Little wires, big technology breakthroughs
Power generation, computing, waste cleanup
Microwires have a wide range of potential applications, from solar power generation to information storage. Silicon microwires may be used to make less expensive and more efficient solar arrays. Microwires may be able to link carbon nanotubes, and you know how much everyone likes doing that. There are even techniques for growing microwires, which are said to have been developed in the old Soviet Union for weapons research, but are now used to solve some of our most serious problems, like how to clean water, generate electricity, and anchor tiny things to other tiny things. Microwires have a great deal of potential, and their nanowire cousins can also be used in circuitry and computing applications to help put more transistors on a smaller surface, reduce power consumption, and transmit information. In the future, tiny robots may be able to perform surgery from the inside out, or make repairs on a cellular level thanks to microwire and nanowire technology.
Notes and Special Information
Special note: Sometimes scientists make funny claims. A 1977 episode of In Search Of claimed that killer bees would be here in 1990...Uh-Oh.