Emerging Technology

Australian Education Union advises against using nanoparticle-based sunscreens in schools

by Andrew Maynard May 22, 2011

Last week, the Victoria branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) passed a resolution recommending that “workplaces use only nanoparticle-free sunscreen” and that sunscreens used by members on children are selected from those “highlighted in the Safe Sunshine Guide produced by Friends of the Earth” as being nano-free.  The AEU also resolved to provide the [...]

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A new look for the US National Nanotechnology Initiative

by Andrew Maynard May 16, 2011

A few weeks ago, the US National Nanotechnology Initiative website – www.nano.gov – underwent a much-needed facelift.  The NNI’s web portal was creaky when I was part of the Initiative several years ago now.  And it’s somewhat ironic that the world’s leading interagency initiative on one of the most prominent cutting edge technology platforms has [...]

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A plug for the 2011 Risk Science Symposium: Risk, Uncertainty and Sutainable Innovation

by Andrew Maynard May 13, 2011

Registration is now open for the 2011 Risk Science Symposium, and as I’m chairing it, I thought it worth giving a bit of a plug here. The symposium brings together a fantastic cast of experts from very different backgrounds to explore the intersection of technology innovation and human health risk – with the aim of [...]

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Optogenetics and mind control – on the borders of the plausible?

by Andrew Maynard May 8, 2011

Tomorrow, I will be speaking at the Marshal M. Weinberg Seminar on Optogenetic Manipulation of the Brain at the University of Michigan – not a subject I must admit that I am that familiar with.  Fortunately, there are other speakers who will be doing much of the heavy-lifting, including Karl Deisseroth – a leading optogenetics [...]

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Regulating emerging technologies – Science & Public Participation top a new White House set of principles

by Andrew Maynard April 16, 2011

Cross-posted from The Risk Science Blog: Back in 2007 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a set of “Principles for Nanotechnology Environmental, Health and Safety Oversight” (no longer available on the OSTP website it seems, but you can read them in this Nanowerk article). At the time, I was less [...]

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Why we don’t need a regulatory definition for nanomaterials

by Andrew Maynard April 15, 2011

I‘ve just posted a piece over on the Risk Science Blog on regulatory definitions of engineered nanomaterials.  What may come as a surprise to many readers given my comments over the years is the title – “Why we don’t need a regulatory definition for nanomaterials”!  Have I flipped, lost my senses, or what? As you [...]

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Larry Brilliant: Enabling sustainable humanity through getting serious about risk

by Andrew Maynard April 1, 2011

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog [Audio clip: view full post to listen] [Transcript] I’ve occasionally been accused of thinking big when it comes to Risk Science. So I was rather chuffed to hear former Executive Director of Google.org Larry Brilliant out-big me on every point as he delivered the 10th Peter M. Wege lecture [...]

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Technology innovation and human health risk – rethinking the intersection

by Andrew Maynard March 10, 2011

As anyone who has followed my work over the past few years will know, I have a deep interest in the potential benefits and risks associated with emerging technologies, and in particular whether we can swing the balance towards benefits by thinking more innovatively about risk and how we address it. So it’s not surprising [...]

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Nanotechnology safety – a new video blog from the ASME Nanotechnology Institute

by Andrew Maynard March 4, 2011

Back in December 2009, I rode the Acela Express up to New York from Washington DC for the day to record one of a series of nanotechnology podcasts for the ASME – the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The podcast was to be part of a new educational outreach initiative on all aspects of nanotechnology [...]

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The Seven Deadly Sins of Techno-Complacency – March 8

by Andrew Maynard March 1, 2011

I don’t believe it – once again I’ve let myself be talked into doing an event in Second Life.  But this time it’s even worse – I’ll be hosting a combined second life and real-life event, and in effect acting as the medium between physical and virtual realities. The only compensation is that the subject [...]

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The art of regulating nanotechnologies

by Andrew Maynard February 26, 2011

The recently published International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies has a rather unconventional cover image. But it’s one that I must confess I am rather pleased with. The image is a photo of a piece of Murano glass that I picked up several years ago while visiting Venice. At the time I was participating in a [...]

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Crowdsourcing “sinful” images for a tech talk – can you help?

by Andrew Maynard February 23, 2011

How would you illustrate the “Seven Deadly Sins of Techno-Complacency” (see below)? On March 8, I’m giving a combined Second Live/Real Life talk on emerging technologies, inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins.  This will be a rather tongue in cheek affair as you might imagine, but with some serious points embedded in it somewhere. My [...]

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Obama’s 2012 budget does not bode well for safe & productive workplaces

by Andrew Maynard February 19, 2011

In one of the more bizarre yet less publicized proposed cuts in the 2012 Obama budget, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers are on the chopping block.  Bizarre, because the move is directly counter to Obama’s push on innovation and education as drivers of economic growth. The Education and [...]

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International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies – free access to first and last chapters

by Andrew Maynard February 15, 2011

Here’s an offer I’m sure you won’t be able to resist: The opportunity to read the first and last chapters of the just-published International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies – for free! Due to the farsightedness of my co-editors, the publishers have agreed to let authors post their chapters on their institutional web pages. So if [...]

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The New Toxicology of Sophisticated Materials: Nanotoxicology and Beyond

by Andrew Maynard February 9, 2011

Cross-posted from The Risk Science Blog Several months ago, I was asked by a colleague if I fancied co-authoring a review on nanotoxicology for a copy of Toxicological Sciences celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Society of Toxicology (coming out later this year). Fool that I am, I agreed.  Interestingly though, as I and my [...]

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Nanotechnology – Unplugged

by Andrew Maynard February 1, 2011

Next Tuesday, we’ll be launching a new series of occasional discussions on contemporary public health risk issues at the University of Michigan Risk Science Center.  And the first topic is – no surprises – nanotechnology. Under the tagline “No PowerPoint, no script; just stimulating conversation”, the Unplugged series will be engaging experts in lively conversation [...]

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Davos 2011 – Committed to changing the state of the world

by Andrew Maynard February 1, 2011

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. As it did last year, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos has left me with a daunting task – how do I summarize the highlights of the meeting in a single, short post? The answer of course is that I can’t – Davos is so complex, diverse [...]

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Davos 2011: Global Risks permeate conversations this year, but where’s the science?

by Andrew Maynard January 29, 2011

Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. Take a metaphorical slice through this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, and Global Risk would be writ large through every part of it.  Hot on the heels of the sixth Global Risk report, this year’s meeting saw the launch of the Risk Response Network – a [...]

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Asking smart people dumb questions – the new role of challengers at Davos

by Andrew Maynard January 27, 2011

Cross-posted at ForumBlog.org – the World Economic Forum blog My high school physics teacher used to tell me there’s no such think as a dumb question.  It’s a lesson I’ve carried with me through my professional career as a scientist.  But it’s a philosophy that might be just about to come back and bite me. [...]

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Obama spotlights innovation, but how do we get it right?

by Andrew Maynard January 25, 2011

Technology innovation was front and center of Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight.  This is extremely good news for those of us who believe more needs to be done, and done better, to ensure science and technology translate into effective solutions that enable economic and social growth.  But recognizing the importance of technology innovation [...]

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