What is Nano?

Nano exhibition and NanoDays resources for public audiences. Nanotechnologies have the potential to transform the way we live. We all have a role in shaping our nano future.

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. That’s really tiny! Nanometers are used to measure things that are too small to see, like atoms and molecules, the basic building blocks of our world.

Nanoscale science focuses on things that are measured in nanometers. In the field of nanotechnology, scientists and engineers make new materials and tiny devices. Nanotechnology allows them to make things like smaller, faster computer chips and new medicines to treat diseases like cancer.

Nanotechnologies include new materials and tiny devices so small they’re sometimes built from individual atoms and molecules!

Nanotechnology takes advantage of special properties at the nanoscale to create new materials and devices.

Videos on Nanoscale Science and Nanotechnology Topics

See all Nanotechnology Educational Videos

A photo showing the 1 centimeter width of a finger

How Small is Nano? video

In this 3-minute video, the viewer goes on an adventure of scale from the macrosize to the microsize to the nanosize!

Person in full personal protective equipment puts on a white cleanroom suit

What Happens in a Nano Lab?

In this 3-minute video, a child narrative introduces a tour of nanotechnology lab.

Person looking closely at a cup filled with dirty water

What’s Nano About Water?

In this 30-second video, viewers quickly learn how nanotechnology can filter pesticides and heavy metals out of water.

Teen girl with braces in a pink shirt holds a large kale leaf

What’s Nano About Toilets?

In this 30-second video, viewers quickly learn how nanocoatings inspired by nature can keep things clean.

What’s Nano About Chocolate?

In this 30-second video, viewers quickly learn about nanosized particles and the sense of smell.

Lady in pink shirt stands in the path of a cluster of bubbles

What’s Nano About Bubbles?

In this 30-second video, viewers quickly learn about the rainbow of colors seen in bubbles.

A photoshopped image of people wearing invisibility cloaks hiding everything but their legs

Invisibility Cloak video

In this 4-min video the idea of invisibility cloaks is comedically explored.

What is Nanomedicine video and interactive graphic

Intro to Nanomedicine video

An exhibit that was part of the Nanotechnology: What's the Big Deal? exhibition that is the introductory component for the Nanomedicine exhibit package; but the video on it's own is also an informative stand-alone media piece for other uses.

Zoom into a Blue Morpho Butterfly video

In this 3-minute video, the viewer zooms into a Blue Morpho Butterfly from macroscale to nanoscale.

Zoom into a Microchip video

In this video, learners see the tiny wires and the crisscrossing patterns of the microchip's circuits while learning a bit about why making it small is important.

A lotus leaves in a small, man-made concrete pond.

Zoom into a Lotus Leaf video

In this video, learners get an up close look at the tiny nanostructures that give the leaf its unique superhydrophobic behavior.

A person holding an ice cream cone with the text "NANO: I've never had that problem."

Nano and Me Videos

In these short videos, learners are introduced to simple fundamentals about the nanoscale; topics include the differences between macro and nano silver, gold, aluminum, latex, gravity, and stain free pants.

Videos on Nanotechnology and Society

Two actors looking into a mirror having a conversation

Wonders and Worries of Nanotechnology

In this 4-minute video, actors portray characters in a 1950s style public service film about the risks and benefits of nanotechnology.

Wonders and Worries of Nanotechnology: Who Benefits

In this 4-minute video, actors portray characters in a 1950s style public service film about the unknown "future" of nanotechnology.

Wonders and Worries of Nanotechnology: Regulation

In this 4-minute video, actors portray characters in a 1950s style public service film about regulation and nanotechnology.

Wonders and Worries of Nanotechnology: Ask and Research

In this 3-minute video, actors portray characters in a 1950s style public service film about how to have a high-quality conversation about science and society.

Two actors act in a play about nano and society.

Same Sides and Let's Talk About It videos

In this program, learners are introduced to nanoscale science which includes 2 ten-minute plays that stimulate conversation about the impact the field of nanoscale science may have on our lives.

A black and white photo of three people sitting at a table having an intense discussion

Three Angry Scientists

In this 20-minute film, actors depict a dramatic conversation on the risks and benefits of new technology.

Does Every Silver Lining Have a Cloud?

In this 6-minute video, Duke University researchers explain the relationship between nanomaterials and their potential impact on the ecosystem.

An illustrated human half submerged in a water

Changing Our Relationship With Science video

In this 8-minute video, scientists from Harvard, Princeton and Duke University imagine the future of science and technology in thirty, or fifty years.

What is NanoDays?

NanoDays is a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science and engineering and its potential impact

on the future. NanoDays events are organized by participants in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network) and take place at more than 200 science and children's museums, research centers and universities across the country from Puerto Rice to Hawaii. NanoDays engages people of all ages in learning about this emerging field of science, which holds the promise of developing revolutionary materials and technologies.

While several communities conducted NanoDays events in prior years, the first nationwide week of events took place in 2008 with more than 100 institutions participating. This has grown to more than 200 events annually nationwide.