{"id":17031,"date":"2026-01-07T16:26:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/uncategorized\/nanotechnology-between-dna-origami-and-gray-goo\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T16:29:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:29:44","slug":"nanotechnology-between-dna-origami-and-gray-goo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/hai_premium\/nanotechnology-between-dna-origami-and-gray-goo\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udd12 Nanotechnology: between DNA origami and gray goo"},"content":{"rendered":"

This material was created in collaboration with Nowa Fantastyka.<\/em><\/p>

Drexler, often called the father of nanotechnology, described in his book “Engines of Creation”<\/a><\/mark> a scenario in which molecular assemblers could replicate uncontrollably, but today, instead of building armies of microscopic robots, scientists would rather tinker at the molecular level.<\/p>

Modern DNA origami are true masterpieces of molecular engineering. For example, we’re building structures measuring 25 \u00d7 41 \u00d7 53 nanometers, sometimes even smaller, that can carry out controlled protein breakdown or deliver drugs straight into cancer cells. A Harvard research team recently even showed<\/mark><\/a> how precisely positioned CpG sequences can train the immune system to fight cancer. The idea of a molecular anti-cancer vaccine sounds like something straight out of a Peter Watts novel, yet it works in mouse models.<\/p>

Then there are MXenes\u2014two-dimensional carbides and nitrides of transition metals\u2014which are the new stars of nanomedicine, especially in photothermal cancer therapy. They can serve as drug carriers, biosensors that detect biomarkers, or platforms for antibacterial treatment.<\/p>

Finally, we\u2019re working with nanozymes\u2014nanomaterials that mimic enzyme activity\u2014which are more stable, cheaper, and easier to produce than proteins. Since 2018, we\u2019ve seen an explosion of publications. Today we know of over 550 types of nanozymes being studied in 350 labs around the world.<\/p>

By the way, we\u2019ve watched a real revolution sweep the world\u2014the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The lipid nanoparticles (LNP) used in the BioNTech\/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines protect the mRNA from degradation and deliver it into cells. This isn\u2019t science fiction, it\u2019s technology that has saved millions of lives. Another everyday example of nanotechnology? QLED TVs, for one. Since 2014, Samsung has used cadmium-free, indium phosphide-based quantum dots. That\u2019s not “almost nanotechnology”, but a real application of nanoparticles in millions of homes.<\/p>

Remember “gray goo<\/mark><\/a>” from Michael Crichton’s novel “Prey”? Drexler himself argued back in 2004 that self-replicating machines aren’t necessary for large-scale molecular manufacturing, and that the gray goo scenario, while it makes for great headlines, today does more to distract from real risks than to help the field progress. These days, instead of apocalyptic visions, we already have working targeted drug delivery systems that minimize toxicity to healthy tissues.<\/p>

What could we realistically achieve over the next decade? According to The Business Research Company, the carbon nanomaterials market is set to grow from $8.93 billion in 2025 to $24.99 billion in 2029, at about 29.3% per year. Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi have developed sprayable peptide nanofibrils that self-assemble into scaffolds mimicking the extracellular matrix, speeding up wound healing. This technology could make its way into hospitals within a few years, though it\u2019s still in the early stages of development.<\/p>

So what\u2019s likely to stay a dream? The Drexlerian “assembler” that builds everything atom by atom will probably never be built. Richard Smalley, a Nobel laureate, argued<\/mark><\/a> that the fundamental laws of physics make such molecular machines impossible. Instead, we\u2019re entering an era of “smart” nanoparticles: delivering drugs exactly where they\u2019re needed, repairing DNA, and monitoring our health from the inside.<\/p>

Nanotech turned out less flashy than sci-fi writers imagined, but way more useful. A team at Ohio State University even showed how to recycle components of DNA-origami structures, creating a closed-loop materials cycle in nanomanufacturing. We might not have nanobots terraforming Mars, but we\u2019ve got something better: real science that\u2019s steadily transforming medicine and materials science. And honestly, I\u2019d rather live in a world where nanotechnology cures cancer than in one where we have to worry about gray goo or a nano-plague, like in Alastair Reynolds\u2019 stories. Though I still think “Diamond Dogs” should have won the British Science Fiction Association Award.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 1986, when E. Drexler was scaring the world with the idea of “gray goo”\u2014self-replicating nanobots devouring the biosphere after being accidentally released into the environment\u2014it was hard to imagine that 40 years later the hottest trend in nanotechnology would be… folding DNA like Japanese origami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":16993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[863,754,796],"tags":[],"popular":[],"difficulty-level":[38],"ppma_author":[614],"class_list":["post-17031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-and-science","category-hai_premium","category-hai-premium-2","difficulty-level-medium"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":614,"user_id":247,"is_guest":0,"slug":"prof-dr-hab-dariusz-jemielniak","display_name":"prof. dr hab. Dariusz Jemielniak","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/maxresdefault-1-e1742292469999.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/maxresdefault-1-e1742292469999.jpg"},"first_name":"Dariusz","last_name":"Jemielniak","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"Profesor zarz\u0105dzania Akademii Leona Ko\u017ami\u0144skiego, gdzie kieruje katedr\u0105 MINDS (Management in Networked and Digital Societies). Pracuje te\u017c jako faculty associate w Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society na Harvardzie. Wiceprezes Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Cz\u0142onek Rady Programowej CampusAI."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17032,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17031\/revisions\/17032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"popular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popular?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"difficulty-level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/difficulty-level?post=17031"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=17031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}