Under your skin: nanotechnology is the latest weapon in the battle to be beautiful - Upfront

Japan, Inc., Dec, 2002 by Gail Nakada

Nanotechnology is on every industries' to-do list. (Try a "nanotechnology" search on Yahoo and see for yourself). Fabric maker Toray is investing an estimated [yen] 5 billion for construction of a new nanotech lab to be finished by spring 2003; Mitsui has just built a carbon nanotube plant via its wholly owned subsidiary, Carbon Nanotech Research Institute in Akishima; the list goes on. Unfortunately, if they're building them now, we're not going to be seeing results for quite a while.

Yet as vain as it may seem, research by cosmetics companies is broadening the knowledge base for nanotechnology applications. Today's smooth skin could mean tomorrow's life-saving medical technique.