Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Play the Nano

We have worked with experts in nanotechnology using the Play Nano initiative.

By Miren Isasa; CIC Nanogune: There is nanotechnology and nanoscience. Nanoscience would be the acquisition of knowledge about the nanoscale. And nanotechnology would be the search for devices, applications based on this nanoscience.

Paulo Sarriegi; CIC Nanogune: A nanometer is a thousand millons of a meter, or if you make a millimeter in a million parts, one of those parts.

By Miren Isasa; CIC Nanogune: If you compare it to everyday things, if the world were a metro, a canica would be a nanometer. There was nanotechnology before, but now we've named it after it. The colors of the church’s vans are obtained thanks to nanoparticles.

By Paolo Vavassori; CIC Nanogune: There are many consequences that are not explained on a macro scale. The way the elementary particles that make up the matter behave is very special. It goes against common sense: particles that can pass barriers that can move both as waves and as waves. All this happens in matter in general, but when matter is on a very large scale this is not noticeable, we cannot take advantage of its characteristic. If we reduce it to the nanoscale, this particular way of acting that the matter has is seen, explained and can be used to make new devices.

For example, in the case of a sol cream containing silver and zinc nanoparticles, the uniqueness of the nanoparticles in absorbing ultraviolet radiation is used. The entire skin should be covered with nanoparticles and this is done by dispersing a lot of nanoparticles inside the cream. There are many, but each one has the characteristic that the nanoscale gives it. Having a lot doesn’t mean going back to the macroscale and acts for feature goals.

Paulo Sarriegi; CIC Nanogune: Now nanotechnology is being focused on the medical field. For example, devices are being developed that will deliver the drug directly to cells, such as cancer cells. Current therapies are very harmful to the whole body. You don't co-operate with diseased cells, you co-operate with all the cells in the body. Nanotechnology is now pursuing this.

By Paolo Vavassori; CIC Nanogune: We're working on it. It seems that it is not so far away in the future. It's pretty close. It is not yet at the level of the product that can be produced industrially, but there are prototypes that work. Then I could not say whether it will be in five, ten, fifteen years, but it will not be later. We're talking about what's on hand.

Play decide player: It has a lot of strength and there are a lot of things that can be done with nanotechnology, but we really don’t know what its long-term effects are.

By Alex Bittner; CIC Nanogune: If we talk about risks, for me there is not much difference with experiments in the field of chemistry, or with those that are carried out with biological components. Every time you start a trial, you should be aware of the risks of the compound in your hand. And if you don’t know the compound, you should be more careful about what happens, such as an explosion.

Nanotechnology is of course special, they are small particles and it is not possible to predict what might happen. So we're cautious. Those of us who make nanotechnology or nanoscience are aware that we are working with it and that we want to take care of our health.

Play decide player: It is noted that the regulation must be deficient.

By Alex Bittner; CIC Nanogune: I believe that the regulation should be the same as for chemicals in the case of nanotechnology or nanoscience. But I'm talking about the current situation. Ten years from now, twenty years from now, you can't know. You may have new elements or machines with the power to do things you can’t imagine, the ability to influence or control your brain. And that will require a new regulation. We still don’t know how it will be or how it will be.

Play decide player: What we see is that we need the right spaces for discussion; today has been an ideal space for discussion of this kind, and we see that education can play a role in this.