Little by Little. Expansions of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies

Little by little, nanotechnology has emerged amid enormous anticipations and fantastic promises of new materials, aspiring to manipulate our world “atom by atom.” While these grand visions continue to capture the imaginations of various audiences—and continue to be contested, as well—nanotechnology has developed into more than that. During the last two decades, many research programs and industrial R&D expenditures have resulted in actual products and tangible innovations. Nanotechnology, it seems, is expanding. But what does it mean to say that nanotechnology is expanding?