SA pumps R150m into developing tiny science

The government is investing R150 million to spur research and development of nanotechnology, according to science and technology minister Mosibudi Mangena.Innovation centres for the revolutionary cross-disciplinary technology, which can improve the country's scientific research capacity, have been set up at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Mintek in Pretoria.Nanotechnology applications - which explore new worlds of extremely small objects and even envisage microscopic machines the size of molecules - can be used to provide alternative sources of energy and improve healthcare methods.