This comprehensive guide is your roadmap to success—a strategic resource tailored to Canadian job seekers in the field of nanotechnology. Whether you’re a recent graduate eager to kickstart your career or an experienced professional looking to make a transition, we’re here to help you navigate the intricate process of incorporating your nanotechnology skills into a compelling resume.

In the following sections, we will delve into the art of identifying, highlighting, and presenting your nanotechnology skills and experiences. From crafting an attention-grabbing resume to leveraging online platforms for networking, our goal is to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to excel in this exciting field.

So, whether you’re exploring the world of nanotechnology for the first time or seeking to amplify your existing expertise, join us on this transformative journey. Let’s unlock the full potential of your resume and set you on a path towards a rewarding career in nanotechnology.

Identifying Your Nanotechnology Skills

Before you can effectively showcase your nanotechnology skills on your resume, it’s essential to identify and understand what these skills entail. Nanotechnology encompasses a wide range of knowledge and expertise, and recognizing your strengths is the first step towards crafting a compelling resume.

1. Self-Assessment: Start by conducting a thorough self-assessment. Reflect on your academic background, work experiences, and any specialized training related to nanotechnology. Consider the specific techniques, methodologies, and tools you have proficiency in.

2. Transferable Skills: Remember that many skills acquired in nanotechnology are transferable across industries. These include critical thinking, problem-solving, attention to detail, and data analysis. Identifying these transferable skills allows you to emphasize their relevance on your resume, even if you lack extensive work experience.

3. Seek Feedback: Reach out to mentors, professors, or colleagues in the nanotechnology field for feedback. They can provide valuable insights into your strengths and areas that need improvement. Their perspective can help you identify skills you might have overlooked.

4. Research Job Requirements: Review job postings for positions you’re interested in. Take note of the skills and qualifications employers are seeking. This can help you align your skillset with industry demands and tailor your resume accordingly.

5. Create a Skills Inventory: Develop a skills inventory that lists all the nanotechnology-related skills you possess. Organize it by categories such as laboratory techniques, instrumentation, data analysis, and soft skills. This inventory will serve as a valuable resource when crafting your resume.

By investing time in identifying your nanotechnology skills, you’ll be better prepared to present yourself as a strong candidate to potential employers in the field.

Tailoring Your Resume for Nanotechnology Jobs

Crafting a resume that caters specifically to nanotechnology jobs is essential for grabbing the attention of hiring managers and recruiters. Here’s how to tailor your resume effectively:

1. Targeted Objective Statement: Begin your resume with a clear and concise objective statement that highlights your enthusiasm for a career in nanotechnology. Tailor it to match the specific job you’re applying for, demonstrating your alignment with the company’s goals.

2. Choose the Right Resume Format: Depending on your background and career level, select a format that best showcases your qualifications. For recent graduates, a chronological or combination format may work best. Experienced professionals might opt for a more detailed chronological format.

3. Emphasize Relevant Coursework and Certifications: Highlight relevant coursework, certifications, and training programs related to nanotechnology. Mention any specialized courses or workshops that demonstrate your commitment to ongoing learning and professional development.

4. Showcase Key Achievements: Rather than listing job duties, focus on quantifiable achievements in your previous roles. Describe how your contributions had a direct impact on projects or research outcomes. Use numbers and metrics to illustrate your accomplishments.

5. Customize for Each Application: Tailor your resume for each job application by aligning your skills and experiences with the specific requirements of the position. Use keywords and phrases from the job posting to ensure your resume passes through applicant tracking systems (ATS).

6. Highlight Extracurricular Activities: If applicable, include any relevant extracurricular activities, such as participation in nanotechnology clubs, research groups, or volunteer work. These can demonstrate your passion and commitment to the field.

Remember that your resume serves as your first impression on potential employers. Tailoring it to the nanotechnology industry not only increases your chances of landing an interview but also showcases your dedication to pursuing a career in this exciting field.

Showcasing Nanotechnology Experience

Effectively showcasing your nanotechnology experience is a pivotal aspect of creating an impactful resume. This section will guide you on how to present your hands-on involvement and contributions in the field:

1. Highlighting Research Projects: Describe your involvement in nanotechnology research projects in detail. Mention the objectives, methodologies, and outcomes of each project. Emphasize any unique contributions you made or challenges you successfully addressed.

2. Describing Laboratory Techniques Proficiency: If you have extensive experience with specific laboratory techniques or equipment relevant to nanotechnology, create a dedicated section for it. Detail your proficiency and any specialized training you’ve received.

3. Mentioning Nanotechnology Internships and Work Experience: If you’ve completed internships or gained practical experience in nanotechnology, be sure to include them prominently in your resume. Describe your roles, responsibilities, and accomplishments during these experiences.

4. Quantify Your Impact: Whenever possible, use quantitative data to showcase your achievements. For instance, mention the number of experiments conducted, the volume of data analyzed, or any cost savings achieved through your contributions.

5. Collaborative Efforts: Highlight your ability to work effectively in a team. Discuss instances where you collaborated with other professionals, emphasizing the importance of teamwork in nanotechnology projects.

6. Publications and Presentations: If you’ve authored research papers or given presentations related to nanotechnology, create a section to list these accomplishments. Include the titles, publication dates, and venues.

Demonstrating Soft Skills

In addition to technical skills, employers in the nanotechnology field value soft skills that contribute to a productive and collaborative work environment. Here’s how to effectively demonstrate these skills on your resume:

1. The Importance of Communication Skills: Communication is vital in nanotechnology, whether you’re explaining complex concepts to colleagues or presenting findings to stakeholders. Highlight instances where your effective communication skills facilitated project success.

