Carbon Nanotubes--What Will They Think Of Next?

Carbon nanotubes are turning into the miracle cure for all problems scientific. Wikipedia says they "are cylindrical carbon molecules with novel properties that make them potentially useful in a wide variety of applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics, and other fields of materials science. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat." I've read about them as the best hope for super-strong, super-lightweight cabling for space elevators, possibly enabling mankind to reach space without the pesky problems of lift-off and g-forces. Scientists are exploring their potential for use in medical applications, such as forming minuscule latticework for rejoining/regrowing severed nerves, and such out-there concepts as making nanobots to clean our blood. They are also considered one of the keys to the future extreme miniaturization of electronics (as if we need electronics to get much smaller--I can barely dial my cell phone now.)

Today's examination of the wonders of carbon nanotubes centers around this article I read at Livescience.com. At the University of California in Riverside they're working on carbon nanotube bone grafts, structures upon which the body would grow new bone and fuse it to existing bone. There are new advancements being made in the nanotube bone graft arena by virtue of a new purification process that removes the heavy metals from the nanotubes--heavy metals that are harmful to living tissue. This is apparently necessary because the bone grafts would be permanent, and the nanotubes would stay in the body. This differs from the piece I read about advances in reconnecting severed nerves in the brain. In that case, after the nerves regrow, the lattice of nanotubes breaks down and is flushed from the body through the urinary system.

In both of these scenarios, though, the whole concept is amazing. Imagine someone who has lost some portion of their bone to an accident, or because they had to have a tumor removed. Now think of them being able to regrow their own bone to replace the lost section, not donor bone, but theirs, without the rejection factor. Imagine a person who's had to have brain surgery not losing brain functionality due to nerve damage, because doctors are able to use nanotubes to make the nerves reconnect. It really is an exciting time to be observing the strides the scientific community is making. I wonder what's next.

Update: More coolness. Here's one answer to the "what's next" question. From Physorg.com--"Thin films of carbon nanotubes deposited on transparent plastic can also serve as a surface on which cells can grow. And as researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) and Rice University suggest in a paper published in the May issue of the Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, these nanotube films could potentially serve as an electrical interface between living tissue and prosthetic devices or biomedical instruments." They're talking about making prosthetic devices that can be controlled by nerve impulses, and send sensory data the other way. Wow.