We are not necessarily aware of it, but certain materials with properties that were unimaginable just a few years ago or familiar objects with new functions have already entered our lives. A new wave of products is about to emerge from research labs. It promises us ever smaller and more powerful computers as well as the proliferation of tiny electronic devices communicating in networks. For some, these technological developments should simplify our daily lives and make the world safer, more efficient and more comfortable.

But the speed at which these devices are inserting themselves into our societies and shaping them raises concerns. By changing the dimension of our intervention on matter, nanotechnology could profoundly change our relationship to the world. How? In which direction ? Comfort and freedom, security and privacy are more than ever at the heart of the questions that accompany the rise of nanotechnology in the fields of electronics and the production of new materials.

The Serie : It’s a universe where scientists explore matter on a scale 80,000 times smaller than a human hair. It’s a gigantic global laboratory where scientists converge from all disciplines, and dedicate themselves to observing and manipulating the smallest particles in the natural world.

Thirty years ago, new microscopes first opened the doors to this new dimension and allowed scientists to begin moving individual atoms and molecules .This science of the miniscule is already opening up a new world of possibilities. Nanotechnology has been called “the next technological revolution”. It is said to provide groundbreaking solutions to the most serious problems that threaten our future –it promises faster computers, improved security, longer healthier lives and a cleaner earth.