Albany

With Olympic athletes looking for any edge to lead them to gold, nanotechnology has made its way into the games.

On Saturday, the NanOlympics at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering gave visitors a chance to see where nanotechnology will be featured at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February and how it could give athletes the edge they need for gold.

The event was part of "Nanovember," a month of seminars, demonstrations and interactive community events at the college. "Nanovember is an opportunity to demonstrate how nanotechnology has become pervasive across society," CNSE spokesman Steve Janack said.

Saturday's event featured a presentation and chances for children and adults to experience winter sports that use nanotechnology. For example, there was an opportunity for those in attendance to measure the speed of their shots in hockey. Nanotechnology is used in hockey sticks to make them more impact resistant.

There was also a group of video games that allowed participants to try their hands at sports like skiing and the biathlon, as well as a station set up for curling. For curling, adjusting the microscopic roughness of a curling stone affects its curl, while in the biathlon a sport that combines target shooting with cross-country skiing a nano-coating can be applied to the skis to give them better grip and glide, and poles can be made lighter and stronger with nano-carbon material.

Though open to anyone, Janack said the NanOlympics and Nanovember events especially offer young people a chance to discover what nanotechnology is about.

"It gives young people a chance to see what the future holds, both from an educational standpoint and from a career standpoint," he said.

Among the young people Saturday was Elijah Tillah of Long Island, who was visiting the college with his parents.

Not only did the teen also have an opportunity to tour the college, Tillah said it was cool to see the practical applications of nanotechnology.

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Olympic games meet nanotechnology