- Trevor Holden: "Wait, don't medical nanites have to be programmed to do specific tasks?"
- Grace Day: "Yes. And I am a...?"
- Trevor Holden: "Programmer. Oh, yeah."
- — Grace providing Trevor with nanites in the hospital[src]
Nanites are graphene-based nanoscopic (10-9 meters) robots capable of performing a variety of tasks if programmed accordingly, including making repairs to the human body. Their invention at an unspecified point in the future made 21st century medicine effectively obsolete, as most injuries and diseases could now be cured by injecting tens of thousands of preprogrammed nanites into the patient.
Properties[]
On a macroscopic level, nanites appear as a gelatinous blob that moves of its own volition, though when inert they appear as a translucent nonviscous fluid. They are produceable using 21st century technology and some Travelers are authorized to carry and use them if necessary. However, they are used sparingly (only when authorized by the Director), and most Traveler teams are expected to have a member trained in 21st century medicine. (S1E10: Kathryn)
Nanites cannot be reactivated after being deactivated. (S2E05: Jenny) However, they can be transferred to other people by penetrative contact, like biting or sexual activity. It is therefore recommended to abstain from such activities until the nanites leave the body, after 36 hours. To avoid external scarring, a rest period of at least 2 hours is also recommended after treatment. (S1E10: Kathryn, S3E07: Trevor)
Nanites can be hijacked by artificial intelligences to ensure their own survival. Even if most nanites are disabled with an electric shock, the intelligence can come back as long as there are still some nanites and/or organic bodies around. (S3E07: Trevor)
There are three known classes of nanites: medical, archival, and military-grade. Medical nanites are used for healing, archival nanites are used to encode information into dormant genes of DNA. Archival nanites are known to be susceptible to hard radiation while military-grade nanites are not, in comparison, and are treated as the heavy-duty but expensive variant. Archival nanites appear to be capable of some healing as well, given that they can seal off gunshot or stab wounds. (S3E08: Archive, S3E09: David)
While more effective than any contemporary technology, nanites are not infallible and their usage is not a cure-all. Traveler 2383 lived with a tumor in his neck as hallucinated by Simon, and Temporal Displacement Aphasia remains an incurable condition despite the Director's best efforts. While nanites can heal bullet wounds to the body up to a certain extent, they cannot do anything if the subject dies via headshot. (S3E01: Ilsa, S3E07: Trevor, S3E08: Archive, S3E09: David)
Usage[]
Derek (Traveler D-13) provides Grant MacLaren with an initial suite of nanites, then later a dosage of stage-3 nanites, to help him recover from his injuries in the crash of Flight 329. At first MacLaren's injuries are believed to be beyond the nanites' repair capabilities, but he ultimately survives. (S1E10: Kathryn)
Derek appears again after the shooting at Ellis' farm and secretly injects Grace Day with nanites. After regaining consciousness, Grace shares her nanites with Trevor Holden, ensuring he's not paralyzed. (S2E01: Ave Machina)
When Grace and Jenny were both sick with the Faction's weaponized flu virus, Derek offers help once more even though he's not authorized to do so, remarking: "With the Director down, I figure the discretion falls on me." The nanites he offered are not programmed to counteract the virus, but he believes they might buy time if either patient went into organ failure. Grace reprograms the nanites to pull the virus into red blood cells where she believed it would be unable to survive. However, the Faction had predicted this countermeasure, and designed the virus to block red blood cells' ability to carry oxygen. (S2E06: U235)
While most Travelers are authorized to use nanites only on special occasions, Archivists work with the tech in abundance: their blood is saturated with archival nanites. The Director obtains new information from the past via blood genetically encoded with historical information by nanites, stored in archives worldwide within the donated blood of the Archivists. (S3E08: Archive)
Notes[]
- Vincent Ingram claims to have spent his life "being eaten away by a disease that doesn't exist yet". His case is either another example of something nanites cannot cure, or as the very first Traveler, the technology simply didn't exist during his time and was invented during one of the numerous changes to the timeline caused by him or succeeding Travelers. (S2E01: Ave Machina)