Implications of nanotechnology applications: using genetics as a lesson.

As socie ty becomes more comfortable discussing genetics and its related ethics, a new technology is blossoming in the background. Nanotechnology may speak the same societal language as does genetics, in that both technological movements involve tiny science and large imagination. In a way, it is natural—and almost inevitable—that the genetic revolution and the nanotechnology revolution be compared. Both fields involve smaller and smaller scales and manipulation of nano-sized materials. Both fields also create ricochet effects in almost every aspect of society.