing nanodevices cheap and tough enough for mass production will prove difficult. Even though these devices are double the efficiency of natural leaves, they still only convert 4 to 5% of solar energy into useable electricity. Artificial photosynthesis may have to triple the efficiency of actual plants in order to compete with more conventional means of producing electricity.
Image of MIT artificial leaf via Geek.com
May 11 2011
Humane Technology #1: That Natural Feeling
All too often, technology frustrates us. It forces our behavior into constrained pathways. Even more insidious, technology can knock us out of alignment with our values, goals or health. While conventional tech creates new problems even as it solves old ones, ‘humane technology’ has the opposite effect. It is a partner, not a passive tool. It works with our bodies and instincts, not against them. This post is the first in a series that attempts to make a field guide or mini-manifesto for humane technology. To kick it off, here’s the first principle of the six: Humane technology should feel natural, rather than estranging.
Medicine can be hard to swallow, and vaccine needles makes even the bravest patients squirm. Is there a friendlier way to what’s good for us? Humane technology recognizes that humans are not one-size-fits-all. What works like a charm for you might feel like a curse to me. Humane technology should strive to replicate the walking leaf: so well adapted to the local conditions that you might not even notice, or mind, that it’s there. Just don’t be surprised if your doctor prescribes medical-grade sushi made from GM fish, or uses a painless needle based on a mosquito’s proboscis. The technology behind our advances might be mind-boggling, but the results should feel as natural as our own skin.
March 26 2011
Nano World Map
The NanoWorld Map is an imaginative map of the emerging world of nanotechnology. It presents an overview of the state of the art of nanotechnology: its application domains, its enabling technologies and products.
When traveling through the landscape of the Nano World one comes across its opportunities, fears, risks and desires. Established applications are presented as cities, whereas speculative applications are rendered as villages.
Map out your route or travel along the given routes on the map. Imagine how the products on your journey will have impact on your life and the life of others. Would you use the products? How can this change your life and what will be the impact on your environment?
Launch the: Online Version of the Nano World Map.
The Nano World Map was designed by Niko Vegt, advised by Hendrik-Jan Grievink, Koert van Mensvoort and Bart Walhout in collaboration with the Rathenau Institute. Created for the Nano Supermarket. Sponsored by Nanopodium.
Order your Nano World Map
Number of Maps: € 7 + €3 shipping First Name: Last Name: Street: City: Zip Code: Email:
Creditcard processing through Paypal.Shipping to anywhere in the world.
March 11 2011
Nano World Map
The Nano World Map is an imaginative map of the emerging world of nanotechnology. It presents an overview of the state of the art of nanotechnology: its application domains, its enabling technologies and products.
When traveling through the landscape of the Nano World one comes across its opportunities, fears, risks and desires. Established applications are presented as cities, whereas speculative applications are rendered as villages.
Map out your route or travel along the given routes on the map. Imagine how the products on your journey will have impact on your life and the life of others. Would you use the products? How can this change your life and what will be the impact on your environment?
Launch the: Online Version of the Nano World Map.
The Nano World map was designed by Niko Vegt, advised by Hendrik-Jan Grievink, Koert van Mensvoort and Bart Walhout in collaboration with the Rathenau Institute. Created for the Nano Supermarket. Sponsored by Nanopodium.
Order your Nano World Map
Number of Maps: € 9 + €3 shipping First Name: Last Name: Street: City: Zip Code: Email:
Creditcard processing through Paypal.Shipping to anywhere in the world.
March 05 2011
Manko & Soup
When Nada returned as promised with a small bowl of soup in her hands, Manko was sitting upright with a grumbling stomach. Even now that Manko could see normal again, Nada’s hair was still a red blur. Her green eyes looked at him curiously from under the short bob haircut.
Nada: ‘Ha, you’re staring at my kinetic hairdo.’
She shook her head, which made her hair flash up into a bright red light, as if she was a big matchstick and her head was about to burst into flames.
Nada: ‘Here, this tomato soup will make you feel better. It’s slightly enhanced with nano-tech, as is everything in this place.’
Manko put the bowl to his mouth and eagerly slurped the soup. It did not burn his mouth, so he took a big gulp and a warm stream made its way down his throat and into his rejoicing belly. This must have been the best soup he’d ever had. The warmth did not stop in his belly though, but continued to spread thoughout his body. A mellow warmth that soon reached his arms and leg. As he swallowed the last bit of soup, he could feel it already reaching his fingertips. It was as if he was being filled up like a radiator, hollow on the inside, with hot water filling him up entirely. It was a marvelous feeling.
