The idea is not new,but the delicate sensing system needed to detect the vibration and measure its frequency is new.European researchers have built a new device that can do just that. It may ultimately allow scientists to study the progress of chemical reactions, molecule by molecule.The new devise is a delicate sensing system needed to detect the vibration and measure its frequency.
                          
                               Real-life image (inset) of a carbon nanotube.
  
         Some nanotubes turn out to be semiconductors, depending on how the graphene sheet is wound, and it is these that offer the solution that CARDEQ has developed.It may then become possible to observe the radioactive decay of a single nucleus and to study other types of quantum mechanical phenomena.

 [Source: sciencedaily]

The future of nanotechnology is a promising one.According to Scientific American,between 1997 and 2005, investment in nanotech research and development by governments around the world soared from $432 million to about $4.1 billion, and corresponding industry investment exceeded that of governments by 2005. By 2015, products incorporating nanotech will contribute approximately $1 trillion to the global economy. About two million workers will be employed in nanotech industries, and three times that many will have supporting jobs.

Scientists are also developing ever more sophisticated ways of encapsulating molecules and delivering them on demand for targeted drug delivery reported by physics world.

  Nanotechnology may have its biggest impact on the medical industry. Patients will drink fluids containing nanorobots programmed to attack and reconstruct the molecular structure of cancer cells and viruses. There's even speculation that nanorobots could slow or reverse the aging process, and life expectancy could increase significantly. Nanorobots could also be programmed to perform delicate surgeries -- such nanosurgeons could work at a level a thousand times more precise than the sharpest scalpel.Nanotechnology has the potential to have a positive effect on the environment. For instance, scientists could program airborne nanorobots to rebuild the thinning ozone layer.

Nanotechnology And Health:
   Günter Oberdörster, Ph.D., professor of Toxicology in Environmental Medicine and director of the university's EPA Particulate Matter Center, has already completed one study showing that inhaled nano-sized particles accumulate in the nasal cavities, lungs and brains of rats. Scientists speculate this buildup could lead to harmful inflammation and the risk of brain damage or central nervous system disorders.For decades Oberdörster has studied how the body interacts with ambient ultrafine particles, including automotive and power plant emissions and dust from the World Trade Center disaster. What's different about nanotechnology is that these particles are man-made into a well-defined size, down to a billionth of a meter, and appear to seep all the way into the mitochondria, or energy source, of living cells.

     Chan  an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering together with Hans Fischer, a PhD student  in his group,argue that the development of predictive models of nanostructure toxicity requires a systematic mapping of the fate, kinetics, clearance, metabolism, protein coating, immune response and toxicity of nanostructures to the nanostructure’s physical properties within a life cycle model.
"Currently, there is a common assumption that the small size of nanostructures allows them to easily enter tissues, cells, organelles, and functional biomolecular structures (i.e. DNA, ribosomes) since the actual physical size of an engineered nanostructure is similar to many biological molecules (e.g. antibodies, proteins) and structures (e.g. viruses)" explains Chan. "A corollary is that the entry of the nanostructures into vital biological systems could cause damage, which could subsequently cause harm to human health. However, a number of recent studies have demonstrated that despite the size of the nanostructures they do not freely go into all biological systems but are instead governed by the functional molecules added to their surfaces."

Nanotechnology And Environment:

         Because of their tiny size, nanomaterials have special properties that make them ideal for a range of commercial and medical uses, but researchers are still trying to determine how they might affect humans and animals. Gold, for example, may behave differently when introduced at nanoscale into the human body, where it is chemically inert in traditional applications.Scientific studies also suggest nanoparticles can cause health problems and damage aquatic life. For instance, they lodge in the lungs and respiratory tract and cause inflammation, possibly at an even greater rate than asbestos and soot do."Nanoparticles are like the roach motel. The nanoparticles check in but they don't check out," said John Balbus, health program director for the advocacy group Environmental Defense.

This vedio describes The environmental impact of nanomaterials found on Youtube,

In 1965, Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel Corporation, made the astounding prediction that the number of transistors that could be fit in a given area would double every 18 months for the next ten years. This it did and the phenomenon became known as Moore's Law.

The history of nanotechnology begins with a lecture titled, 'There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom' a talk given by physicist  Richard P. Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959; "there is nothing besides our clumsy size that keeps us from using this space. In his time, it was not possible for us to manipulate single atoms or molecules because they were far too small for our tools." His speech was completely theoretical and seemingly fantastic. He described how the laws of physics do not limit our ability to manipulate single atoms and molecules. Instead, it was our lack of the appropriate methods for doing so. However, he correctly predicted that the time would come in which atomically precise manipulation of matter would inevitably arrive.

Here is a shot vedio about the history of nanotecgnology found on Youtube,

The term "nanotechnology" was first defined by Norio Taniguchi of the Tokyo Science University in a 1974 paper as follows: "'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or one molecule." Since that time the definition of nanotechnology has generally been extended to include features as large as 100 nm. The idea that nanotechnology embraces structures exhibiting quantum mechanical aspects, such as quantum dots, has further evolved its definition.

The history of nanotechnology in chronological order,

1959
"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech.

