The future of innovation at 10^(-6) | Josh Baptist | TEDxYouth@MileHigh

It's a beautiful, strange world at 10^(-6). As nanotechnology development continues to speed up, we see ever-expanding ways in which to use the technology in everyday life. In this heady talk, Joshua Baptist implores us to think about how the the "small things" are necessary to make the "big things" better.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Electronics, cell phones,
computers, satellites, TVs,

nearly everything that we use today
that incorporates electronics

use what we call microelectronics,
or integrated circuits,

or very tiny structures that use electrons
or waves to communicate within systems.

What we go to work to,
what we go to school to,

and what we come home to,
to entertain ourselves

uses these things.

And look at what these things
have done for the world

just through applied microelectronics.

I myself have had the pleasure
to experience many fields of science

ranging from various fields in physics,
engineering, and electronics.

And particularly, I've had the passion
to explore nanotechnology,

or nanomaterials,
as you can see on the screen,

and plasmonic biosensing
devices, we call them,

which allow for new types
of detection methods

in biological systems.

Nearly 55 years ago,
an individual named Richard Feynman

gave a very famous talk titled,
"There's plenty of room at the bottom."

And in this talk he outlined the idea
of using very small things,

nanoscopic things,
to better improve the technologies

that we have in this world.

And he inspired many great physicists,
and chemists, and engineers

to look into this field
and look into how we can use

these very tiny things
to better the future.

Here we are, 55 years later,

with not much being applied
with nanotechnology.

Unfortunately, as far
as nanotechnology goes,

we only find these things
in paints to bring out hues,

or in chocolate shakes
to give a better taste

because of a high surface area,
and that's what it comes down to.

One kilogram of one millimeter particles
has the same surface area

as one milligram
of one nanometer particles.

Just imagine that.

Moving on, I think that there are kind of
four main concepts that built technology,

or allow for science
to be applied in the real world.

The first of which I think is electronics.

We kind of already discussed that.

So, as you can see on the screen,

there are some applications
of microelectronics here.

If we look at the nanoscopic world,
or things at 10^(-9),

microscopic being at 10^(-6) meters,

at 10^(-9) we can use things
such as grafting,

or a single layer of carbon atoms

that allow electrons to travel
in very different ways

in electrical circuits
for more efficient computation.

The second of these concepts is fluidics.

And fluidics is what allows man

to control the way fluids behave.

And what you see on the screen
is what's called a microfluidic device.

And these devices use
very small volumes of liquids,

which allow for,

in essence,

large volumes to not be needed.

Say, imagine having laboratories
on a single chip,

whole hospital laboratories
on a device the size of a cell phone,

where we can take these devices
to third world countries,

or in-field applications
to do full blood analysis of patients.

Imagine these devices
being used in the everyday triage.

Instead of having to do
full blood runs on people

with milliliters
or vials after vials of blood,

we can take one single drop of blood

and be able to do what would normally
take weeks to do in a matter of minutes.

The next concept is mechanics,
or things that are dynamic,

things that move: gears,
wheels, things like that.

What you see on the screen

are what we call
Microelectronic Mechanical Systems,

or MEMS devices.

These devices are mechanical structures
on the microscopic level,

which we can use, in, say, microrobots,

which is one field
that I'm working in now,

which is going to be very interesting
in the future for applying such robotics

in, say, the medical field

for in vivo surgery,
or surgery within the body,

that would allow us
to not have to open up the body

to do complex surgical procedures.

The last is statics, I like to call it,

or materials, things that are non-dynamic,

things that are kind of static,

things that we can build things out of.

What you see on the screen
are vanadium microstars,

and then some atoms
being aligned in a circle.

But nevertheless, it's again, kind of
the idea that these things all together,

the electronics, the mechanics,
the fluidics, and the statics

kind of all build everything
that we have in one way or another.

If we look at how micro and nanotechnology
can be applied in the world,

it's really what leads
to the next industrial revolution.

By having these four main concepts

that are already applied
in current technology

to be applied in micro
and nanotechnology

is what is going to expand
all current fields.

An industrial revolution is kind of
what collectively advances all fields,

so if you see some of these things
here on the screen,

these are some fields
that you might go into yourself,

that may change through the application
of micro and nanotechnology.

MRI machines, or magnetic
resonance imaging systems,

are a very interesting device.

Not many people fully understand
how they work,

but in essence they work
off of detecting proton spins.

But, nevertheless, they utilize
magnetic and electric fields.

With this, we can use nanorobots
in these systems

to be able to control their position

and a specific release
of drugs in the body.

I think when people hear "nano,"

the first thing that they think of
is nanorobots,

but in that case,

nanorobots are a thing
of the distant future.

And what's even more interesting

is that we don't need nanorobots

or nanomechanical systems

to be able to have
nanomaterials act as robots.

Because things operate
in different ways at different levels,

we can use nanomaterials
to behave in very particular ways

with adding molecules
to the surface of a sphere.

So for instance, we have two spheres
on the macroscopic level

or where our scale resides,

and those two spheres
do not interact with each other.

You take those two spheres

and you take them down
to the microscopic level,

and we have something called
van der Waals forces come about,

where these forces actually work

to polarize these particles
and attract them.

And at the nanoscopic level, something
called plasmon resonance comes about

where local electric fields,
or the electron clouds,

oscillate because
of an incident incoming wave,

where we can use these plasmonic particles

to direct photons through a system

to do speed of light calculation
in systems

for more advanced
and efficient electronics.

So, coming back to the MRI,

if we were to take magnetic nanoparticles,

and we were to attach, say,
particular drugs, whatever it may be,

to the surface of that,

we can guide these magnetic particles
in the MRI with magnetic fields

to a particular location within the body,

to, say, a zone within the lungs
that's cancerous,

once they're there
and we can see them in the MRI,

we can trigger these particles
to release their drugs

with an electromagnetic wave pulse,
or a radio frequency pulse,

and seeing these things, especially
in the medical field, is very interesting,

because this is going to allow
for very new means of surgery

or procedures in general.

I think speaking to a lot of students,
one thing that is very critical

in how you proceed in life
and with your work

is to not only understand the fundamentals
of work and knowledge

but to apply that.

That is the key.

I see myself hoping to bring

micro and nanotechnology
to the consumer,

to the various fields
that you saw previously,

and better advance technology as a whole.

And I think to do this,
we must look to the finer things.

Thank you.

(Cheers)

(Applause)