Manko: ‘Wow!’
Nada: ‘I hope you don’t mind that we’re introducing nanotechnology in your body. It’s completely harmless, but if you think it is unethical, We can completely remove it from you again, so don’t worry.’
Manko: ‘Is there a limit as to how much of this nano-tech a human being can safely have inside?’
Nada: ‘Your body can handle it. At the atomic scale the amount of empty space in your body is almost without boundaries, as I’m sure Zero will explain to you. Here, let me help you up.’
As they left the dome and traversed the empty corridor, Manko insisted to hop on his one leg, feeling more alive than ever after the energizing soup. There were several smaller steel doors. The last door opened and Antoine Gill welcomed them into his Lab. The room was filled with strange machines, unlike any Manko had ever seen before.
‘Please sit on that block over there,’ Gill pointed to a white cube in the corner of the room. Manko sat down on the soft block. ‘I think It’s time to get you on your feet again, don’t you?’
Gill smiled broadly, then lifted a piece of cloth and revealed a beautiful replica of Manko’s leg, which looked like it was made out of solid metal.
Gill: ‘When you were in the colander, I made a scan of your leg, mirrored it and printed it. Feel the weight.’
He picked up the leg and threw it at Manko. Manko shrieked and braced himself. The leg almost bounced off Manko, as he clumsily grabbed it. It was incredibly light.
Gill: ‘Allow me…’
Gill put a cuff around his thigh, holding the artificial leg firmly in place and started to connect a belt around Manko’s waist, as he continued: ‘Closed-cell titanium foam is a very strong substance yet 95% of the volume consists of void space. As an artist interested in the absence of things, I am sure you can appreciate this remarkable feature.’
Manko was touched. He felt bad that he had previously misjudged Gill on the basis of his taste in music. This was an engineer that understood Manko on an intelectual and personal level.
Manko: ‘Thank you! How can I ever repay you?’ He got up on his feet and felt how the joints in his new leg anticipated his movements.
Gill: ‘Don’t worry about it. If you’re the missing link in our enterprise, as Zero thinks you are, then making sure you can walk again is the least I can do.’
Nada reached into a pocket of her Lab suit: ‘And this is my welcoming present to you.’ She gave Manko a small transparent box: ‘I know you’re familiar with AR lenses as you have used them for your KM3 project. I asked Gill to program a few extra layers in. If you blink twice in quick succession, you’ll activate a tutorial layer that will explain how things work around here. And if you blink three times or more, well, you’ll see. But please wait to put on your lenses until we’re all at the table.’
After Manko thanked them many times over, they all left the lab and went up to another steel door. It opened when Nada approached it, giving way to a white dome, much like the one he had been in before. Apart from a few white cubes in various sizes, set like chairs around a table, the dome was empty.
Nada: ‘Welcome to our communal space. This is where we’ll have our dinner.’
As they walked over to the cubes, Zero and Bokor entered the dome from the other side. Zero seemed a little distressed as he was talking to Bokor. He mumbled something about ‘children’ and ‘ecosystem’, then looked up and Manko was sure that his mustache curled up as their eyes met.
Zero: ‘Manko, how are you? Is your new leg comfortable? We could have easily merged it permanently with your thigh bone, but Gill told me that you consider your vacuum a space for artworks, so we didn’t dare to disrespect your statement. Please, have a seat. Bessy has prepared a three course dinner for us tonight.
As you must have noticed when you had your bowl of soup, nano-cooking is quite different than normal cooking. At the nanometer scale, things start to behave in unimaginable ways. Smaller is not just smaller, it’s different. With each step in scale, all the properties of a substance change quite radically and dramatically.
Ah, here comes Bes, our chemist and Chef. She always makes sure that a meal gives us pleasure and improves our health. You will find that the word ‘taste’ will have a new meaning for you after this dinner. In fact, a new dimension.’
Nada: ‘All right Manko, it’s time to put in those lenses.’
Manko & Soup
When Nada returned as promised with a small bowl of soup in her hands, Manko was sitting upright with a grumbling stomach. Even now that Manko could see normal again, Nada’s hair was still a red blur. Her green eyes looked at him curiously from under the short bob haircut.
Nada: ‘Ha, you’re staring at my kinetic hairdo.’
She shook her head, which made her hair flash up into a bright red light, as if she was a big matchstick and her head was about to burst into flames.
