Nano Nano

Forbes’s list of the Top Ten Nanotech products is interesting for a few reasons. One, I had no idea nanotech was already in so many products. Two, please, people, stop using nano in your product names right away. It’s already starting to sound lame. Three:

nanotechnology-enhanced cosmetic treatments penetrate deep beneath the surface and affect the base molecular layer. Take Plenitude Revitalift antiwrinkle cream by L’Oral Paris, which introduced its first nanotechnology product in 1998. Plenitude uses a patented 200-nanometer nanotechnology process to incorporate vitamin A inside a polymer “capsule.” The capsule acts like a sponge, soaking up and holding the cream inside until the outer shell dissolves under your skin (emphasis mine)

It might be because it wasn’t that long ago that I read Prey but am I the only one not super enthused with molecular level stuff disolving under your skin? How well tested are those products? Yeah, I know, we already have chemicals and all kinds of radiations everywhere, bla bla. I dunno, just sounds worse somehow.

[Later] A new microscope to research those risks.

2 Comments

Michel January 7, 2004

I don’t know, having read Prey, nanotechnology to me sounds completely hilarious and not likely to occur.
Oh, wait, perhaps that’s just Crighton’s writing.

TheDon January 7, 2004

I finished Prey last week. It was a bit over the top but I got his point loud and clear.

It really is something we should have a better handle on before we start messing around because we’ve already seen how computer virii can get out of hand and this is just a physical manifestation of that.

I highly doubt this is an issue we’ll be dealing with in the next 5 to 10 years but it is a risk.

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