This program is sponsored by the Kavli Prize, which honors scientists for breakthroughs in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.

The Kavli Prize is a partnership among the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and

research, and the U.S.-based Kavley Foundation in Los Angeles, California.

I'm Alan Alda, and this is clear and vivid conversations about connecting and communicating. Conversations about Connecting and Communicating. In this, the last of our four special episodes celebrating the Cavli Prize,

I'll be talking with two of the winners of this year's

Cavley Prize for nanotechnology.

Shad Merkin developed microscopic carriers able to deliver new types of medicines.

Robert Langer also made breakthroughs in drug delivery

by devising ways for drugs to be released in the body slowly over time.

Both Merkin and Langer have played major roles in developing the

biotechnology industry. Between them they filed thousands of patents and

they've helped found multiple companies. First my conversation with Chad Merkin. You know, I've been

excited about nanotechnology since I first heard about it and you've been doing

incredible work in this field you're the person to

ask this question that all of us can understand a little better how would you

describe nanotechnology it's the study of the small it's an interesting field in the sense that everything when

miniaturized is different. If you take anything and shrink it down to the nanometer length

scale, it has different properties. The thing that's hard for most of us to get I think is how small small is you say nanometer or nanometer

tomato tomato you can go either way.

So a nanometer, it's a billions of a meter?

Well, the way I like to think about it is a human red blood cell

is about 80 microns in diameter, so 80,000 nanometers.

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