As a result, today’s iPhone has more than 250,000 times more data storage capacity than the guidance computer installed on the Apollo 11 spacecraft that took astronauts to the moon.Nanotechnology makes it possible to encode a great deal of information in a very tiny space.(Credit: AP Images)

One of the reasons the iPhone is so powerful and capable is that it uses nanotechnology, which involves “the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules.” Nanotechnology has been used to create substances and materials found in thousands of products, including items much less complex than an iPhone, such as clothing and cosmetics.Advances in computing and nanotechnology have already resulted in the creation of tiny computers that can interface with our brains.This development is not as far-fetched as it may sound, since both the brain and computers use electricity to operate and communicate.These early and primitive brain-machine interfaces have been used for therapeutic purposes, to help restore some mobility to those with paralysis (as in the example involving the quadriplegic man) and to give partial sight to people with certain kinds of blindness.