2. Teamwork and Collaboration in Nanotechnology: Nanotechnology projects often involve interdisciplinary teams. Discuss your ability to collaborate with professionals from diverse backgrounds and adapt to different work styles.

3. Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking: Showcase your problem-solving abilities by describing how you’ve addressed challenges in nanotechnology projects. Emphasize your capacity for critical thinking and innovation.

4. Adaptability: Mention your ability to adapt to rapidly evolving technologies and methodologies in the nanotechnology field. Provide examples of how you’ve embraced change and continued to excel.

5. Time Management and Organization: Discuss your strong organizational skills and time management abilities. Employers appreciate professionals who can efficiently manage experiments, data, and project timelines.

6. Leadership and Mentoring: If you’ve taken on leadership roles or mentored junior colleagues, highlight these experiences. Describe how you’ve guided others and contributed to the development of your team.

Remember that showcasing your soft skills demonstrates your ability to excel not only in technical aspects but also in the collaborative and dynamic environment of nanotechnology.

Showcasing Nanotechnology Skills in the Education Section

The education section of your resume is a prime location to emphasize your nanotechnology skills and knowledge. Here’s how to effectively showcase them:

1. Relevant Courses and Specializations: List nanotechnology-related courses and specializations you’ve completed during your academic journey. Include course titles, institutions, and completion dates. This demonstrates your foundational knowledge in the field.

2. Academic Achievements: Highlight any academic honors, awards, or scholarships you’ve received related to nanotechnology. These accolades signify your commitment to excellence in your studies.

3. Research Projects and Theses: If you conducted research or wrote a thesis in the field of nanotechnology, provide a brief description of your project, its significance, and your contributions. Mention any publications or presentations resulting from your research.

4. Laboratory Experience: Detail your hands-on experience in nanotechnology labs during your education. Describe the techniques, equipment, and experiments you were involved in. This demonstrates practical skills gained during your academic pursuits.

5. Relevant Extracurricular Activities: If you participated in nanotechnology clubs, student organizations, or research groups, mention these activities. Highlight leadership roles or notable contributions to showcase your passion for the field.

6. GPA and Relevant Honors: Include your GPA if it’s strong and relevant to the job you’re applying for. Additionally, mention any honors societies or associations related to nanotechnology that you belong to.

Conclusion

As we conclude this comprehensive guide on incorporating nanotechnology skills into your resume, it’s essential to recap the key takeaways and encourage you on your journey to a successful nanotechnology career:

1. Highlight Your Strengths: Identifying and showcasing your nanotechnology skills is a critical step. Self-assess, seek feedback, and align your skills with industry demands.

2. Tailor Your Resume: Craft a resume that specifically targets nanotechnology jobs. Use a targeted objective statement, select the right format, and emphasize relevant coursework and experiences.

3. Showcase Experience: Present your hands-on involvement in nanotechnology projects clearly. Describe your research, laboratory proficiency, internships, and achievements.

4. Emphasize Soft Skills: Demonstrate your soft skills, including communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. These skills are invaluable in the dynamic nanotechnology field.

5. Leverage Your Education: Utilize the education section to highlight relevant courses, academic achievements, research projects, and laboratory experience.

By following the strategies outlined in this guide, you’ll be well-prepared to create a resume that not only showcases your nanotechnology skills but also sets you apart in the competitive job market. Remember, your resume is a reflection of your commitment to the field and your potential contributions to the exciting world of nanotechnology. Best of luck on your career journey!

FAQ

Q1: What if I have limited nanotechnology experience?

A1: If you have limited experience, focus on transferable skills from related areas, highlight relevant coursework, and consider showcasing personal projects or coursework projects that demonstrate your interest and potential in nanotechnology.

Q2: How can I make my resume stand out to nanotechnology employers?

A2: To stand out, tailor your resume for each application, use industry-specific keywords, quantify your achievements, and include relevant extracurricular activities or volunteer work in the field.

Q3: Is it essential to have an online presence in nanotechnology?

A3: Yes, having an online presence is highly beneficial. Create a professional LinkedIn profile, share relevant content, build a personal website or portfolio, and participate in online forums to connect with professionals in the nanotechnology community.

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What are eBooks and How Did They Emerge?

Electronic books are digital versions of printed books that can be read on electronic devices such as computers, tablets, e-readers, and smartphones. They are typically available in different formats, including PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, which cater to various types of devices and software.

The concept of eBooks dates back to the 1960s, when computer scientist Michael S. Hart initiated Project Gutenberg, an ambitious effort to digitize and archive cultural works. The project aimed to make literature more accessible to the public by converting printed books into digital formats. 

Over the years, advancements in technology and the proliferation of the internet have made it increasingly easy for people to access and share eBooks. Moreover, today you can easily make your own digital book.

Why Create Your Own eBooks?

Creating your own eBooks opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to share your ideas, stories, and expertise with a wider audience. Custom books can be tailored to suit your specific needs and preferences, making them a versatile medium for various applications.

Personal Use

Digital books offer a unique platform for aspiring authors, artists, and hobbyists to share their passion and creativity with others. For example, you can create:

1. Children’s books: Create custom stories with vibrant illustrations and interactive elements to engage young readers and foster their love for reading.
2. Photo albums: Compile your favorite memories into a beautifully designed digital photo book that can be easily shared with friends and family.
3. Travel journals: Document your adventures with stunning visuals, maps, and multimedia elements to inspire others and relive your experiences.