Nada: ‘Here, this tomato soup will make you feel better. It’s slightly enhanced with nano-tech, as is everything in this place.’
Manko put the bowl to his mouth and eagerly slurped the soup. It did not burn his mouth, so he took a big gulp and a warm stream made its way down his throat and into his rejoicing belly. This must have been the best soup he’d ever had. The warmth did not stop in his belly though, but continued to spread thoughout his body. A mellow warmth that soon reached his arms and leg. As he swallowed the last bit of soup, he could feel it already reaching his fingertips. It was as if he was being filled up like a radiator, hollow on the inside, with hot water filling him up entirely. It was a marvelous feeling.
Manko: ‘Wow!’
Nada: ‘I hope you don’t mind that we’re introducing nanotechnology in your body. It’s completely harmless, but if you think it is unethical, We can completely remove it from you again, so don’t worry.’
Manko: ‘Is there a limit as to how much of this nano-tech a human being can safely have inside?’
Nada: ‘Your body can handle it. At the atomic scale the amount of empty space in your body is almost without boundaries, as I’m sure Zero will explain to you. Here, let me help you up.’
As they left the dome and traversed the empty corridor, Manko insisted to hop on his one leg, feeling more alive than ever after the energizing soup. There were several smaller steel doors. The last door opened and Antoine Gill welcomed them into his Lab. The room was filled with strange machines, unlike any Manko had ever seen before.
‘Please sit on that block over there,’ Gill pointed to a white cube in the corner of the room. Manko sat down on the soft block. ‘I think It’s time to get you on your feet again, don’t you?’
Gill smiled broadly, then lifted a piece of cloth and revealed a beautiful replica of Manko’s leg, which looked like it was made out of solid metal.
Gill: ‘When you were in the colander, I made a scan of your leg, mirrored it and printed it. Feel the weight.’
He picked up the leg and threw it at Manko. Manko shrieked and braced himself. The leg almost bounced off Manko, as he clumsily grabbed it. It was incredibly light.
Gill: ‘Allow me…’
Gill put a cuff around his thigh, holding the artificial leg firmly in place and started to connect a belt around Manko’s waist, as he continued: ‘Closed-cell titanium foam is a very strong substance yet 95% of the volume consists of void space. As an artist interested in the absence of things, I am sure you can appreciate this remarkable feature.’
Manko was touched. He felt bad that he had previously misjudged Gill on the basis of his taste in music. This was an engineer that understood Manko on an intelectual and personal level.
Manko: ‘Thank you! How can I ever repay you?’ He got up on his feet and felt how the joints in his new leg anticipated his movements.
Gill: ‘Don’t worry about it. If you’re the missing link in our enterprise, as Zero thinks you are, then making sure you can walk again is the least I can do.’
Nada reached into a pocket of her Lab suit: ‘And this is my welcoming present to you.’ She gave Manko a small transparent box: ‘I know you’re familiar with AR lenses as you have used them for your KM3 project. I asked Gill to program a few extra layers in. If you blink twice in quick succession, you’ll activate a tutorial layer that will explain how things work around here. And if you blink three times or more, well, you’ll see. But please wait to put on your lenses until we’re all at the table.’
After Manko thanked them many times over, they all left the lab and went up to another steel door. It opened when Nada approached it, giving way to a white dome, much like the one he had been in before. Apart from a few white cubes in various sizes, set like chairs around a table, the dome was empty.
Nada: ‘Welcome to our communal space. This is where we’ll have our dinner.’
As they walked over to the cubes, Zero and Bokor entered the dome from the other side. Zero seemed a little distressed as he was talking to Bokor. He mumbled something about ‘children’ and ‘ecosystem’, then looked up and Manko was sure that his mustache curled up as their eyes met.
Zero: ‘Manko, how are you? Is your new leg comfortable? We could have easily merged it permanently with your thigh bone, but Gill told me that you consider your vacuum a space for artworks, so we didn’t dare to disrespect your statement. Please, have a seat. Bessy has prepared a three course dinner for us tonight.
As you must have noticed when you had your bowl of soup, nano-cooking is quite different than normal cooking. At the nanometer scale, things start to behave in unimaginable ways. Smaller is not just smaller, it’s different. With each step in scale, all the properties of a substance change quite radically and dramatically.
Ah, here comes Bes, our chemist and Chef. She always makes sure that a meal gives us pleasure and improves our health. You will find that the word ‘taste’ will have a new meaning for you after this dinner. In fact, a new dimension.’
