How small is small? What's a nanotube? The basics of nano can be difficult to grasp. The NISE Network has developed a number of media assets that can help you get a grip on the smallest of science.

Videos

• Intro to Nanotechnology Video [1]

  "Nanotechnology: What's the Big Deal?" is a video introduction to the Intro to Nanotechnology exhibition. Get a broad overview of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by nanoscale science, and dive into the super tiny scale of nanotechnology.

• Intro to Nanomedicine video [2]

  What is Nanomedicine? This is the introductory component for the Nanomedicine exhibit package. The structure includes a text panel and a narrated-and-captioned 2.5 minute video which plays on demand in either English or Spanish on a 32-inch LCD screen. The video's colorful animation and researcher commentary complements the accompanying text panel to provide a brief overview of some of the basic ideas and goals of nanomedicine.

• How Small is Nano video [3]

  What is a nanometer? What things are measured in nanometers? Is a red blood cell bigger or smaller than a bacteria? This video takes you on an adventure of scale from the macrosize to the microsize to the nanosize!. Companion Book and Poster [4]

• Talking Nano DVD Set [5]

  This 6-video DVD set features Don Eigler, George Whitesides, David Rejeski, Eric Mazur, and Tim Miller and provides a basic Nano 101 introduction to nanotechnology, potential applications, implications, and impacts. Designed for classroom, informal, and professional development use, the videos are tightly edited with close-ups and illustrations.

Books

• [6]Selected Books About Nano [7]

  A brief list of select nano resources for reference, a gentle introduction to nano, as well as some children's books suitable for read-aloud story-times or to augment another program.

Cart and Stage Presentations

• Intro to Nano Cart Demo [8]

  This cart demonstration reviews the basics about nanotechnology. Visitors learn that nanoscale objects are very small and have surprising properties because of their size. They also learn about some of the possible technologies that may lead to. They mix chemicals, turn potatoes black, generate electricity, and see invisible light in their exploration.

• Intro to Nano - Stage Presentation [9]

  This is a stage presentation, designed for audiences of 11 and up, intended to give a broad overview and introduction to the subject of nanotechnology. The talk attempts to answer three basic questions about nanotech: How is It New, What Can It Do, and Do You Care?

Presentations specifically for museum staff

• Nano 101 for Staff - Greta Zenner version [10]

  A power point presentation describing (among other things) where we find nanotechnology around us, the interdisciplinary nature of nanoscale science, and how we image nanoscale phenomena.

• Nano 101 for Staff - Tim Miller version [11]

  A power point presentation describing some nanoscale phenomena in the natural world, how nano might impact society, and some future directions for nanoscale technologies.

• NISE Network Overview Presentation [12]

  A power point presentation giving an overview of the NISE Network.

•  Nano 101 for staff (2012 version) [13]

   A power point presentation introducing educators to NISE Net’s four big ideas related to nanoscale science,    engineering, and technology (“nano”).

Articles

• Intro to Nano: Think Small [14]

  During the second half of the twentieth century, scientists and engineers learned to observe, measure, and manipulate individual atoms and molecules. The areas of research related to this activity—known as nanoscience and nanotechnology—are leading to the creation of materials, processes, and technologies that many scientists believe will dramatically change our daily lives.

• Intro to Nano: Nanomedicine [15]

  Where nanotechnology and medicine appear in the same sentence, you’ll often hear futuristic tales of impossibly small robots that will one day voyage into our bloodstreams on search-and-destroy missions. Actually, nanomedicine is already with us, albeit somewhat less heroically, and has been for years.

• [16]Small is Different [17]

  Nanotechnology generally deals with matter having dimensions of between one and one hundred nanometers. One reason these tiny particles are interesting is that they obey a different set of rules

  [18]Now and the Future [19]

  It's tough to write an article about nanotechnology that doesn't come across as a laundry list of possibilities. Nanotechnology has great potential in the field of medicine, materials science, and electronics. Products currently on the market include cosmetics, sunscreen, water filters, solar panels, stain-resistant fabrics, and bread containing nanocapsules of nutrients.

  [20]Smart Materials [21]

  One of the first nanotechnology products to hit the consumer market with great fanfare was one that seems rather trivial: stain-resistant trousers

  [22]Carbon Nanotubes and Hockey Sticks [23]

  Carbon has different forms, the best known of which are graphite, a soft substance made of layers of carbon, and diamond, an extremely hard substance made of carbon atoms joined in a rigid crystal.

  [24]It's Happening Now [25]

  Gecko tape and blue morpho makeup aren't on the market just yet. Many reports on nanotechnology focus on future possibilities, describing how nanotechnology could change the world. Those possibilities are certainly interesting to contemplate.

  [26]Butterfly Wings and Gecko Toes [27]

  A close examination of the natural world has revealed examples of how conditions at the nanoscale affect what happens at the human scale. Take, for example, the blue morpho butterfly. This butterfly's wings are a beautiful, shimmering blue, a color so bright that naturalists have reported seeing the flash of blue wings from a quarter of a mile away.

  [28]From Vision to Action [29]

  In 1959, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman delivered a talk to the American Physical Society titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom—An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics”

  [30]Atomic Force Microscope [31]

  Like the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), the atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a probe to scan back and forth over the surface of a sample. But instead of using an electrical signal, the AFM relies on forces between the atoms in the tip and in the sample. The probe of the AFM is a flexible cantilever—think of a diminutive diving board—with a tip attached to its underside. As the tip scans the sample, the force between them is monitored.

  [32]The Second STM Breakthrough [33]

  Just eight years after Binnig and Rohrer used the STM to observe surfaces at the atomic scale, Donald Eigler and Erhard Schweizer at IBM’s Almaden Research Center first used the STM to manipulate individual atoms. They discovered that they could bring the tip of the probe just close enough to an atom for the atom to stick to it.

  [34]Breakthrough: The Scanning Tunneling Microscope [35]

  In 1981, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland developed a significantly superior tool for observing surfaces atom by atom: the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). (Binnig and Rohrer would share the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernst Ruska, designer of the electron microscope.)

  [36]HIV-Preventative Gel [37]

  Forty million people are infected with HIV worldwide, and the number grows by millions each year. The current best weapons against HIV transmission are barrier methods—condoms and dental dams. Even these are not 100 percent effective, given the possibility that these barriers may rupture.

  [38]Imaging with Quantum Dots [39]

  In medicine and biomedical research alike, understanding disease requires seeing the invisible. What pathogens are at work, and where are they lurking? Which tissue is diseased or damaged, and which tissue is healthy? How and where is the disease spreading? To answer such questions, or even to be able to understand how the body develops and functions when it’s perfectly healthy, we have to be able to see things—viruses, genetic abnormalities, cellular changes—that can’t easily be seen.

  [40]Napkin to Detect Biohazards [41]

  Imagine being able to detect harmful bacteria, viruses, or other contaminants with a simple swipe of a paper towel. Far-fetched as it might sound, such a technology already exists, though it’s not yet on the market.

  [42]A Cure for Cancer? [43]

  “You’ve got cancer.” There are few medical diagnoses more terrifying. Although many cancers are treatable, the most widely used therapies have a number of highly unpleasant side effects.