Nanotechnology: thinking small

Nanotechnology--building devices on the atomic scale--may unleash some big scientific advances early in the new millennium. Last January in Arlington, Virginia, nearly 100 representatives from academia, industry, and government laid out the general goals for the next decade of nanotechnology research by U.S. government agencies. Some predict that the potentially rich opportunities in this field may trigger a nanotechnology initiative in the federal budget request for Fiscal Year 2001. In the meantime, Congress has asked the NIEHS to explore how nanotechnology might be used to address environmental heath problems.