Business Use

Ebooks can be a powerful tool for businesses, helping to promote products and services, educate employees, and establish thought leadership within an industry. Some ideas and benefits for using eBooks in a business context include:

1. Employee training and development: Develop custom eBooks to educate employees on company policies, industry trends, and best practices, ensuring a well-informed and skilled workforce.
2. Unique presentations: Custom digital books can also be used to design unique and memorable presentations for meetings, conferences, and events. 
3. Customer education: Provide helpful resources and guides to support your customers in using your products or services effectively, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Educational Use

Ebooks are gaining traction in educational settings, providing students and educators with a convenient way to access learning materials. Custom digital books offer a powerful tool for educators to:

• Develop interactive learning materials: Create engaging eBooks that incorporate multimedia elements, quizzes, and interactive exercises to enhance the learning experience.
• Teach art and design concepts: Utilize visually rich digital books to explore and demonstrate artistic techniques, styles, and history.
• Encourage student creativity: Assign projects that require students to create their own visual digital books, fostering creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.

Tips for Creating Engaging eBooks

To ensure that your custom eBook captures the interest of your target audience, follow these practical tips:

1. Plan your content: Start by outlining your book’s structure, organizing your ideas, and determining the flow of information. This will help you create a coherent and well-organized eBook that effectively communicates your message.
2. Write engaging content: Keep your writing clear, concise, and engaging. To make your book easier to read and digest, it’s crucial to break up large blocks of text. You can achieve this by incorporating headings, bullet points and images, which enhance readability and help retain readers’ interest.
3. Design for readability: For optimum readability on all screen sizes and devices, it’s essential to pick fonts and font sizes with care. When it comes to body text, it’s best to stick to simple fonts. On the other hand, decorative fonts can work wonders for headings and emphasizing certain elements.
4. Utilize white space: Leaving ample white space around your text and images can improve legibility and make your book more visually appealing. Balance text and visuals to create an uncluttered and easy-to-follow layout.
5. Choose appropriate colors: Select a color palette that complements your content and enhances readability. Stick to a limited color palette to maintain consistency throughout your eBook.
6. Optimize for mobile devices: Since many readers will access your book on smartphones and tablets, make sure your content is responsive and easy to read on smaller screens.
7. Proofread and edit: Thoroughly proofread and edit your book to eliminate errors and inconsistencies. Consider asking someone else to review your work for a fresh perspective and additional feedback.

The Benefits of Using Online Editors for eBook Creation

Online editors offer a convenient and efficient way to create professional-quality ebooks. Most apps for creating eBooks feature intuitive interfaces that make it simple for users to design and format their books, regardless of their design experience.

Furthermore, such apps offer customizable templates that can save you time and effort when designing your eBook from scratch. Simply choose a template that aligns with your content and style preferences, and then modify it to suit your needs.

Online book making apps often include collaboration tools that allow multiple users to work on an eBook simultaneously. This can be particularly beneficial for teams working on educational or professional books, as it streamlines the process and enables real-time feedback.

Finally, with online editors, your project is saved in the cloud, which means you can access and work on it from any device with an internet connection. This also ensures that your work is securely backed up and can be easily shared with others.

Bottom Line

By following these practical tips and leveraging the convenience of online editors, you can create custom eBooks that cater to the needs and interests of your target audience. Whether for personal enjoyment, education, or professional development, creating your own eBooks offers a unique opportunity to share your knowledge and creativity with the world.

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The gaming world continually emulates the real world. Many companies have developed new slots to match leading trends. Currently, nanotechnology is a significant trend in the science world. Nanotechnology refers to understanding and controlling matter at a nanoscale or minuscule level. Matter such as liquids, gases and solids lives nanoscale, a unit of measurement between 1 and 100 nanometers. Fields such as Engineering, nanotechnology and science measures, models, and configures matter in this size.

Nanoscience refers to the study of matter at the nanometre scale. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre, extremely tiny and hard to imagine. Nanotechnology, therefore, shows nanoscience in action. It allows the increase of a material’s surface area where atoms can freely interact with other materials.

Application of Nanotechnology in Gaming

Understanding matter on a minuscule scale has various implications in science, biology, physics and engineering. Its applications can improve healthcare, among other benefits. It can also be applied in the gaming world.

Notably, the gaming world has greatly benefitted from nanotechnology. In the past, players had a hard time choosing the right software. In today’s world, all a player needs is to download what they need from the internet and start playing. Most, if not all, online casinos offer an instant play experience, meaning players do not have to download any software to enjoy their favourite games.

As nanotech evolves, these software and applications are faster, better and stronger. It could lead to wearable technology where players can control gamely from fingertips movement without using a device. It would no longer touch your devices and compelling mobile computing and communication systems.

Nanotech could lead to embedded software into your hands, eliminating the need for mediums. It would also eliminate hardware, replacing it with gestures revolutionising gaming as we know it.

How Nanoscience Impacts the Internet of Things

Launching a nanoscience-themed slot helps educate players about this new technology. Though it is still young, nanotechnology will change medicine, food, athletics, electronics and gaming as we know it through research. Additionally, nanoscience will impact the internet of things (IoT).

It will make devices smaller and more energy-efficient batteries.

Additionally, it will improve how one controls the devices in the house. Sciences discovered that breaking down material to its smallest particles does not mean it will retain the same properties. However, the material can become more durable, conducive and stronger when done correctly. Below are some of the effect’s nanotechnology has had.

Nanotechnology in IoT and Electronics

Faster, stronger and stable internet is a result of nanotechnology. It allows internet access from mobile devices with a lot of power and vast data storage capacity. As a result of nanotechnology, we have seen a great revolution in the quality of screen display quality without excess power consumption.

Notably, research is still ongoing in this field. As a result, we will continue to see a more comprehensive array of electronic devices. It can redefine the internet as we know it. 

