title: The ecology of technology and nanomotors.
abstract: Ecosystems are characterized by particular scaling laws describing, for example, the relationship between animal abundance and species body weight. It is hypothesized that technological systems follow similar scaling laws, where the abundance of a type of machine correlates with its size. Human progress continuously expands the range of accessible machine sizes, creating a technology trend toward vast numbers of microscopic machines. Current research related to nanomotors, such as the report by Kumar et al. in this issue of ACS Nano describing advances in controlling biomolecular motors, lays the scientific foundation for this trend.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States.
authors.forename: Megan J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hess
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D004398:Dyneins / Q000502:physiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D016547:Kinesins / Q000502:physiology; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D013672:Technology / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D004398:Dyneins; D016547:Kinesins