Nada: ‘All right Manko, it’s time to put in those lenses.’
February 26 2011
(Nano)technology imitating Nature
Over the coming years, nanotechnology will invade our everyday lives. Nanotechnology, usually defined as the control and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale, will be incorporated in anything from windshields to cancer drugs, and from sun lotion to batteries. But what exactly is this technology that encroaches upon our daily activities?
One strategy of explaining nanotechnology is by referring to scale. For instance, it is said that the dot of this ‘i’ encompasses a million nanoparticles or that a human hair is 80.000 nanometers wide. Surely this sounds impressive, but what exactly does it mean? Would it make any difference to my non-technical mind if a human hair would be 800 nanometers wide? Or 8.000.000 nanometers? How do you imagine a technology that is defined by its size, when that size is too small to imagine?
Another well-known strategy is to create images. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, images of nanotechnology abound. Journals showcase nanotechnology images on their covers, magazines have created ‘galleries’ with the latest nanotechnology pictures, and scientific societies have organized ‘best picture’ contests. The winner gets a prize and is sure to receive lots of exposure.
Whoever expects this fancy technology to be portrayed with images of steam, steel and machinery is sure to be disappointed. Instead, nano-image competitions are frequently won by images of landscapes, animals and particularly flowers. Rather than stressing the technological achievement of controlling matter at the nano-scale, nanotechnology is portrayed in terms of nature.
Surely random materials at the nano-scale do not look like roses, pine trees and Chinese landscapes. By selecting those images that refer to nature, nanotechnology is presented as something safe. Nanotechnology, so the message goes, is as readily under our control as animals and trees. Nanotechnology is domesticated.
A selection of winners of the ‘science as art’ competition by the Materials Research Society.
Picture 1. ‘Self-illuminating flowers of Pandora’ made by Jian Shi of the University of Wisconsin. First place winner in the 2010 spring competition.
Picture 2. ‘ZnO Nanowire Arrays’ made by Surawut Chuangchote of Kyoto University. First place winner in the 2010 spring competition.
Picture 3. ‘Micro sea’ made by Sung H. Kang of Harvard University. Second place winner in the 2010 spring competition. The accompanying text notes that “the image brings to mind to eggs of fish on marine plants in a sea”.
Picture 4. ‘Landscape painting in microscope’ made by Jianping Ge of the University of California-Riverside. Second place winner in the 2008 fall competition.
Picture 5. ‘Two pine trees’ made by Matthew J. Bierman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Second place winner in the 2008 fall competition.
(Nano)technology imitating Nature
Over the coming years, nanotechnology will invade our everyday lives. Nanotechnology, usually defined as the control and manipulation of matter at the nanoscale, will be incorporated in anything from windshields to cancer drugs, and from sun lotion to batteries. But what exactly is this technology that encroaches upon our daily activities?
One strategy of explaining nanotechnology is by referring to scale. For instance, it is said that the dot of this ‘i’ encompasses a million nanoparticles or that a human hair is 80.000 nanometers wide. Surely this sounds impressive, but what exactly does it mean? Would it make any difference to my non-technical mind if a human hair would be 800 nanometers wide? Or 8.000.000 nanometers? How do you imagine a technology that is defined by its size, when that size is too small to imagine?
Another well-known strategy is to create images. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, images of nanotechnology abound. Journals showcase nanotechnology images on their covers, magazines have created ‘galleries’ with the latest nanotechnology pictures, and scientific societies have organized ‘best picture’ contests. The winner gets a prize and is sure to receive lots of exposure.
Whoever expects this fancy technology to be portrayed with images of steam, steel and machinery is sure to be disappointed. Instead, nano-image competitions are frequently won by images of landscapes, animals and particularly flowers. Rather than stressing the technological achievement of controlling matter at the nano-scale, nanotechnology is portrayed in terms of nature.
Surely random materials at the nano-scale do not look like roses, pine trees and Chinese landscapes. By selecting those images that refer to nature, nanotechnology is presented as something safe. Nanotechnology, so the message goes, is as readily under our control as animals and trees. Nanotechnology is domesticated.
A selection of winners of the ‘science as art’ competition by the Materials Research Society.
Picture 1. ‘Self-illuminating flowers of Pandora’ made by Jian Shi of the University of Wisconsin. First place winner in the 2010 spring competition.
Picture 2. ‘ZnO Nanowire Arrays’ made by Surawut Chuangchote of Kyoto University. First place winner in the 2010 spring competition.
