X-Message-Number: 21170
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 13:51:32 +0100
From: Henri Kluytmans <>
Subject: MNT devices

Thomas Donaldson wrote :

>There are lots of problems with the nanodevices
>you propose to replace our red blood cells. 

But every problem you seem to come up with has already been taken 
into account in the design. If you would have taken the effort 
to read the article R.Freitas published, you would have known 
that. 

>OK, so lets suppose that they hold oxygen at high pressure. Oxygen 
>is not only metabolically necessary but also a poison. If you 
>deliver too much too locally, then you poison the cells you're 
>giving it to, not help them. How do you
>control that problem, given that they carry much more oxygen than 
>a single red blood cell? 

Of course they contain sensors that measure the concentrations of 
oxygen and carbon-dioxide in the outer environment and release/absorb 
a certain number of oxygen/carbon-dioxide molecules depending on 
the concentrations measured.  

And, in stead of less control (as you seemed to think), this kind of 
device has superb control over it's function. It will contain a 
small CPU, and also could use many other sensors (e.g. temperature, 
presure, position, sound, etc..). So, for example with a sound 
detector you could tell it to stop functioning...

(Of course this information is also in the article by R.Freitas.)

>And yes, enzymes do use covalent binding, and enzymes also provide
>the closest biological versions to the systems you are discussing ...
>including their size. How do your nanomachines connect themselves
>together? By covalent bonding? So you have this nanomachine which
>has several officially moving parts bound together strongly...so
>much so that the officially moving parts can't move. 

I would not say that MNT produced devices connect themselves together. 
They are assembled molecule by molecule with atomic precision by a 
manufacturing device. The molecular building blocks are "glued" together 
using covalent bonds. But this doesn't mean that every building block in 
a device or machine will be (indirectly or directly) connected to each 
other by covalent bonds. A moving part will of course constitute a separate 
part that is not covalently bonded to the rest of the device/machine. 
But the building blocks inside the part itself will still be glued 
together by covalent bonds.

For example all structual components that are connected together 
(e.g. outer shell and inner "chassis" of a device) will form a 
kind of continuous diamond(oid) lattice. But functional components 
that need to be able to move with respect to the "chassis" will 
not be "glued" to it.

See for example the MNT designs for bearings. These designs 
already have been made with atomic precision, and they should 
function well according to simulations using molecular mechanics 
software (the latter is used in chemistry, and has proven itself 
to be a reliable tool for many years already).

In short, just as in macro-scale devices, it is not smart 
to glue together parts that need to move.

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