Nanotechnology Glossary V through Z

Home > Introduction > Nanotechnology Glossary V through Z

NANOTECHNOLOGY GLOSSARY V through Z

Last Updated: Monday, 20-Apr-2015 19:51:36 PDT

This Nanotechnology Glossary is a work-in-progress, and will be updated very frequently, so check back. Please email us with any missing terms, and we will include them. Any definition that can be attributed to an author will be, unless we get a quote sent to us without one. If you see one for which the author is not shown, and you know who it is, please let us know and we will make the update. Thanks! [brackets] indicate author and copyright holder

A - C | D - F | G - I | J - M | N | O - R | S - U | W | X Y | Z

Vasculoid: The vasculoid [concept] is a single, complex, multisegmented nanotechnological medical robotic system capable of duplicating all essential thermal and biochemical transport functions of the blood, including circulation of respiratory gases, glucose, hormones, cytokines, waste products, and cellular components. [RAF CJP] See Vasculoid: A Personal Nanomedical Appliance to Replace Human Blood. Robert A. Freitas Jr. & Christopher J. Phoenix Transhumanist.com April 2002

Virtual Nanomedicine: Using VR to perform surgery and other functions inside the body.

Click on thumbnail for full size version
and here for explanation
Copyright Tim Fonseca
Thanks also to R. A. Freitas Jr.

Von Neumann Machine: (pronounced von noi-man) A machine which is able to build a working copy of itself using materials in its environment. This is often proposed as a cheap way to mine or colonize the entire solar system or galaxy. An early fictional treatment was the short story "Autofac" by Philip K. Dick, published in 1955, which actually seems to precede John von Neumann's original paper about self-reproducing machines (von Neumann, J., 1966, The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata, A. Burks, ed., Univ. of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL.). [AS]

VON Neumann Probe: A von Neumann Machine able to move over interstellar or interplanetary distances and to utilize local materials to build new copies of itself. Such probes could be used to set up new colonies, perform megascale engineering or explore the universe. [AS]

Back To Top

Wet Nanotechnology: the study of biological systems that exist primarily in a water environment. The functional nanometer-scale structures of interest here are genetic material, membranes, enzymes and other cellular components. The success of this nanotechnology is amply demonstrated by the existence of living organisms whose form, function, and evolution are governed by the interactions of nanometer-scale structures. [Rice University]

Back To Top

Zeptosecond: one-billion-trillionth of a second, or 10 ^-21 second. Because nuclear movement takes place so quickly, scientists would need a pulse of light lasting just one zeptosecond to observe them. Johns Hopkins University

Zettatechnology: in which zetta means 10²¹, referring to the typical number of distinct designed parts in a product made by the systems we envision (molecular, mature, or molecular-manufacturing-based nanotechnology). The term refers to the implemented technology and its products, rather than to intermediate steps on the pathway. [FS]