Nanobots!

Posted on by scott

One of my favorite chapters to write in Bogus to Bubbly was the one about nanotechnology. It was great to finally hand over the spotlight to those wondrous tiny robots that melted the Armory, “cured” Zane’s brain, and built half of Aya’s city.

But since I handed in B to B a few months ago, there have already been some cool new developments in the world of nanos. Here’s a three-legged, crab-walking microbot developed in South Korea. It’s made of a polymer (like plastic), but it’s powered by rat heart tissue. (Eww. But you can’t beat evolution for power sources, I guess.)

Watch it go:

You can really see the heart tissue dynamics in the way it moves.

Pros: It managed to walk for more than a week on one charge of rat heart.

Cons: It only went 50 meters in that week, giving it an average speed of 0.0002 MPH. But if your nanobot was walking around inside something really tiny like, say, a brain cell, this would be plenty fast.

Note that this robot isn’t proper nanotech, because it’s more than a millimeter across. (Your fingernail is about a millimeter thick.) Proper nanobots will be between 1 and 100 nanometers across, at least a thousand times smaller.

But from big things, little things grow.

For more about nanos, you can buy Bogus at at your friendly neighborhood indie bookstore, or at Powell’s, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

And don’t forget that Justine and I will be in Toronto, Ontario Monday night:

Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld
Indigo Bookstore
Toronto, Ontario
Monday, October 27
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Yorkdale Mall
3401 Dufferin Street

Story ganked from io9.

97 thoughts on “Nanobots!”

  3. yes, i get points off my story if it’s too long. and mine is WAY too long. let’s just say that there has to be a limit on these things cuz the teacher has to mark 108 of ’em.

  6. i had to make a deal of sorts with my friend though…she doesn’t care for reading much (at least she didn’t before she discovered that i was the only sane person at my school) and so she only reads one book for every fifteen that i read. i can probably read ’bout five books by monday….from there i’ll keep reading……and she will too, cuz by the time i finish all fifteen, she’ll of had to finish one. it’s not like i’m gonna read LONG books though….600 pages max.

  7. my friend HATES reading
    she think IM the loser because I read so much
    even though she is like the only one(besides my other friend
    who can’t really read at all) at our school that doesnt read
    actually most people I know read except her and shes calling me
    the loser that makes me very angry
    but ya I probably could read 15 books in a short amount of time but I dont like to read them that fast cause then
    I have to go out and find new books
    (plus buy them… hate library books)it gets pricey

  8. I was like living in a bubble thinking everyone read for fun for a while…
    I was in Global class and reading because I finished my work earlier. Someone said something like “if that your summer reading?” I just shook my head and they were like “they why are you reading it?” I’m sure my eyebrows shot up high and I told them I just liked it.
    Even my English teacher was surprised I read books she didn’t assign. I think that’s really sad…
    But I do have some friends who read around as much as I do, I think…

  9. So tired. Wow…hum. Nice injury TYC! Woo! LoL, that’s the spirit! Good luck with writing peeps. I got offered to go to England or Scottland as an exchange student last year but my mother wouldn’t let me. Too far away she said…Lets just say, I read more books than anyone of my teachers or friends or family can keep track of.

  10. why oh why is everything i want so dammed expensive? my friends and i went shopping today, and we saw these FAWESOME goth dresses and skirts for Halloween, but they were all over a hundred dollars. I did get nice spider-patterned fingerless gloves though…

    AND A SOLAR-POWERED LIGHT-UP ITACHI KEYRING!!!!

    (not an otaku, seriously)

  11. I’d do anything to be an exchange student!!!
    Too bad your mother wouldn’t let you, my parents are hardly considering the idea when I toss it in front of them.

  13. okay, there is no other word but stupid for the act of idiocy i am guilty of commiting. Okay, so this morning, I sat down at the breakfast table and said “where’s the newspaper?”…then my parents looked at me like i’m a TOTAL IDIOT and said “andrea…..the newspaper people are on strike…they have been for two weeks”…..then i’m all “WHAT?????” then they said “did you not notice that we haven’t had a newspaper for nearly three weeks?” and i’m all “ummm…no.” yeah. I felt mildly very stupid. yeah. i know that sometimes i CAN be stupid, but i never thought that i was THAT idiotic. hmmmm….maybe it would be a GOOD idea to pay some degree of attention to the world around me……NOT!

