Nanotechnologists are helping us to discover amazing things about the capabilities of natural systems and structures, with the aim of seeing how they can be used to solve design problems. This is the field of biomimetics – mimicking biology. In nature nanostructures occur in many places – the Blue Morph butterfly has nanoscales that reflect light with an incredibly intense blue even though there is nothing actually coloured blue on the wings, the sticky feet of a gecko comprise many tiny nano hairs that adhere to surfaces with thousands of millions of nanoforces that enable them to run up vertical surfaces as if they were sticky, and lotus leaves are covered with nanoscale bumps that make the surfaces hydrophobic (water repelling) to help them stay clean and dry. The complexity in our world is infinite and beautiful, yet in nature it is sometimes with inherently simple systems that complex problems are solved – and we are learning that this is often at the nanoscale. Now that nanometrology enables us to glimpse aspects of nature's 'tiniverse', what do you think will we find next?
I write to you, dear Reader, about a tale of forty-seven years ago. It was then that I, 35 of my fellow country men and a pack of dogs set out to discover the secret of the Grey Blocks. Not to conquer or destroy you must understand, but to learn from, to reveal. You will have heard of the Blocks, and no doubt fear them to this day (and for that you are wise), and I will not repeat the oft-cited myths because you know them too well my brother. But there are always tales to tell and this is, possibly, the greatest one of all.
The scene is one of darkness, of fields of corn, of rolling hills. The Blocks are visible on the horizon, scattered across the landscape. We had left most of our devices at home, bringing only the essentials in leaded satchels, removing them only in safe quarters.
As a race we humans thought we knew it all. We had devices for everything, we could measure, sculpt, predict. We could assess and possess and life was good – planetwide. The western and the eastern worlds had finally evened out, work-life balance was truly balanced and levels of self-awareness and awareness of others were appropriately omnipresent but not restrictive. Underlying anarchy and discontent were expected and respected, and diverse thoughts were heard and acted on. But for all the control (or perceived lack of it) we had lost our way. It seemed that our boundless reliance on computer systems did not provide signposts.
When the Blocks appeared, first in the islands and smaller countries, they were blamed the insurgents, but gradually they spread across continents until every inch of land was in the grip of the Block Field. Anything electrical within the aura generated by the Field was affected, which meant almost everything. Computing devices failed, power stations halted, watches stopped. What followed was an involuntary united shutdown and a return to the land.
The planet had spoken in its native language – warning us, dear Reader, that there is something fundamental at the core of the planet that is more powerful than anything else on this earth.