Nanomaterials

National Academy publishes new nanomaterials risk research strategy

by Andrew Maynard January 25, 2012

The US National Academy of Science today published its long-awaited Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials. I won’t comment extensively on the report as I was a member of the committee that wrote it.  But I did want to highlight a number of aspects of it that I think are [...]

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Define nanomaterials for regulatory purposes? EU JRC says yes.

by Andrew Maynard September 6, 2011

Cross-posted from The Risk Science Blog: In a recent letter to the journal Nature (Nature 476; 399), Hermann Stamm of the European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (JRC-IHCP) defended the need to define engineered nanomaterials for regulatory purposes. The letter, titled “Nanomaterials should be defined”, was a direct response to [...]

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International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies – sneak peak of contents

by Andrew Maynard November 4, 2010

Back in the mists of time, I was approached with a crazy proposition – would I help co-edit a book on nanotechnologies regulation!  In a moment of weakness I said yes, and a little more than two and a half years later, the book is finally about to hit the shelves. I actually think the [...]

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Limited resources and emerging technologies: China does the math

by Andrew Maynard October 20, 2010

New technologies depend on uncommon materials, and society depends on new technologies.  Which means that economies that develop the former and control the latter have something of an upper hand in today’s interconnected and technology-dependent world. This has clearly not escaped the notice of the Chinese.  China, which controls around 90% of the world’s rare [...]

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Nanotechnology 2.0: The next ten years of nano risk research

by Andrew Maynard October 13, 2010

Sometime in the past couple of weeks – I’m not entirely sure when as accounts are conflicting – the World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC) posted a draft of a new report examining the long-term impacts and research directions of nanotechnology.  The “Nano2″ study was supported by the National Science Foundation under the direction of Mike [...]

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Realizing dreams of carbon nanotubes

by Nanocomp September 28, 2010

A guest blog by John Dorr, Vice President of Business Development Nanocomp Technologies Inc. Despite all the fuss over nanotechnology, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a clear sense of how the technology is contributing to new products.  So when the company Nanocomp Technologies Inc. approached me with an idea of writing a guest blog about [...]

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The safety of nanotechnology-based sunscreens – some reflections

by Andrew Maynard July 18, 2010

A few weeks ago, I set Friends of the Earth a challenge – What is your worst case estimate of the human health risk from titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide nanoparticles in sunscreens? The challenge came out of an article from FoE on nanomaterials and sunscreens, which I subsequently critiqued on 2020 Science.  Georgia Miller [...]

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Just how risky could nanoparticles in sunscreens be?

by Andrew Maynard June 8, 2010

Following up from my previous post, here’s an open question to Friends of the Earth: What is your worst case estimate of the human health risk from titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide nanoparticles in sunscreens? What I am interested in is a number – a probability of a specific human health impact being caused by [...]

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TSCA reform and engineered nanomaterials

by Andrew Maynard April 23, 2010

A bit of a wonky blog I’m afraid, but having seen relatively little on the recently introduced Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 and its relevance to engineered nanomaterials on the web, I thought I would post something short and sweet here. Just over a week ago, Senator Lautenberg introduced a bill in the US Senate [...]

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Nanotechnology researchers at sea when it comes to safety

by Andrew Maynard February 2, 2010

If you ever wanted proof that the nanotechnology research community is floundering when it comes to safe working practices, look no further than a paper just published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.  The paper, written by researchers at the Nanoscience Institute of Aragon (NIA) in Spain, surveys nanosafety practices in labs around the world.  Sadly, [...]

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Is nanotechnology poised for the ride of its life?

by Andrew Maynard August 18, 2009

In the wake of a new study linking “nanotechnology” to two deaths and five additional cases of lung disease, the emerging technology of the ultra-small could be in for a rough ride.  Yet the real risk is that in the rush to use or even abuse the findings, the science and it’s true relevance are [...]

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Nanotechnology: Weighing the risks of regulation

by Andrew Maynard July 8, 2009

I’m often intrigued by the evolution of an article from its early drafts to the final version.  To complement today’s commentary on nanotechnology regulation in the journal Nature, written jointly with David Rejeski, I thought it would be interesting to post an early draft of the same paper here.  This is what the piece looked [...]

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Nanotechnology on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour

by Andrew Maynard July 2, 2009

Just a quick post (at least, as far as the text goes). Last week, I had the pleasure of appearing on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour with Kristen Sanford and Leo Laporte. The conversation covered nanotechnology from every conceivable angle. I should have known with Leo’s opening question – asking what I thought of [...]

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Nanoscale control: Leveraging biology

by Andrew Maynard June 1, 2009

Part 6 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century The story so far: We are facing an unprecedented confluence of three factors that are forcing us to rethink how we develop and use science and technology to the benefit of society.  Coupling between our action’s and the Earth’s re-actions is [...]

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Control at the nanoscale: Smallness, strangeness and sophistication

by Andrew Maynard April 29, 2009

Part 5 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century Last time in this series of occasional blogs, I made the rather bold statement that while science and technology are going to have a highly visible impact on our lives over the next few decades, progress is going to be underpinned [...]

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Control: Gaining mastery over the world at the finest level

by Andrew Maynard April 16, 2009

Part 4 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century So far in this series of occasional blogs, I’ve covered coupling and communication—two of three “C’s” which together are challenging how science and technology are best used to serve society.  Now it’s the time to delve into the third “C”—control. Because [...]

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Working safely with carbon nanotubes

by Andrew Maynard March 17, 2009

So you want to make or use carbon nanotubes, but you are worried about handling then safely.  What do you do?  The good news is that the UK Health and Safety Executive has just published an information sheet that addresses just this question.  Risk management of carbon nanotubes is (according to the blurb) “specifically about [...]

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Nanotechnology risk research, ten years on

by Andrew Maynard March 2, 2009

Ten years ago to the month, one of the first research reports detailing the challenges of ensuring the safe use of engineered nanomaterials was delivered to the UK Health and Safety Executive.  The report wasn’t for general release, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a copy of it in the public domain.  But as [...]

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Sing a song of nanotechnology

by Andrew Maynard February 26, 2009

Explaining nanotechnology to people is tough—as anyone working in the field will tell you.  Clever stuff that’s too small to see with the naked eye doesn’t slot easily into most people’s human-scale view of the world.  So it’s not surprising that many non-experts (and even some “experts”) end up with a rather mangled idea of [...]

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All you wanted to know about nanotechnology, from a pack of Mentos and a bottle of Coke

by Andrew Maynard January 25, 2009

I spend quite a bit of my time talking to different groups about nanotechnology, including its potential and its challenges. And as a result, I’m constantly on the prowl for new ways of illustrating why nanotechnology is important. In particular, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a quick and dirty (and fun) demonstration to [...]

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