A REPORT hopes to shed light on a controversial branch of science whose opponents include leading writers and Prince Charles.

The Swindon-based Economic and Social Research Council has commissioned the study on nanotechnology, an emerging technology in which medicine and engineering meet physics and chemistry.

Critics from the Prince of Wales to Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton fear that nanomachines, tiny robots that can build exact copies of themselves unaided, could take over the world by forming a "grey goo" covering its surface.

Supporters of the science believe the machines and materials it could produce will mean faster computers, cheaper energy and better medical care.

Anna Hinds of the North Star-based Economic and Social Research Council said: "The debate, like that on genetically modified food, is noisy but often uninformative.

"Our report investigates the scientific reality behind nanotechnology and looks at the hopes and fears it raises and provides a sober assessment of the possibilities that will help both sides of the debate."

The report is the result of a collaboration between social scientist Professor Stephen Wood and natural scientist Professor Richard Jones.