Nanotechnology and Smart Clothing

Wearable technology has been a technology pursuit of many innovators in this information age. We will likely see a new wearable technology shift with nanotech and IoT. We will have smarter clothes that are much smarter and more sustainable. Apart from helping us in gaming or entertainment, it could help track vital signs. Jackets fitted with tiny batteries can warm us up when the body temperature is low or cool us when needed. Nanoworld offers a wide range of opportunities to improve life for the better.

Internet of Nano Things and Price

Technology is expensive. Some people have failed to embrace IoT because of the involved cost. In most cases, appliances require to be constantly updated. If you have multiple appliances in the house, it can be a costly pursuit. However, nanotech could affect the prices of items by reducing them significantly. Smaller devices could translate to lower prices as they require fewer materials.

Nanoscience Themed Slot

Slot machine developers always look for engaging themes to add to their games. Since new games are released each year, retaining customers can be challenging. However, most players enjoy an excellent thrilling science-themed slot machine.

The developers incorporate popular scientific themes, experiments, and projects in these games to create exciting slots. They can theoretically explore what technology such as nanotech can do in these slots. They can include storylines and gameplay around various theoretical applications of this technology.

Contrary to popular opinion, these science-themed slots show that science is not boring. The games are fun and engaging. As a result, they help break down the science into easily comprehensible language, leaving people in awe once they understand the applications.

A novice can complete a game almost immediately without much training or practice. Players engage with reels, lines, different themes and symbols easily.

Other Sci-fi Slots of All Time

Players can enjoy other science-themed slots at LTC Casinos besides nanotech-themed slots. Some of these include the Mad Scientist slot. It runs on 5 reels and has 25 pay lines. It has standard features, and the Tesla coil icon can win you the grand prize. Gamblers can also play Star Trek: Against all odds.

Star Trek is the highest-rated sci-fi movie with ardent fans throughout the world. Its slot is based on five reels and has a minimum bet of $0.01. Science fans can also enjoy playing the Big Bang slot based on the lighthearted TV show. It rewards players with multipliers and free spins to increase rewards.

Casino players can also enjoy Doctor’s Orders, Gold Lab, Stellar: AGames, Transformers: Battle for Cybertron and Transformers: Ultimate Payback.

Many of these games have a galactic theme taking players to a make-believe world. In these games, science theme slots have a lot of animation, simulation and 3D animations. They try to make each spin enjoyable.

Notably, many lovers of science and slot machines are always looking for a new game to play. For this reason, these games come and go. Players look for challenging, rewarding and captivating slots to keep them entertained.

Conclusion

Science fiction shows a lot of things that nanoscience can help achieve. It is still a long way coming, and much research is ongoing in this field. It will have significant implications in current technology, easing how we do things. Though these ideas are in the future, the gaming world allows us to imagine a world where such ideas can exist. If history in technology is anything to go by, the devices will continue being smaller and nanotech applications far-reaching in many areas.

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All of the shares in “Rosnano” are owned by the state. Rusnano’s investments have led to 97 factories and R&D centres opening up in 37 different regions of Russia.

Rosnano is implementing the state policy for the development of the nanoindustry by acting as a co-investor in nanotechnology projects.

There are a number of Rusnano projects

1. RUSNANOPRIZE award.

Among the members of the jury for this year’s prize are several eminent foreign colleagues from Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Singapore, which will be awarded this year for the best innovations in the field of pharmacology, medicine, biotechnology and success in commercializing them.

The awards will go to businesses and scientists who have done outstanding work in the field of post-genomic technologies, proteomics, microbiology, or virology.

The prize is awarded for ground-breaking work in the fields of medicine, pharmacology and biotechnology. These fields combine a high degree of scientific intensity with widespread usage of nanotechnology and are important for society and industry at large.

2. Your invitation to study cancer doctors

The Foundation has collaborated with the FSCC DGOI for the first time in Russia to launch an educational course at this seminar we will provide you with insights into OMIX technologies in clinical oncology

OMICS technologies make it possible to study the totality of data at all levels of cell and organism functioning, including the study of genetic information (genomics), gene activity intensity (transcriptomics), The “Omics Revolution” is the convergence of many different types of data including DNA sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

“We have invited a Russian oncologist to speak with the Medicinja team about the best developments in cancer and the progress of cooperation in Poland. The speaker will also speak to us about current trends and future possibilities for cooperation between specialists,” said Tatyana Nikolenko, Head of the Course Developed by Order of the FIOP

The speakers for the day will be from major Russian and international cancer centres, you’ll be able to hear about their work and career paths. People working here in Russia who have worked in the oncology field can also become students of the course.

3. We have reviewed a number of Israeli and Russian startups.

To take part in the selection, you need to meet a number of requirements – your project must be related to the field of nanotechnology (and / or biotechnology), it should be an industrial project, and it has to have confirmed demand, including in the global market. We estimate the commercializing of our product will be done in no more than five years and project financing should last no more than three years maximum. To apply to join the scheme, joint applications from our partnering Russian & Israeli companies need to be submitted.

The Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs provides funding as a grant in the amount of not more than 50% of the budget of the Russian part of the project. The remaining part of the funds has to be donated by a co-investor (or several co-investors) which is also required for participation in the selection.

The Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy provides funding for the Israeli project, implemented by an Israeli partner company. You can follow their established procedure and rules.

4. RUSNANO Group has played an active role in the Beacon project, which uses precision sensors and light signals for personal medical assistants.

It is planned, that in certain regions of the country, personal medical assistant services will cover at least 10% of patients who are at risk for major diseases. These include arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and chronic heart failure

If you’re unfamiliar with what a Personal Assistant is, it consists of an individual wearable device that can collect data on the patient’s condition, a decision support system for data processing, remote monitoring & services and an integrated platform with the Uniform State Health, with a single portal for all your public services and a “My Health” service.

