Using Nanotech to Create Real-Life Boba Fetts

MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies:

The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) is an interdepartmental research center at MIT. Established in 2002 by a five-year, $50 million contract from the U.S. Army, the ISN's research mission is to use nanotechnology to dramatically improve the survival of soldiers. The ultimate goal is to create a 21st century battlesuit that combines high-tech capabilities with light weight and comfort.

Imagine a bullet-proof jumpsuit, no thicker than ordinary spandex, that monitors health, eases injuries, communicates automatically, and maybe even lends superhuman abilities. It's a long-range vision for how technology can make soldiers less vulnerable to enemy and environmental threats. You can see dramatic examples of how research will achieve these goals in a newly released 12-minute video about the ISN, its mission, and its research program.

Watch the video! (See another video here.) If they are able to bring this technology to fruition, this real-life armor could be even cooler than Boba Fett's! (Now if they could just perfect that jetpack...)

While watching the video, I had to look up what "magnetorheological (MR) fluid" meant. Here's Wikipedia's entry and more info can be found here and here. This stuff reminds me of the days when I worked as an undergraduate research assistant at Virginia Tech's Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures. These MR fluids look far more sophisticated than the piezoelectric materials I was working with at the time.

For those interested in learning more about nanotechnology, here are a few useful links from MIT's website:

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of materials or devices at the nanometer scale (one billionth of a meter), often at the level of individual atoms and molecules. Because the laws of classical Newtonian physics do not apply at these tiny length scales, engineers can often exploit unusual properties in nanostructured materials and devices.

If you are interested in reading more about nanotechnology, check out these nanotechnology resources:

• "What is Nanotechnology?" from the Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Lay person's explanation of nanotechnology from Ask Yahoo
• National Nanotechnology Initiative
• The Massachusetts Nanotechnology Initiative
• Fact Sheet on Nanotechnology, from the National Science Foundation
• Nanotech Web, a virtual meeting point for the worldwide nanotech community
• Nanotechnology Now, a news service focusing on nanotech
• Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University
• List of web sites for nanotechnology images

This kind of technological progress really gets my juices flowing! It almost makes me miss my engineering days...

Nanotechnology and GMU:

• GMU recently started a certificate program in nanotechnology. (See more details here.)
• GMU prof, Robin Hanson, shares some thoughts on the economics of nanotechnology here (PDF) and here.

(HT Foresight)