Technology is becoming molecularly precise. Nanotechnology, otherwise known as molecular engineering, will soon create effective machines as small as DNA. This capacity to manipulate matter -- to program matter -- with atomic precision will utterly change the economic, ecological, and cultural fabric of our lives. This book, which is accessible to a broad audience while providing references to the technical literature, presents a wide range of potential applications of this new material technology.

The first chapter introduces the basic concepts of molecular engineering and...