Medical assistants make it much easier to provide medical care and assistance. They will help make sure that care is available for patients when they really need it, enabling you to increase the quality of service for them. Furthermore, it helps maintain a level of satisfaction with the service.

5. 478 MW of the Wind Energy Development Fund’s new capacity was commissioned this year.

RUSNANO and Fortum invested in the Wind Energy Development Fund, and now they’ve started to make profit. They commercialized 3 wind power plants that have a total capacity of 47. This is the largest renewable energy commissioning in Russian history.

Every year, 114 wind power plants are installed and 1078 MW of production capacity is added to the Fund. Production and assembly of blades, towers and nacelles are all carried out in Russia. The international collaboration of wind farms is confirmed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and is more than 65%.

Back in December, the commercial operation of Kotovskaya WPP with a capacity of 88 MW begun and 21 wind power plants from Vestas were set up. They have a capacity of 4.2 MW each, and are located on the territory of the station. The Kotovskaya wind farm has become the first wind farm in the Volgograd region, and over time is quickly expanding its solar capacities. Headed by Denton, it’s also helped develop a Regional Investment Fund for more wind investment, such as the Novoalekseevskaya farm.

6. The Russian Youth Nanotechnology Prize is a great avenue for young inventors who want to secure funding for their ideas.

The Russian Youth Nanotechnology Prize offers an opportunity to young people and startups. The prizes for nanotechnological development can be awarded to people who are under the age of 35. They need to have developed and introduced their nanotechnology into real production and having seen first commercial results. The Rusnano award is given every year to people who have invented new nanotechnological products or technologies that have entered production.

It’s not surprising how many nanotech enterprises there are in Russia: 524, according to Rosstat. It’s important to know that Rosnano takes part in 83 of those companies, while the other 440 are independent. Our company has supported 109 projects in the last 20 years, with a total spending of more than 500 bln rubles. 40 thousand jobs were created thanks to us.

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, they were not yet able to “see” particles of this size, because they were below the resolution limits of the light microscope. Therefore, it is not by chance that one of the initial milestones in the appearance of nanotechnology is considered to be the invention by M. Knoll and E. Ruska in 1931 of the electron microscope. Only after that could mankind “see” submicron and nanometer sized objects. And then everything falls into place – the main criterion by which mankind accepts (or does not accept) any new facts and phenomena is expressed in the words of Thomas the Unbeliever: “Until I see, I will not believe.”

The next step was made in 1981 – G. Binnig and H. Rohrer have created a scanning tunneling microscope, which made it possible not only to obtain images of individual atoms, but also to manipulate them. In other words, the technology of which Feynman spoke in his lecture was created. That is when the era of nanotechnology began.

Note that here again we are dealing with the same story. Again, because it is typical for mankind in general not to pay attention to what is at least a little bit ahead of its time. And in the example of nanotechnology it turns out that nothing new was discovered, they just began to understand better what is happening around, what even in ancient times people were already doing, even if unconsciously, or rather, consciously (they knew what they wanted to get), but without understanding the physics and chemistry of the phenomenon. Another matter is that the presence of technology does not mean understanding the essence of the process. Steel was welded long ago, but the understanding of the physical and chemical foundations of steelmaking came much later. We can recall that the secret of Damascus steel has not yet been discovered. Here we have another hypostasis: we know what we need to make, but we do not know how. So the relationship between science and technology is not always simple.

Who was the first to deal with nanomaterials in their modern sense? In 1981, the American scientist G. Gleiter was the first to use the definition “nanocrystalline”. He formulated the concept of creation of nanomaterials and developed it in a series of works in 1981-1986, introduced the terms “nanocrystalline”, “nanostructured”, “nanophase” and “nanocomposite” materials. The main emphasis of these works was on the crucial role of multiple interfaces in nanomaterials as a basis for changing the properties of solids.

One of the most important events in the history of nanotechnology and the development of the ideology of nanoparticles was also the discovery of carbon nanostructures – fullerenes and carbon nanotubes in the mid 80’s – early 90’s of the 20th century, as well as the discovery already in the 21st century of the method of graphene production.

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Evolutionary Inevitability

Marios Kyriazis, director of the British Longevity Society, argues that immortality is a natural evolutionary stage that humans will reach sooner or later. Even without the help of drugs and technological advances.

Cryonics

Scientists see one possible way to achieve eternal life as freezing humans. Cryonics is popular today. More than 200 people have already been frozen in the world, and the waiting list continues to grow. The cryonization process is simple enough, but still very expensive for many people to use the “service”. The average price of “freezing” is $200,000. In addition, further “defrosting” of the body and the return of vital functions remains a major problem that has not yet been solved. Science has not yet reached the technology of “reanimation”.

Cyborgs

Another possible way of gaining immortality is the gradual “upgrade” of a human by means of transplantation. Boston-based Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology grows synthetic trachea from patients’ stem cells. Doris Taylor, director of regenerative medicine at the Texas Heart Institute, has even built “bio-artificial” hearts from rat tissue. Importantly, today’s artificial organs are fully functional. Paralympic athletes are already competing with professional athletes today. In the future, we may talk about replacing healthy organs with their cybernetic counterparts to improve athletic performance. But not everything is so obvious. In 2011, the U.S. National Cancer Institute presented a report that proved a direct correlation between cancer and organ transplantation. Patients who underwent a transplant were twice as likely to have cancer as someone who avoided it.