  14. I bought b to b yesterday and omg when i saw my name in the first row i was so happy!! Thank you so much Scott!! now all those people that think i am to obsessed can suck it! cause following something you love does pay off 🙂

  15. Ok so you know how someone here said “Dont be a Llama vote for Obama.” Well i was like, well since we cant vote im going to make a new rhyme. So here it is. And its AWESOME!

    Dont be a Llama make your mama vote Obama!

    Is that like awesome or what!?

  16. what seriously??? the newspaper people are on strike??? where? not everywhere right? cuz we still get a paper. are the big publications on strike too? like the The New York Times and all those??? i’m so confussed. i’m pretty sure they aren’t though because i work on my school paper and my teacher would have mentioned it.

    did u guys know there is this new thing called a Kindle and it’s pretty kewl. it’s this little thing that you can download books on to in 60 seconds and for a lot less money than buying one because it doesn’t waste paper and all that. my mom saw it on Oprah and she freaked… she was like “wow! i need to buy one of those for you!” and it would be really kewl but i think i would rather have a camera so now i might be getting a digital SLR for christmas!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀 for those of you who don’t know what that is it’s a professional photography camera! and i am pretty much crazy about them. so if everything goes as planned it will be a very good christmas for me! 😀

    if anyone wants to check out the Kindle heres the website: http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-kindle/dp/B000FI73MA and if anyone is going to buy it or beg their parents to buy it then they should go to Oprah’s website and get the code cuz if you buy in the next few days you can get $50 off.

  17. Tally&Zane: uh…THANX!!!! my injury is pretty sweet (especially when u have to type up a science project that u should’ve started last week, but didn’t start until the night before it’s due and u can only type with one hand!!) ok…not so much fun then, but other than that it’s pretty cool.
    Andrea-la: hmmmmm…3 weeks w/o notcing u didn’t have a newspaper…u really must be in ur own little world.

  18. ok. i think the parentals have finally lost it.

    WE”RE GETTING A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    a black lab. like, seriously? those things get to be like, 85 POUNDS! 85!!!

    so yeah. im happy… and worried… and really really confused right now…

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 😀 😐 🙁

  22. Um, Kay-wa, I do believe the strike’s in Canada. Ha, I SAW THAT ON OPRAH! LoL…long story, I don’t actually watch Oprah but I was flipping through the channels and I heard something about backpacks weighing over 60 pounds and I’m like MINE TOTALLY DOES! And so I watched a little bit of it. But yeah, mine does weigh that much. Which is like over half my weight.

  23. Oooh! PUPPIES ARE SOOOO AMAZAZING! My sister’s dog is having puppies and when she does I get to have one! She’s a basset hound!

  24. I am EXCITED times infinity to see you and Justine tomorrow!!! Be prepared for some hardcore Canadian fans!!!!

  25. I JUST FINISHED REVELATION! I know, i just read it but i did all in one day and it was AWESOME! I cant wait till Paradise Lost. I want to know what happens! (does little dance in chair!)

  26. ugh. i have officially given up on attempting to get to toronto. mostly cuz my parents have both said that they wont drive me and that there is no way that i’m allowed to take a plane by myself. my mom said that usually she would of loved to go to toronto with me, but not when i’m supposed to be at school and she’s supposed to be at work. ugh. whatever….i’ll live….espcially since now this means that i have more time to read. yeah. hmmmm………for some reason, my friends think that i’m weird just cuz i insist that the sky in my world is purple….