Picture 3. ‘Micro sea’ made by Sung H. Kang of Harvard University. Second place winner in the 2010 spring competition. The accompanying text notes that “the image brings to mind to eggs of fish on marine plants in a sea”.
Picture 4. ‘Landscape painting in microscope’ made by Jianping Ge of the University of California-Riverside. Second place winner in the 2008 fall competition.
Picture 5. ‘Two pine trees’ made by Matthew J. Bierman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Second place winner in the 2008 fall competition.
January 30 2011
Manko & …
Manko was completely cut off from everything around him, virtually dead, buried alive inside of his own body. He remembered Zero’s advice not to panic, but to no effect. He had no feedback from his body. He couldn’t even sense any breathing, which freaked him out. Right now in his mind waves of questions tumbled over each other.
Were these people serious about living forever? Was this the way he was supposed to contribute? By being preserved like this? He pondered on the possibility of never being woken up. Even if Zero’s team wanted to revive him, would it not be possible that they would fail to wake him up? How often had they done this before? Were there more people like him in other rooms? Were they trying to bring him back to the world at this moment? Were there any complications? Would they soon give up on him?
Manko panicked pretty much until he could no longer bear it. He had no sense of time. After he slowly regained his ability to think straight again, he noticed an odd thing.
In this sort of a panic situation he would normally start breathing uncontrolled. And he would always get itchy when nervous as well. And ironically, this in return would push his fear up to toxic levels. Right now this could have been an unbearable and incredibly frustrating kind of fear. He was nervous enough for a roller-coaster of complete bodily freak-out. Yet he did not have one little itch.
The absence of even that simplest itchiness must have somehow reversed his nervousness a bit, because Manko started to giggle. He laughed quietly at first, but soon enough his head echoed with virtual laughter. He wouldn’t be surprised to be pissing himself right now.
After the panic and the laughter ebbed away Manko felt completely calm. So here was Manko, in a void in which his only source of stimulation was his own thinking. He could still bring up memories and he could still use his imagination.
As for memories, he wanted to make sure never to forget that which made him who he was. And although Manko did not think too much of himself and his achievements in life so far, he cherished many good memories he did not want to lose.
If there was no way of telling how long he would be trapped in this situation, he would have to think of something useful to do, something to pass the time and prepare somehow for the possibility of being revived many years from now, maybe even decades or centuries. He decided he was either going to slowly lose control and go crazy or he was going to turn this into a sort of game. He chose for door number two.
Why not think of a new and meaningful artwork based on his experience? If he would never wake up and die eventually, at least he would die doing what he loved to do most: thinking up new ideas. Yet if he would still wake up , many years from now, he would be completely prepared to start executing grand ideas in minute detail.
Suddenly, totally unexpected, he had an incredible idea. From deep within, an idea floated to the surface. An idea for an artwork so pure and simple, he couldn’t believe it at first. Why had he never thought of that before?
At the emergence of this revelation Manko suddenly felt one, then two, then millions of pins and needles. He recognized this sensation. His senses were activated again! He was still unable to see as he heard a soft voice speaking to him: ‘Hello there. My name is Nada.’
Manko was fully alive but still in a state where he could not control what he said or did.
Nada: ‘You have been out for about three hours. But don’t worry, you’re fine, more than fine. We could not afford to compromise our operation, so we needed to take the milk out of your coffee.’
‘Milk out of my coffee?’ Manko was not sure his ears were picking up the right signals. And three hours? He had a feeling he’d been absent from the world for days.
Nada: ‘As Zero may have mentioned, Bokor is our Nanotech Cleaner. He’s one of the few that can clean up traces of Nanotechnology from your body for a complete hundred percent. The air that was blown into the dome, had nanoparticles in it that enter your body and then search and destroy all nano particles present. You just take your time to adjust to your senses and I’ll explain.
You see, nanoparticles in the air behave like a gas, they do not settle like dust. When you breathe in gas, your lungs have various ways of stopping particles from further entering your body. Unlike gas though, nanoparticles, once inhaled, do not stay in the lungs. They continue to travel inside our body and can be programmed to stay in your brain forever.
There’s a few companies that have understood the potential of this. You may not believe me but right now, about 20 different generations of nanobots are circulating through your entire body, especially your brain. The indexed information is continuously sold to the highest bidding companies.
Getting nanobots in the air and then out of you is fairly simple as you’ve recently discovered. Almost all sewers in the world have receivers that read out the excreted nanobots that pass by. The only way to stop the information flow is to never use toilets or showers. And then there are always new ways of reading out the data being developed, so peeing against trees is no guarantee for complete privacy, although it helps.
