Startling advances are being made in the emerging field of nanotechnology. For example, Naomi Halas and Jennifer West of Rice University in Houston recently announced that their nanoshells had proven effective at eradicating tumors in lab animals[1] ; researchers at Harvard University reported creating hybrid nanowires that could be linked to conventional silicon circuits[2] ; and government scientists at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago documented how they had engineered nanoparticles capable of cleaning buildings exposed to radioactive materials.[3]