quantum dots | Scientist | Nano

In other words, the dots help scientists analyze what's happening inside of a cell. For instance, to see how a drug molecule affects a cell, a scientist might attach a quantum dot to a cell component, and observe how a drug affects it. It's a big step forward for researchers, Lou says. The company already has hundreds of customers, mostly university researchers and drug companies. "Right now they use dyes that are found in nature, and the problem with those dyes is that they fade quickly," she says. Quantum dots last much longer.

If you ask Lou to describe her company, she'd say it's "a life science biology company." To many others, though, it's a fusion of nanotechnology and biotech, the kind of convergence that excites folks like Hancock and Hooper - the kind of business that will define the new Silicon Valley.

How can Valley boosters encourage this fusion? Hooper says it's already happening. "Get these people talking and recognizing the value of putting pieces of technology together," he says. "That's what we're doing here in the Bay Area in the next revolution."

Perhaps that revolution has already begun. Something is certainly going on. Nano­technology, a vague term that really refers to companies that, like Quantum Dot, are working at the nanoscale, has fueled a lot of hope. Plenty of folks are cautious about it, though. "I think a lot of people want another bubble," Waitz says. "It's almost like they're addicted to the last bubble. And a lot of people are trying to make nano into a bubble."