Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life

"Soft Machines" explains in a lively and very accessible manner why the nanoworld is so different to the macro-world of our experience, and why the design principles of Nature's nano-machines are so different to the familiar principles of macroscopic engineering. Nanotechnology will apply these unfamiliar principles to create valuable new materials and artefacts, with profound effects on medicine, electronics, energy and the environment in the twenty-first century. By understanding the relationship between nanotechnology and nature itself, we can appreciate what potential dangers this powerful technology may pose, and we will come to realise that nanotechnology may have more in common with biology than with conventional engineering.

About the Author:
Richard Jones is a Fellow of the Royai Society, and is currently the Senior Strategic Advisor for Nanotechnology for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Cambridge before moving to Sheffield as Professor of Physics