I recently read that last year 300 billion microchips were produced. That's about 50 microchips for every man, woman, and child on the planet. There are about 15 billion microchips in use right now. With 50 million transistors on each chip, well, that sure is an awful amount of microprocessing going on and it's only going to increase not decrease in the future.

To illustrate this, I had my 10th grade computer class at the Adirondack School go home and count how many devices they could find that had microprocessors. The next day we counted 52 and stopped counting out of boredom. I had made my point. I can remember not long ago that having a digital clock had enough amazement to call the neighbors over.

Microchips are used for everything from those birthday cards you open that play Happy Birthday, to identification tag implants in dogs, and all the way to complex satellite navigation systems. I find it remarkable that a device etched on half of the ingredient of sand and which does nothing more than turn electrical pulses on and off (very fast of course) is about to rule the world as we know it.

The next major leap in microchips will be the production of nanorobots, little smart chips that you can inject in the body and program to go kill cancer cells, among other things.

According to the Foresight Institute, "The typical medical nanodevice will probably be a micron-scale robot assembled from nanoscale parts. These parts could range in size from 1-100 nm (1 nm = 10-9 meter), and might be fitted together to make a working machine measuring perhaps 0.5-3 microns (1 micron = 10-6 meter) in diameter. Three microns is about the maximum size for bloodborne medical nanorobots, due to the capillary passage requirement.

Carbon will likely be the principal element comprising the bulk of a medical nanorobot, probably in the form of diamond or diamondoid/fullerene nanocomposites largely because of the tremendous strength and chemical inertness of diamond. Many other light elements such as hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, fluorine, silicon, etc. will be used for special purposes in nanoscale gears and other components. "

I don't know how I feel about having little robots running around in my body.

Another forecaster predicts nanorobots will be used to cure skin diseases in a cream that contains nanorobots. The nanos "could remove the right amount of dead skin, remove excess oils, add missing oils, apply the right amounts of natural moisturizing compounds, and even achieve the elusive goal of 'deep pore cleaning' by actually reaching down into pores and cleaning them out. The cream could be a smart material with smooth-on, peel-off convenience."

I can see the marketing on this one. "Don't break those nails scratching when we can send our robots attacking."

Another use would be a mouthwash full of smart nanomachines that could identify and destroy pathogenic bacteria. Didn't brush that day? No problem! Little nanos could identify particles of food, plaque, or tartar, and lift them from your teeth to be rinsed away. Programmed to swim around the mouth, they would be able to reach surfaces beyond reach of toothbrush bristles or floss.

Nanorobots could act as a secondary defense system helping the immune system by finding and killing unwanted bacteria and viruses. When an invader is identified, it can puncture the invader spilling out its contents thereby disabling it. If the contents are hazardous the nano could grab them and dismantle it more completely or bring it to the excretory system where it can be passed.

A great use would be using nanos to go into the bloodstream and nibble away at fatty deposits, widening the affected blood vessels, so I could continue to enjoy my trips to certain Troy eateries. Artery walls and artery linings could be restored to health by cell herding, and making sure that the right cells and supporting structures are in the right places. This would reduce the likelihood of heart attacks.

But, there is a down side to all this. Microchip production is not the "clean" industry promoted so well by images of the workers in white space suits making their silicon wafers. According to William Van Winkle, writing for ASUS Computer International, the environmental cost from making chips (using Intel's Rio Rancho, NM fab plant as an example) produces the following:

"For every six-inch silicon wafer produced, enough for about 185 Pentium CPUs, the following resources are used: 3,200 cubic feet of bulk gases, 22 cubic feet of hazardous gases, 2,275 gallons of deionized water, 20 pounds of chemicals, and 285 kilowatt hours of electrical power.

Additionally, for the same six-inch wafer, the following wastes are generated: 25 pounds sodium hydroxide (better known as Lye or caustic soda), 2,840 gallons of waste water, and seven pounds of miscellaneous hazardous wastes. Rio Rancho, like most similar fab installations, can produce 5,000 such wafers a week.

Among the 53 TRI compounds released by PC industry fabs‹a cornucopia of carcinogens, ozone depleters, and heavy metals‹are nitric, hydrochloric, phosphoric, and sulfuric acids, ammonia, lead, arsenic, cobalt, and 1,1,1 trichloroethylene, which has been linked to numerous health problems."

Ouch! If it's true that 300 billion microchips were produced last year, you do the math!