Yellow and blue jigsaw puzzle mats. Beige tiles. Strollers. Two computers. Audio cassette rack. Shelves of elementary school books. Red, stubby wooden tables. Short plastic chairs. Children’s section. A first grader’s summer reading list in my left hand. A few to-be-shelved books in my right hand. A second grader tailing me. I head toward the “Summer Reading” rack, quickly scout for the books the second grader needs, and shelve the books I brought along. After scouring the whole...

I ring the doorbell. The door unlocks. I slide it open gently and head over the wooden floors to Dr. Medappa’s waiting room. I sign in and sit on the nearest plastic red chair. When I am called for my routine checkup, I walk into Dr. Pa’s office. He measures my height at 54 inches and my weight at 98 pounds. Meanwhile, he asks about school, how my parents and dog are doing, and about my basketball team. When he...

Next to my left ear sits a nanobot calling out, “Inject me quickly, I’ve got a liver to repair!” Next to my right ear sits a human brain pleading, “Probe me please!” Who should I listen to? Biomedical engineering on the nanoscale, as described by Dr. Horst Stormer on Nano Day at City College of New York, promises the development of effective, technologically advanced treatments of numerous ailments inflicting humanity on the nanoscale. In particular, his discourse on a...