  27. hym i havent really ever looked up in my world…i dont know what the sky looks like…

    LUCKY!
    i missed what they came to CA=.[
    o well

    my back pak is like 100lbs!
    yeah that was random but i saw Tally&Zane said something about backpacks
    i dont think mine’d wiegh so much if i didnt carry around so many books(1 for me, 1 for a friend who might of fgotten thiers, another 1 for me incase i dont feel like reading that other 2…u get it)

    NOTE TO SELF:put EMO in front of adjitives(or how ever u spell it)

  28. oh my gosh…..my mom just lectured me about how i need to get my social studies mark higher…i mean, it’s just 75%…and this is mid-term and i haven’t gotten to write any essays yet. I mean, that’s the only reason that i ever get good averages, it’s just cuz of my essays. I mean, i pretty much suck at doing every-day assignments and then i’ll fail any test that invovles the memorization of dates….I mean, i got 67% on that test…so what? it’s just one stupid social studies test. whatever. I’m sure that my math mark will make up for it. I mean, my math mark can’t be less that 96% at the moment….and it would be higher if only i decided to “show my work”. Yeah right. I don’t show my work cuz there’s now work to show cuz i didn’t need to put in a bit of effort to get the answer. gosh. i get marks off cuz i’m good at math…what has the world come to?

  30. Good…for you, Andrea-la.
    I really loved the nanobots that were used for cam-cams in Specials. I mean, they wouldn’t be that good a pic, but ….handy. Imagine what I could do with one of those….*drools*
    Ahem.
    Enough fantasies of cheating on tests, now Holly!
    Peace,
    Holly=Sensei(Top1000,duh!^^)

  31. (I read the first two Midnighters yay!) I can’t wait to get bogus to bubbly, I’m dying, and this post was awesome.
    In a weird way.

  32. *frowns* Toronto is so far away. I could fly there, but that would be a longggg uncomfortable plane ride.

  34. Scott-la already came to CA and i missed it=.[

    Jay-wa:YAY!im not the only one!i wasnt sure if i was like, the last person on the planet to read midnighters

    i dont like Soc.St.
    ok, i like the geography part
    but historical dates are BOREING!

  36. I wish Scott-la could come to Missouri! I’d drive anywhere in the state to get all of my books signed and meet his awesomeness.

  37. GRRR. And I just realized he was in KC 🙁 That is really depressing, lol. Oh well. There will be other times.

  38. Toronto is 22-26 hours by car away from where i am this second. I don’t know how far away by plane. It’s in Ontario, right? I was in an American school system in grade five when people apparently learned these things…which might explain why i am so pittiful in social studies. Whatever. I think I’ve been to Toronto before….can’t remember….oh well……

  39. My gosh that nano-creature looked weirdly cute. o_O Yes I have a weird perspective, but anyway, love reading your blog Mr. Westerfeld. Almost every entry is awesome, and really fresh. I’m not even sad to say you make my day every time you post. Hope you guys have a good day. Sorry for breaking your Toronto chain. Haha. Bye~

  42. i know Bran-la! the ending was so crazy! i never would have expected it! and they better be okay! …if Reed and Josh are not okay i am not going to be too happy! …but now that Josh knows that Reed was drugged to sleep with Dash things will hopefully go back to how they were before with Reed and Josh cuz they were really good together! and i’m dying for February to get here too! so have you read Last Christmas yet? it was good… not really what i expected. Ariana is really pretty messed up.

    Lizzy-wa your so lucky!!!! i want a puppy!!!

  43. “The bubblehaed nano act in pretty much the same way,except the don’ attack cancer-they target certain areas of the brain, creating bubblehead lesion-( i tried to type the rest but…i am lazy. you can’t blame ME Scott…I didn’t change the gender of a character because it was easier to type!!!although i probably would if i were you…hehe…)eventually the nanos will be able to recreate the bubblehead effect.(Don’t try this at home)”
    Of cousre not. No homemade bubblehead operations for me.then.*sighs* just when i thought i could control-ahem,HELP!!my brother.sigh.

  45. My friend tell me hundreds of Filipinas are on sites like Adult Friend Finder giving their Yahoo address and having American men send them money to do all kinds of sex acts on cam even pre-teen girls. Sending their money thru Western Union Pay Pal and Xoom and committing all kinds of sin for money.
    Is this tragedy true?

  47. This pessimist gripes around the wind turbine; these optimist should expect the application to switch; and also the realist changes the sails. We have to allow finite let-down, nonetheless we’ve got to in no way drop limitless pray.

Comments are closed.