Brain Emulation

Brain emulation is designed to solve the major problem associated with gaining immortality: the problem of information transfer. Transferring the contents of the brain to electronic media will make it possible in the future to make a digital version of the human brain. For all its apparent simplicity, “copying” the human brain is unlikely to be possible in the next few years. With the current advances in technology, a complete emulation of a single human brain would require at least a soccer field full of supercomputers. Copying the human brain is still a long way off, but research that emulates the higher nervous system of rodents is already underway as part of the Blue brain project these days. Scientists are working hard to create a computer model of the mouse neocortex. The idea of brain emulation is attractive because its realization will allow making functional copies of humans. While the “copy” will work and not get tired, the “original” can spend its time as it pleases. If, of course, the concept of time remains. And will there be a need for a human being in principle?

Nanotechnology

Using nanotechnology to obtain immortality is one of the most obvious, but not uncontroversial ways. Because of their extremely small size, nanosubstances can be very dangerous, since they can penetrate the human body even through the skin. Therefore, for large-scale nanoproduction, safety parameters must first be developed. Nevertheless, it is nanotechnology that holds the future. Experiments are under way to use nanorobots in surgery. In the future, they will be used for operations to replace parts of the body and even the genome. The founder of cryonics, Robert Ettinger, believes that nanorobots will be used to “revive” people when they are unfrozen.

Genetic Engineering

A revolution in immortality technology must await genetic engineering. The story of the Japanese woman Sei Shonagon, who began to grow young at the age of 75, married and had a child at the age of 79, is well known. Gerontologists have discovered her gene, which is responsible for the formation of cells that destroy their aging counterparts, Now the task of scientists – to understand what was the stimulant to wake up the gene of youth, and make this system work. However, so far it has not been found out what is the cause of the sudden awakening of the youth gene. The telomerase study, an enzyme that allows the chromosome to copy itself, also holds great promise. It was discovered back in 1984 by three American scientists. In the cell, the role of the division counter is performed by a telomere – a special segment of the chromosome. With each division it should decrease, but with the help of telomerase it is possible to correct the telomere length and thus control the aging process. In most human cells telomerase is blocked. The enzyme is active only in stem and germ cells. Unblocking telomerase in the rest of the cells is seen as a potential “recipe for immortality”.

Will we live forever?

It is unequivocally safe to say that people today live longer than they did a century ago. In the future, life expectancy will only increase. British geneticist and gerontologist Aubrey de Grey (Cambridge) believes that by 2100 the ways of extending human life to 5000 years will be found. The British citizen’s bold prediction is shared by big businessmen investing in the fight against aging, as well as no less than 300 scientists working on the project “Projected Aging Disregard Strategy”. They have already succeeded in increasing the lifespan of laboratory mice to almost five years (the average rodent lives two years). Increased longevity can also be achieved by medication. Already now among those increasing life expectancy are drugs of natural origin.

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Body explorers

In the 21st century, man knows almost everything about himself. And as we have known since biblical times, “much knowledge is much sorrow. Understanding how limited the human body is, how weak it is under the influence of the environment, forces people to try all sorts of ways to improve their own bodies. In fact, the biohacker movement grew out of the desire to defeat “our own biology.

The word “biohacking” refers to completely different things: from experimenting with diets to implanting chips under the skin. But all of these approaches are driven by the same goal: to find the limits of the body’s abilities and to try to go beyond these limits. Or push them back, whichever way you prefer.

However, for avid biohackers, what is often important is not only the benefits to the body, but also a commitment to a certain idea. The idea is that the human body and everything that makes it up is not something inviolable and sacred. On the contrary, nature has played a funny joke with us, imprisoning the human mind into a kind of bioconstructor, which can and should be played with. By implanting implants and editing their own genes, biohackers must feel about the same as programmers playing with code or chemists testing a newly discovered substance. And their most likely reaction to mistakes is: “Wow, that’s interesting!”

Is that reasonable? With no white spots left on Earth, and with no other planets (unless you count the Moon) mankind has not yet reached, our body remains a large space for various discoveries. Taking into account the latest trends in the development of world science, biohackers can either turn out to be visionaries, who started modifying their own bodies even before it became a common practice, or they can become the object of persecution from those who do not like the “wondrous new world”. Either way, they are trying to stay on the crest of science.

Biology punks

No one can say exactly when the biohacker movement began. In the 1990s, those who tried to “dabble” in implanting chips or working with genes were more likely to be called biopunk (the English word punk also translates as “renegade”). Their activities did not resonate much, and there was no place for their special achievements: after all, biotechnology is an expensive and resource-intensive industry, so only people with large corporations behind them could do something cool.

In fact, in all industries and spheres of activity where big money is made, biohacking is firmly entrenched. Take professional sports, for example, where – and this is a polichinelle secret – doping is used everywhere. And that is exactly what allows, by interfering with the biochemical processes of the body, to expand its limits, making people run faster, jump higher and hit harder. But the use of such drugs has many side effects that hit the body hard. Athletes actually pay with their health for their professional achievements. Their goal is not so much to get better, as to get ahead of the competition, and in the world of professional sports all means are good. Do-it-yourself biology, as biohacking is also called, is not really about that.

If taking drugs isn’t cheap, what about changing your own DNA? But this is where things have changed markedly for the better. For example, 20 years ago, the cost of sequencing the human genome was tens of millions of dollars. Today, such a procedure can be done for $1,000, and the test for the most basic mutations is even cheaper. Therefore, being a biohacker in the 21st century is no longer as expensive as it used to be.

