nano not nanno!

$ dict nanno
No definitions found for "nanno", perhaps you mean:
jargon:  nano
foldoc:  nano

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

 nano- pref. [SI: the next quantifier below {micro-}; meaning * 10^(-9)]
    Smaller than {micro-}, and used in the same rather loose and connotative
    way. Thus, one has {{nanotechnology}} (coined by hacker K. Eric Drexler)
    by analogy with `microtechnology'; and a few machine architectures have
    a `nanocode' level below `microcode'. Tom Duff at Bell Labs has also
    pointed out that "Pi seconds is a nanocentury". See also
    {{quantifiers}}, {pico-}, {nanoacre}, {nanobot}, {nanocomputer},
    {nanofortnight}.

Looking at the article in more detail it appears that this could be a
very early version of life.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanoimages.html

Imagine if these were to become infused with RNA (prior to the
existance of DNA) as a stage in the development of life itself.  How
much would that simplify the process of getting from non-living
molecules to living ones?

My first thought when reading this article was “What about rust?”  Rust
GROWS.  That does not mean it is a living thing.  It is a chemical
reaction.  I think some of these scientists are too obsessed with finding
living things.  They fail to look at the, “terrain” in which the disease
occurred.