2020 Science Archives
Here you’ll find all the currently existing posts on 2020 Science, in reverse date order. Feel free to browse through them, or if you’re looking for something specific, use the search box below.
Poll: Does trust in science need restoring?
Prompted by a blog post by Stephen Hill this morning - and a flurry or Twitter responses to it - here's a quick question on science and trust: More on this in a later blog.
Science Media Centre briefing on Climate Science in the Media – Don’t Panic!!
A guest blog by Gary Kass, Principal Specialist in Strategic Futures at Natural England The London-based Science Media Centre (SMC) describes itself as “an independent venture working to promote the voices, stories and views of the scientific...
24 questions and answers on nanotechnology safety
Well I guess I set myself up good and proper - I should have realized that in asking people for their questions on nanotechnology safety last week, they would actually want answers! Having failed miserably to compile a catalog of websites that...
Nanotechnology safety: We’ve got the answers, now what was the question?
Last Friday I posted 24 questions on nanotechnology safety provided by folks on Twitter and FaceBook, in a naive attempt to see if people could find matching answers on the web. Predictably perhaps, there weren't too many responses. This wasn't...
Twenty nanotechnology safety questions in search of answers
I should warn you in advance - this is an interactive blog - there's something I want from you! I have a question - where do ordinary people go to get information on nanotechnology safety? Feeling a little lazy I thought I would get you - the...
Nanotechnology researchers at sea when it comes to safety
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...
Davos 2010 wrapup – inspired by youth
Well, I've survived my first "Davos" and lived to tell the tale. I feel I should write about how profoundly important and influential these meetings are (and without a doubt, they are). But it's two o'clock in the morning, and I wanted to wrap up...
Getting from A to B: Technology innovation, global challenges and the Davos process
There's been something of a theme running through my day at The World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos today - getting from A to B. The "A" in this case is technology innovation, and the "B" the problems we hope it will solve - the big ones like...
Owning the carbon cycle
This evening I was invited to talk to a group of industry leaders on alternative solutions to the "carbon" problem at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. The brief was to be one of three “firestarters” – a bit of a dangerous one if...
Davos 2010 – first impressions
Having just got back to the hotel at some unseemly hour (at least according to my body clock) from the first full day of meetings at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, I'm trying my best to be disciplined and write some of my impressions...
Davos 2010 – Got the mittens, where’s the snow?
I'm sitting here at Dulles Airport waiting for my flight to Zurich and the annual World Economic Forum Meeting in Davos, so I thought I'd dash off a quick blog. If you're on the ball, you will realize that by arriving tomorrow, I will be missing...
From Davos with love
This week I'm heading out to the World Economic Forum jamboree in Davos, Switzerland. I'd like to play this cool - as if rubbing shoulders with politicians, business leaders and celebs is something I do all the time. But the reality is that this...
No Small Matter – a taste of the nanoscale
To accompany the review just posted of Felice Frankel and George Whitesides' book "No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale" the authors kindly allowed me to post this series of excerpts. What I wanted to capture here was the synergy between the...
No Small Matter – A connoisseur’s guide to delicate work
How do you write a book about something few people have heard off, and less seem interested in? The answer, it seems, is to write about something else. Felice Frankel and George Whitesides have clearly taken this lesson to heart. Judged by the...
Daily Mail Science Reporting – Deconstructed
Hype, scare mongering, obfuscation and just plain misinformation - the scientific community are reasonably clear about what they think of Tabloid science reporting much of the time. So I wasn't too surprised to see the headline "'Grey goo' food...
UK House of Lords scrutinizes nanotechnology and food
Back in February of 2009, the UK House of Lords Science and Technology Committee launched an inquiry into the use of nanotechnology in food products and the food industry. Chaired by Lord Krebs (the son of Hans Adolf Krebs - best known for...
Scientists and social media – This is not a case study
By Ruth Seeley, No Spin PR. A little over a year ago, Ruth Seeley – a freelance communications consultant – rather bravely approached me with a proposition: She would help me develop a social media strategy for 2020 Science, if I would let her...
Ten emerging technology trends to watch over the next decade
Ten years ago at the close of the 20th century, people the world over were obsessing about the millennium bug - an unanticipated glitch arising from an earlier technology. I wonder how clear it was then that, despite this storm in what turned...
Scientist just wants to have fun – a compendium of mindless games for the holiday season!
Brain-candy for the intellectually incapacitated. To help the brain cells recuperate from over-exertion (and quite possibly over-indulgence) this Holiday season, here's a short compendium of mindless games - the sort of things scientists and others...
21st Century Tech Governance? What would Ned Ludd do?
By Jim Thomas, ETC Group A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series For a fresh perspective on how to do technology governance consider starting somewhere else. I suggest York Castle in Northern England - a stark...
Innovation in the dock
By Tim Jackson, University of Surrey, UK A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series Are we a clever species or a stupid one? It’s not a trivial question. Put our society in the dock with a jury of our future peers...
Reversing the Technological Dilemma
By George Kimbrell, International Center for Technology Assessment, and the Center for Food Safety A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series Andrew asked us to write about “how technological innovation should...
Ecology and Nanotechnology
By Richard Worthington, Loka Institute A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series My first scholarly engagement with environmental politics was an honor’s thesis written while I was an undergraduate at Berkeley in...
A new era of responsible innovation
By Richard Owen, University of Westminster, UK A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series This article was first published in Planet Earth, an award-winning magazine funded and published by the UK Natural...
Stop and Think: A Luddite Perspective
By Jennifer Sass Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series We need make sure that harmful or untested nano-scale chemicals are not manufactured or...
Innovation for a well-fed world – what role for technology?
By Geoff Tansey A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series Andrew posed the question, “How should technology innovation contribute to life in the 21st century?” For me, working on creating a well-fed world, the...
Beyond safety: some bigger questions about new technologies
By Georgia Miller, Friends of the Earth Australia A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series The promise that a given new technology will deliver environmentally benign electricity too cheap to meter, end hunger...
Innovation for whom? Innovation for what? The Impact of Ableism
By Gregor Wolbring A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series First let me thank Andrew for inviting me to write a piece for his blog. Andrew states that his blog is about “how technology innovation should...
Biopolitics for the 21st Century
By Marcy Darnovsky, PhD, Associate Executive Director of the Center for Genetics and Society A guest blog in the Alternative Perspectives on Technology Innovation series Much appreciation is due to Andrew for his courage in soliciting “alternative...
Hooked on tech – ten alternative perspectives on technology innovation
2020 Science is something of a labor of love – it’s a website where I explore my thoughts and ideas surrounding the interface between science, technology and society beyond the constraints of my “day job” (currently Chief Science Advisor to the...