ABSTRACT
Over the past three decades, we have acquired new tools and techniques to synthesize nanoscale objects and to learn their many incredible properties. e high-resolution electron microscopes that are available today allow the visualization of single atoms; furthermore, the manipulation of these individual atoms is possible using scanning probe techniques. Advanced materials synthesis provides the technology to tailor-design systems from as small as molecules to structures as large as the fuselage of a plane. We now have the technology to detect single molecules, bacteria, or virus particles. We can make protective coatings more wear-resistant than diamond and fabricate alloys and composites stronger than ever before.
