Fricktured Friday

Nanobots, tiny, TINY, little robots, that have been in many science fiction movies and T.V. shows for years, were used to fight diseases or clear blood clots in the movies. But those movies are quickly becoming reality. We’re not quite there, but we’re getting really close.

Last month scientists from China’s NCNT (National centre for nanoscience and technology) And Arizona state university, announced that they had made ultra small robots measuring no more that a few hundred nanometers across, and apparently there are 25 million nanometres in an inch... Which means these things are absurdly small! Cellular level small...

How were they made, and what is there purpose? Well, According to the article, this is how they are made, and what they are made to do.

“The nanorobots were made from sheets of DNA rolled into tubes containing a blood-clotting drug. On the outside, the researchers placed a small DNA molecule that binds with a protein found only in tumors. When the bots reached tumors, this molecule attached to the protein, triggering the DNA tube to unroll and release the drug.”

Many cancer drugs today come with some really nasty side effects, because there is no way for the drugs to differentiate between healthy tissue and cancer cells. The current treatments we have to fight this disease reek havoc on the patients system.

The researchers were able to show that the nanobots targeted only the tumors and didn’t cause any clotting in the body. Which means that cancer drugs with little, to no side effects are just around the bend!

It seems to good to be true... with the all too real possibility that these machines will eventually turn on us and create some sort of terminator like hell scape, because they see us as inferior. Perhaps we shouldn’t be making robots that we can’t even see and can enter our blood stream, just perhaps?

I mean, the benefits of this technology do seem to outweigh the potential apocalyptic scenarios that could come from these types of technologies... But if that does ever happen. It will be far to late for us to do anything about it... Especially if we are building robots that are basically the size of blood cells.. I mean, what could POSSIBLY go wrong...

We just love playing around with technologies that could lead to an apocalypse, don’t we? :P

Here’s a piece I polished off today.. An ink and marker combo. What’s it supposed to be? You tell me! :)

Happy Good Friday Everybody, hope you enjoy the Easter weekend.

Sincerely, Bret Frick.