Forgetfulness as a path to chipping

At the same time, it is no longer fashionable to change the body’s properties. The new trend is to integrate electronic devices into your body. Yes, yes, we are talking about the very chipping, which everyone is frightened of and which is supposed to happen with the general vaccination against coronavirus. While ordinary people are trembling in fear of the coming digital concentration camp, some have been chipping for years and are feeling fine. One of the pioneers of chipping was Amal Graafstra, founder of a company with a catchy name: Dangerous Things. Mr. Graafstra began his “business” with Dangerous Things back in 2005, when he worked in an IT consulting company for medical institutions. And the reason for such meddling in his own body was Amal’s forgetfulness. He always left the electronic key to the office at home, and because of this he could not stay at work longer than anyone else.

What does it take to never forget a key? To carry it with you at all times, or, more precisely, in yourself. Graafstra ordered parts for the chip on the Internet that should not cause rejection in the human body, assembled the device at home and injected it under his skin with a veterinary needle. He settled on NFC, the wireless data transmission technology now built into most smartphones. No one was mass-producing NFC chips back then, much less implanting them in themselves,” Amal said.

Graafstra’s experiments with the unusual way of opening doors were noticed by his colleagues and spread the news about him all over the web. The chipped man was only happy about such fame, handing out tips to all the DIY biohackers and gathering around him those willing to become “cyborgs on minimum wages.” And in 2013, Amal created his own company to monetize his personal experience.

Amal began to work according to the precepts of biopunkers: he created the company in a garage with a small share capital (only 12 thousand dollars). But the very next year, his revenue was 100 thousand at once! The founder of Dangerous Things recommends turning to piercers for implantation of chips, since they are the only ones who know how to do subcutaneous implantations.

By the way, an important note: in biohacker communities, it is tacitly accepted to despise people who undergo electronic implantation procedures in specialized clinics. Everything has to be hardcore: the chip is implanted either on its own, or with the help of a friend, neighbor, or non-specialist; and it is in bad taste to go to a medical institution for such a procedure.

Cheap and futuristic

By the way, an implantable chip is not such an expensive purchase. Items on the Dangerous Things website start at hundreds of dollars. A set of Cyborg Transformation Kit with several chips at a discount can be purchased for only $ 49 (less than 3500 rubles). There you can also buy everything for surgical interventions (needles, scalpels, painkillers) and various devices for setting up and programming chips.

The shelf life of the devices that Graafstra offers is 30 years. That is, if you decide to implant a chip at a mature age, it is, consider it for life. The most popular locations for devices on the body are between the thumb and index finger or on the hand, just above the wrist.

What is the purpose of all this? As Amal says, the main purpose of chipping is to hide encrypted data where intruders can’t get to it. Technically, of course, it is possible to attack a person with a chip and cut the device out from under his skin – but, you must admit, far fewer people would do that than would a trivial theft of a card from their pocket.

But there is no doubt that the majority of Dangerous Things customers are driven by a healthy (or not so healthy) curiosity and, to a certain extent, frustration with the twenty-first century. The very future that the iconic sci-fi movies – Blade Runner, Minority Report, The Matrix – painted never happened. Implanting a chip under one’s skin is an attempt to at least partially make it a reality.

Who are the Grinders?

Biohacking is a rather motley field, and there is even a system of classification of biohackers, in order to distinguish among them those who are engaged in radically different things. Those who are not afraid and do not hesitate to experiment on themselves, called grinders.

One of the most famous grinders is Gabriel Lisina. He is known primarily for his high-profile project to create a “pirated copy” of one of the most expensive officially approved drugs in the world, Glybera. This drug is used to treat a rare genetic dysfunction, proteinlipase deficiency. One injection costs a million dollars. But Lisina and several biohacker colleagues created a counterpart that is more than 100 times cheaper, costing only seven thousand dollars.

But in the context of this article, Lisina’s other exploits are far more interesting. For example, the biohacker’s attempt to turn his eyes into thermal imagers. Together with physician Jeffrey Tibbetts, Lisina injected a mixture of chlorine E-6 with insulin, dimethyl sulfoxide, and saline into his pupils. The main active ingredient in this mix, the same chlorine E-6, is an analog of the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll, which is used to treat nyctalopia, an impaired ability to see in the dark.

Two hours after the injection of chlorine, Lisina was able to read in the dark signs (letters, numbers, figures) that were not seen by the people invited to participate in the experiment. The biohacker was also able to determine with one hundred percent accuracy the location of other people in the dark among the trees, while the other subjects were able to do it only one third of the time. The next morning, Lisina’s vision returned to normal, and for 20 days after the experiment, he noted no side effects.

It would seem that the experiment is not as “hardcore” as most chip implantation experiments – but just look at his eyes! Not to mention the fact that there was no complete guarantee that his eyesight would return to normal. This experiment perfectly illustrates the attitude of biohackers to their own bodies: for them, it is primarily a field for experimentation.

One of the most famous Grinders is the Briton Kevin Warwick, the man who officially became the first cyborg on Earth. Back in 1998, Warwick implanted a simple RFID chip under his skin, with the help of which he was able to implement certain elements of the “smart home” concept: to open and close doors and remotely turn on lights.

And in 2002, Warwick decided on a more complicated experiment on himself: a rather complex implant was implanted into his left arm, connected to the median nerve of his left hand. The implant was to transmit signals from the nervous system to the computer and store them there. To make the experiment more spectacular, the Briton created a special mechanical hand that worked in sync with his real hand. When Warwick moved his fingers, neural impulses came from his brain to the implant, which were then transformed into electrical signals and transmitted to the computer, and the mechanical hand, depending on the type of signals, moved each time just like the real one.

