Britain's 24 nanotechnology research centres could be closed as part of budget cuts.
British nanotechnology research happens across 24 centres in universities across the UK. The science minister, David Willets, says that there are too many and the research should be centralised to save money.
He said it was “most unlikely” that the centres would still be open in 18 months.
However, Tim Harper, the head of nanotechnology for a technology investment fund, says this is old news. He reports that the head of the Technology Strategy Board, which decides whether to grant funding to the centres, had already decided that they should find their own funding after the initial investment.
Either way, the chances of survival for many of the centres look very small indeed.
Nanotechnology is the manufacturing of extremely small materials and machines, from around 1 to 100 nanometres long. A nanometre is a billionth of a metre – about the length your fingernails grow in a single second. Making machines and materials this small means manipulating and arranging individual atoms.
At this scale, there are problems that do not apply for larger technologies. For example, different forces become important: gravity isn’t a big worry for things this small, but forces like surface tension (the attraction between molecules that makes water form droplets) are far more powerful.
The possibilities, however, are enormous. Carbon nanotubes, an existing nanomaterial, are the strongest thing ever created, and can be used to create a material harder than diamond.
What kinds of research is most important when funding is limited? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
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