Some of these Nanobots can be activated to complete a specific task. I will not go into details, but trust me if I say that some people could perform some serious Voodoo on you, if they wanted. And that’s what we did before we cleaned the Nanobots from your body.
The nano-particles that you breathed in while you were in the dome make the person inhaling them appear to be physically dead and that’s exactly the signal that needs to be given off to the world. With some urine samples down a remote public toilet we will erase you from the grid.
So, now that you know all the details, it’s time to bring you back to the living. Please stay calm and keep lying down for a bit longer. You will have to be patient to feel your muscles again.’
Manko could feel the light on his eyelids and did not dare to open his eyes just yet as the light was hurting his eyes. As he started to speak he noticed his mouth seemed unfamiliar with speaking and his tongue was uncoordinated.
Manko: Aw you a nuyse?
Nada laughed.
Nada: No, no, I’m not a nurse. I’m the philosopher on this boat. Just like you, I received an invitation from Zero, two years ago. When I found out what he’s researching I was game. I heard you are an artist? That will be very interesting. Hopefully we get to talk about other things than carbon and fullerenes for a change.’
Manko tried squinting through his eyes and in the bright white flash saw an orange blur where her voice was. Red hair, no doubt.
Manko: ‘I’m wungly’
Nada: ‘Of course you are. I remember having the appetite of a bear just out of hibernation. I’ll go ask our chef to prepare you a nice soup. We’ll have our big diner in two hours. You just try and exercise your muscles a bit and I’ll be back here in fifteen minutes.
Manko: ‘Fwank hoo’
Nada: ‘You’re welcome’
The orange blur moved up, away from him and then disappeared as Nada left the dome.
January 28 2011
Nano Product: Pharmaceutical Sushi
Are we creating the penicillin or the asbestos of the 21st century? Prior to the arrival of the Nano Supermarket, we share some speculative nanotech products with you. Here’s the first in the Nano Supermarket Products series: Pharmaceutical Sushi. Taking medicine becomes a social activity. And it tastes pretty good!
Hello young (wo)man
If you’re in your thirties now, you’re in your fifties by fifteen years. Your life will probably be slightly different than your life as it is now. You might be married, or have some kids going to university. Either way, let’s not speculate too much about that. Instead, let’s stick to something that will undoubtedly be different by that time – your body: your hair has gone slightly thinner and a bit grey, playing football on sundays isn’t that spectacular anymore due to physical constraints and your health in general isn’t wat it used to be.
Bad news for you, because the public health system as existed in some civilised parts of the world around 2010 is gone and won’t come back. Coming from a middle class background you where not very alert on keeping up with all the rapid changes within the public health system and the insurance world, thinking you’ll be allright. Barack Obama, president of the U.S.A from 2009 untill 2013 didn’t get the reformation of the public health system in the U.S.A. through congress and from then, thinks started to worsen in all parts of the world struggling with the financial crises of 2008 and 2013.
Bèta Medicine
So there you are. It’s 2025; cancer is still the no.1 disease to fear, not only in the western world but also in Asia and sub-saharan Africa, your first friends suffer from incontinentia, you start to get a little bit nervous and you’re dramatically under-insured. Now what to do? Your insurance company has the answer. In a letter you receive, your insurance agent makes you a special offer to sign up for a new range of organic medicine, grown in genetically modified fish. The medicine is harvested as fish-eggs and ready for consumption – Pharmaceutical Sushi. However still in bèta, it comes in all variations: Prednison, Prozac, Anticonception, Viagra, Vitamins – anything you or your family members need. Of course you accept the offer. Together with your insurance agent you select a nice family package deal with the pharmaceutical industry mogul in Asia that developed the concept and you sign the life-long contract. Which gets you some extra discount, and a 24-carat lipstick as a bonus.
Your sunday afternoon pharmasushi family lunches are no stand alones. Over the past decade, you’ve witnessed an increasing hybridization of food, technology and medicine. With your chopsticks (that display your calorie consumption by changing color) you pick the last Vitamine ABC Sashimi. Tomorrow it’s monday and you have to go to the office again. Quickly, you take a sip of your Chocolate Flavoured Nano Slim Shake. All set and done.
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PRODUCER: PHARMASUSHI
EXPECTED TO HIT THE SHELVES IN: 2020
PRICE: €35,– PER SET
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