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If you haven’t yet heard the word “nano”, then you are missing out. What you are missing is one of the biggest leaps that science has taken in a long, long time. The fuss is really about particles so tiny that we need the world’s most powerful microscopes just to be able to see them. Now, we don’t want to split hairs here, but try this as an experiment: carefully pull out a strand of hair and look at it. Now imagine your strand of hair being half that width, then halve it again, and again. In fact try to imagine dividing one hair into 80 000 portions of equal width.

Depending on how thick your  hair is, one of those portions would be close to one nanometre in width. That’s almost unimaginably small, right? But because nanoparticles are so small, they have properties that make scientists go a little weak at the knees. Scientists working in the areas of health, water, energy and in industry in South Africa are hard at work trying to find useful ways in which to put these small materials, nanomaterials, to work. This new technology called nanotechnology – or rather, the study of nanoscience – can bring life-changing benefits.

In this newsletter, take a peek into the world of students and scientists trying to make a difference to the health of all South Africans. Just imagine and look to the future.

Click here to view the 16 page quarterly newsletter on Nanotechnology and Health.