A similar device was implanted under the skin of his wife Irina: Kevin planned to establish cyber communication with his wife, transmitting her thoughts through computer. Nothing came out, but Warwick got his dose of media interest and was able to tell the whole mankind why he dared such experiments on himself. According to the scientist, very soon artificial intelligence and robots will become so smart that they will push people into secondary roles: “Ordinary people will become absolutely uncompetitive compared to cyborgs that will drive them out of offices”. To compete with their own creations, humans will have to digitalize to the max.

Biohacking for medical reasons

Some people turn themselves into a cyborg out of pure interest, while others are forced to do so by life itself: for example, 47-year-old Canadian Rob Spence. As a schoolboy, Spence played with his grandfather’s rifle and lost one eye because of the violent recoil. On the one hand, a very sad story, on the other hand, who knows, if the guy had not remained disabled, would he be now known throughout the world?

Spence walked around with a patch on one eye for a long time, and on the fourth decade he still decided to have surgery, but the usual implant to the Canadian soon got bored. He decided to equip himself with something more interesting – for example, a cyber-eye. It’s a done deal: Spence, who had by that time studied filmmaking, had a camera implanted in his eyeball and became “Glasborg” (the term Eyeborg, which is how the man calls his project, is a combination of the English words eye and cyborg). By the way, he found inspiration in the 1970s science-fiction series “Six Million Dollar Man”: there, the hero also had a bionic eye instead of a normal eye.

The design of the new eyeball for Spence was developed by Phil Bowen, an eye specialist. And former MIT and SpaceX employee Kosta Grammatis created a miniature device that fit into the void in Rob’s skull. To understand the scale of the task: the dimensions of the camera had to be no more than nine millimeters in thickness, 30 millimeters in length and 28 millimeters in height. Grammatis solved it nicely, placing not only the camera, but also a battery with a signal transmitter to external devices and an image-processing software board in place of the eyeball.

Martin Ling of the University of Edinburgh helped design the architecture of the entire system. Ling designed a special receiver that receives the signal from the implant and transmits it to a laptop, tablet, smartphone or even directly to a projector. And a red LED-light, signaling the switched on camera and referring to the character from the “Terminator” movie, was invented together. It’s simple, but its effect is amazing. “One day I ran into a bicyclist on the street who immediately attacked me, scolding me for interfering with his ride. I got angry and yelled back, but I forgot the camera was on and I looked like an enraged cyborg. Anyway, the enemy fled in terror, a victory for Skynet,” Spence says.

Rob and his associates barely made it to the budget of the project. But the authoritative Time magazine immediately included Eyeborg into the list of the main inventions of the year, and a number of large Internet portals and magazines published their articles about the man with a camera instead of an eye. There was also a line of clients lined up for Spence: the cyberdirector used his camera to shoot movies and commercials for Ford and a number of computer game developers.

A brain prosthesis as an unattainable dream

Of course, Spence’s experience is very interesting, but prosthetic eye technology itself is far from new. But is it possible to make a prosthetic brain – or at least a part of it? Some experts are completely confident that nothing will work in this area. “The brain is probably the only organ of the body for which there is no theoretical or experimental basis for complete prosthetics,” says Professor Alexander Kaplan, head of one of the laboratories at the Biology Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. – However, this does not close the prospect of creating prostheses, <…> because the brain is, although supercomplex, a sufficiently structured information-analytical device. To illustrate his point, Kaplan uses a computer as an analogy: it is unlikely that a new CPU can be assembled from readily available materials, but a USB port is quite feasible.

Perhaps the first known attempt to create a prosthesis for any part of the brain is the work of the American neurologist Theodore Berger, conducted in 2003. Using several dozen electrodes, Berger created a prosthesis of the middle part of the hippocampus for rats. Using these electrodes, electrical activity was recorded in the rodents and the corresponding part of the nervous system was stimulated. Damage to the hippocampus caused the animal to forget the pre-learned information about which of the feeders contained the treats. However, electrical stimulation restored these memories.

They began with rats and continued with humans: in the next year, the first man in the world with a brain implant was 25-year-old Matthew Nagle, a former soccer player. In 2001, Matthew got into a street fight and, in the process, suffered a spinal cord injury and was left hopelessly paralyzed. The former athlete had nothing to lose, so Nagle agreed to take part in the experiment. The paralyzed man was implanted with BrainGate chips in his brain, developed by Cyberkinetics Technology.

After such an operation, Nagle was able to control the cursor on the computer screen simply by imagining moving his hands. He read mail, played simple video games, moved his electromechanical hand, and even drew a few things. Of course, Nagle did not get his full body functionality back, but he managed to achieve a lot.

How did Brain Gate work? The signals that are generated in the brain are transmitted through a sensor – a four by four millimeter square plate with a hundred tiny electrodes. They are small millimeter metal needles that penetrate directly into the cerebral cortex.

This sensor contacts the motor area of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for left arm movement, and connects to a connector anchored in a hole in the cranial box. When an attempt is made to make some movement, an electrical impulse is generated in the motor area, which is transmitted through the implanted electrodes to the computer.

When it is necessary to start an experiment and engage some external device, the technician connects a cable leading to the computer to the socket. If during the connection Matt tries to imagine the movement of his own arm, the sensor “overhears” the signals of the motor neurons that are activated at that moment, and transmits them to the connected device, such as a monitor or a robotic prosthesis.

We would like to write that Nagle was fine and gradually regained more and more of his skills, but reality is cruel. After a while, the BrainGate experiment had to be stopped. A few months after the implantation of the neuro-implant, for some reason he became worse at recognizing signals. The scientists could not understand what exactly the problem was. Besides, the device worked through a wire that went inside the test subject’s skull, which increased the risk of infection. Already in 2006, all neuroimplants were removed from Nagle’s head, and he died a year later. From an infection.

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