This article discussed the future applications of a field of nanotechnology called nanomedicine. Nanotechnology is the engineering of atomically precise structures and molecular machines. Nanomedicine is simply the application of these machines with medicine. Ongoing research with nanotechnology involves the insertion of "nanoflowers" that mimic the geometry of neurons to help restore sight in blind patients. Nanotechnology could play a role in the enhancement of transporting medicine through the body or certain parts of the body. Currently, researchers are theorizing the development of medical nanorobots the size of a bacterium composed of thousands of molecule sized molecular parts. These nanorobots could be analogous to white blood cells by being injected into the blood stream to seek out and degrade pathogens. Also, they could even seek out diseased cells and remove their chromosomes and replace them with new ones. The physician or patient would then broadcast an ultrasound signal and the nanorobots would exit the body through the kidneys. There are several advantages these robots have over current medicine, such as the ability to act faster, no microbe can evolve resistance, and elimination of side effects.
Source: http://www.wfs.org/node/1112
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