1974
Taniguchi uses term "nano-technology" in paper on ion-sputter machining

1977
Drexler originates molecular nanotechnology concepts at MIT

1981
First technical paper on molecular engineering to build with atomic precision
STM invented

1985
Buckyball discovered

1986
First book published,AFM invented,First organization formed

1987
First protein engineered,First university symposium

1988
First university course

1989
First national conference,IBM logo spelled in individual atoms

1990
Japan's STA begins funding nanotech projects,First nanotechnology journal

1991
IBM endorses bottom-up path,Japan's MITI commits $200 million,Carbon nanotube discovered

1992
First Congressional testimony,First textbook published

1993
First coverage of nanotech from White House,First Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology awarded,"Engines of Creation" book given to Rice administration, stimulating first university nanotech center

1994
Nanosystems textbook used in first university course


1995
First industry analysis of military applications,First think tank report

1996
First European conference,NASA begins work in computational nanotech,$250,000 Feynman Grand Prize announced,First nanobio conference

1997
First company founded,First design of nanorobotic system

1998
First NSF forum,First DNA-based nanomechanical device

1999
First safety guidelines,First Nanomedicine book published

2000
President Clinton announces U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative

2001
First report on nanotech industry

2002
First nanotech industry conference

2003
Call for balancing NNI research portfolio,Drexler/Smalley debate is published in Chemical & Engineering News

2004
First policy conference on advanced nanotech,First center for nanomechanical systems

2005
At Nanoethics meeting, Roco announces nanomachine/nanosystem project count has reached 300

 Nanotechnology is the study and use of structures between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers in size. Nanotechnology is the postulated ability to manufacture objects and structures with atomic precision, literally atom by atom. This technology will have tremendous potential if it can be developed; simple applications involve the creation of new and powerful materials, perfect diamond in bulk quantities and a tool to manipulate objects on any scale. More advanced applications would involve massively parallel nanocomputers, self-replication and more or less bright nanodevices able to interact with their surroundings.Nanotechnology is the science of the extremely tiny. According to the US Government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) “nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications.”

Here is a vedio found on Youtube,will give an introsuction to nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology refers to the science and technology of building devices, such as electronic circuits, from single atoms and molecules.The term nanotechnology  been used more broadly to refer to techniques that produce or measure features less than 100 nanometers in size; this meaning embraces advanced microfabrication and metrology.

According to Britannica Concise Encyclopedia nanotechnogy is,

Manipulation of atoms, molecules, and materials to form structures on the scale of nanometres (billionths of a metre). These nanostructures typically exhibit new properties or behaviours due to quantum mechanics. In 1959 Richard Feynman first pointed out some potential quantum benefits of miniaturization. A major advancement was the invention of molecular-beam epitaxy by Alfred Cho and John Arthur at Bell Laboratories in 1968 and its development in the 1970s, which enabled the controlled deposition of single atomic layers. Scientists have made some progress at building devices, including computer components, at nanoscales. Faster progress has occurred in the incorporation of nanomaterials in other products, such as stain-resistant coatings for clothes and invisible sunscreens.

According to wikipedia,

Nanotechnology,is the study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size. Nanotechnology is very diverse, ranging from novel extensions of conventional device physics, to completely new approaches based upon molecular self-assembly, to developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale, even to speculation on whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale.

The U.S. National Science Foundation defines it as: "Research and technology development in the length scale of approximately 1 to 100 nanometers." By this loose definition, some types of nanotechnology exist already, producing specialized materials and components including powders, films, and chemicals. Not spectacular, perhaps, but attractive to investors because many products will be improved significantly.

        Carbon nanotubes are ultra-thin fibres of carbon and a nanotechnologist’s dream.Carbon nanotubes, long, thin cylinders of carbon, were discovered in 1991 by S. Iijima.Carbon nanotube (CNT) are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure, configurationally equivalent to two dimensional graphene sheet rolled into a tube.They are made from thin sheets of carbon only one atom thick – known as graphene – rolled into a tube only a few nanometres across. Even the thickest is more than a thousand times thinner than a human hair.
        Interest in carbon nanotubes blossomed in the 1990s when they were found to possess impressive characteristics that make them very attractive raw materials for nanotechnology of all kinds.They have unique properties.They are about 1000 times stronger than steel and very good thermal conductors and good electrical conductors.CNT exhibits extraordinary mechanical properties: the Young's modulus is over 1 Tera Pascal. It is stiff as diamond. The estimated tensile strength is 200 Giga Pascal. These properties are ideal for reinforced composites, nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS).

To know more about nanotechnology the following lists of sites will help you.Some sites contains great information some less.You can search on google by using the keyword Nanotechnology Google will shows a list of keywords related to nanotechnolgy.

To search for PDF files type the keyword Nanotechnology filetype:pdf in google.Then related pdf files willbe displayed this will save time.For more us google Advanced Search option. You can also use Google scholar.

To know more about INVITED TALKS & PROGRAMS ORGANISED ,IIT madras physics research-ramp site will help. This site will provide latest information about upcoming seminars,Workshops and CONFERENCEs. You don't want to visit a hundred site to know about upcoming nanotechnology events. Nanoguru also provides an events section which gave you latest information about upcoming seminars,Workshops and conferences etc.You can download brochers,registration form from it or you can go to the corresponding pages easily.So don't forget to check it regularly.

Nanotechnology - Wikipedia
Nanotechnology Magazine
Rice University Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology
Nanotechnology.com
National Nanotechnology Initiative
Nanotechnow
Nanotechnology Directories
Nanotechnology Sites on the WWW
Google Directory-Nanotechnology
Yahoo! Directory-Nanotechnology

Nano refers to a nanometre (nm). One nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre and a single human hair is around 80,000 nanometres in width! Nanotechnology refers to a field of applied science and technology whose theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, generally 100 nanometers or smaller, and the fabrication of devices or materials that lie within that size range.Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve studying and working with matter on an ultra-small scale.

(Human hair fragment and a network of single-walled carbon nanotubes )
  Nanotechnologies are widely seen as having huge potential in areas as diverse as healthcare, IT and energy storage. Governments and businesses across the world have started to invest substantially in their development.

For Further reading,

>>Wikipedia
>> ewels nano