Keelin Murphy, 34, is an expert on nano-science as well as one of the great communicators on this rather technical subject.

Murphy, who graduated with a masters degree in physics and chemistry from Trinity College, Dublin in 1997 says most scientists are usually not good communicators so she recently decided to take up a new post in education and outreach for Ireland's Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructrures and Nanodevices (Crann).

Before this, Murphy worked as an engineer for Hewlett Packard (HP) at their digital audio tape unit for five years.

HP and Intel are currently the key industrial partners of Crann, which is tasked with promoting scientific advancement in the field of nano-technology.

Both multinational firms have their researchers working full-time and part-time at the Irish government-funded research centre.

Put simply, nano-technologies essentially deal with matters on a very small scale. A nanometre is one million times smaller than a millimetre, or one billion times smaller than a metre.

A human hair, for example, is about 80,000 nanometres wide, a red blood cell about 7,000 nanometres across, a typical virus about 100 nanometres wide, and a strand of DNA a mere 2 nanometres long, according to Murphy.

The prefix 'nano' derives from the Greek word for dwarf. In other words, the nano-scales are invisible to the human eye and scientists need atomic microscopes for examinations. Yet, nano-structures and nano-devices are extremely useful.

For instance, researchers at Crann are working on bottom-up fabrication and testing of nano-scale integrated devices to create faster computer chips that consume even less energy via new approaches to manufacturing the chips.

This is to overcome Moore's law on limits to the current chip-making technology.

Soon, we'll have smaller and smaller but faster and faster computers and devices in forms that are currently not possible to manufacture, such as a completely-foldable computer just like a piece of paper.

Another example are carbon nano-tubes, a composite material now used in the manufacturing of very light-weight, but very strong golf clubs or racing bikes.

In golf, players such as Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington now use nanotechnology-enhanced clubs made from nano-composite materials containing nano-carbon and nano-titanium. Given the low density and high strength of the clubs, these world-class players' performances have become even better since they can hit the ball further and straighter.

Murphy says that nano-sciences can be dated back to ancient times, as evidenced by the recent discovery of carbon nano-tubes in a 17th-century  Damascus sabre's steel.

Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to examine a sample of Damascus sabre steel, researchers found that it contained carbon nano-tubes as well as cementite nano-wires.

This microstructure may offer insight into the beautiful banding pattern of the high-carbon steel created from an ancient method that was lost long ago.

It is believed that Damascus blades were forged directly from small cakes of steel produced in ancient India. A sophisticated thermo-mechanical treatment of forging and annealing was applied to these cakes to refine the steel to its exceptional quality.

At Crann, nano-science is also applied in biology, as researchers are working on new methods to grow stem cells from adult rats to create organs for human therapeutic purposes. In addition, novel drug delivery systems are being developed to deliver medication directly to the source of pain or illness. Other potential applications range from medical imaging techniques and prosthetics to computer memory and fuel cells.

For scientists, the nano world is concerned with the study of objects ranging in size from about 100 nanometres downwards. Murphy says this often involves looking at and working with individual atoms and molecules or minute particles.

In other words, nano-technology involves the design, characterisation, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at the nanometre scale.

By creating nanometre-scale structures, it is possible to control fundamental characteristics of a material, including its melting point, magnetic properties and even colour, without changing the material's chemical composition.

Murphy believes that nano-technology will change our lives in unforeseeable ways in the coming decades as the range of possible future applications is constantly growing.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com