Nanotechnology relies on this simple premise: You can create a better material -- whatever it may be -- if you build structures from the atoms up. It's not a science that we've yet perfected. But breakthroughs are happening everyday.

Until now scientists have relied mostly on carbon -- rather than steel -- to create their structures. That's because carbon is much stronger and more flexible than steel. This versatility allows researchers to accomplish a number of different things not possible when using steel.

The only problem with using carbon is this: Connecting carbon to other materials is basically hit or miss. You see, carbon attaches anywhere -- and everywhere -- it pleases. This makes it hard for developers to make the connections where they want.

Gold on the other hand is a little pickier.

Unlike carbon, gold doesn't attach to everything. Rather, gold attaches only to areas specified by scientists -- making it much easier to work with.

Using gold allows nanoarchitects to be more precise when building new materials faster. But what about the costs of gold?

Carbon is much cheaper than gold because it is much more abundant. In fact, carbon is found in most of everything.

Obviously using gold to build nanostructures is more expensive than using carbon. But here's the thing: Researchers will certainly be willing to pay a premium if it means building stronger structures more efficiently.

And even though scientists are using the gold in microscopic scales, I expect the demand for these nanostructures to be much more than we expect right now thus pushing the demand for physical gold even higher.

The scientific community is in need of gold and beginning to use it to develop many different materials. In the near future gold may be in everything you see. Materials used for construction buildings are being produced through nanotechnology. You may have gold laced throughout the pen you write with or very clothes you wear.

Gold even has a unique optical resonance that is perfect for fiber optics and signal transfer. A home theatre system is just that much more special when you know that crystal clear sound and picture are brought to you by gold.

Gold plated accessories may be garnish, but nanogold-built materials are just practical and efficient.

-Luke Burgess

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