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.
Labels of contention
Labeling – is there anything more contentious in the safe nanotech debate? Some are fearful that too much knowledge will confuse and worry muddle-headed consumers. Others can only see the marketing opportunities of a “nano-inside” label. Then you...
Synthetic biology and nanotechnology
The popular computer game “SimLife” allows users to create and manipulate virtual people. But what are the chances of us one day being able to do the same with real organisms: building new life-forms out of basic chemicals, so “SimLife” becomes...
Nanotechnology and the God of Small Things
With apologies to Arundhati Roi for “borrowing” the title of her moving book, what—if anything—has nanotechnology got to do with religion? Barnaby Feder of the New York Times takes on this issue in his latest posting to the Bits blog: “There may...
Nanotechnology: The cause, the cure, and the spin-off product
What do Alzheimers and body armour have in common? The answer could lie in the structures formed when proteins self-assemble at the nanoscale. At the end of last year, The Daily Telegraph Science Editor Roger Highfield wrote in an article: “The...
$7 billion on nanotech R&D, and what do we have to show for it?
In 2004, the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) had a strategy – and it was OK. But what has happened since then? Has progress been made against planned actions? What have been the major challenges to progress? Have effective solutions...
Nano’s silver lining is… Blue?
So you’ve developed an obsessive nano-silver Benny the Bear paw-chewing habit, and on the advice of your hairdresser, you’re quaffing silver nanoparticle suspensions by the pint. What do you get? Well, according to a story airing on CNN this week,...
Benny the Bear, and the case of the disappearing nanoparticles
Let me introduce you to Benny the Bear. Benny is a rather cute cuddly toy sold by the U.S. company Pure Plushy—we met at a meeting of the U.S. Congressional Nanotech Caucus a few weeks back. His claim to fame is a resistance to moulds, mites and...
Drinking at the champagne bar of modern science
A trip through the newly refurbished St. Pancras station in London this week, and home to the widely-proclaimed “longest champagne bar in Europe”, prompted the following thought: At the champagne bar of modern science, are risk researchers the...
Animating the small stuff
Are nanotechnology Grand Challenges too grand for you? Do Strategic Research Frameworks lead to you contemple a strategic withdrawal? Have you prioritized just one too many research needs? You are clearly in need of The Adventures of Nanoman—now...
Are we on a nanotechnology joyride?
Are we so caught up in the thrill of nanotechnology, that we are blind to future pitfalls? Are we having the new technology ride of our lives—with someone else’s future? Are we living for the nanotech moment, and leaving the consequences to...
Overseeing nanotechnology development
If you’ve ever wondered how to deal with the complexities of regulating a twenty first century technology like nanotechnology, wonder no more. Last week, President Bush’s top advisors on science and the environment published a set of “principles...
Nanotechnologies of humility
Some nanotechnology events should come with a health warning, perhaps along the lines of: “This meeting could seriously alter your perspective”. Because nanotechnology crosses such diverse areas of interest and expertise, there is a danger of...
Invest in nano applications, and the risks will take care of themselves?
I have on my desk a plastic bag of carbon nanotubes—2 grams of dry, 60% purity single walled carbon nanotubes to be precise—bought from Cheap Tubes Inc. for the princely sum of $80. And I am wondering what to do with them. Despite the cosy...
Nanotechnology in context – Size matter
In July 2007, a specially convened task force of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that size does in fact matter (FDA 2007). The focus of the task force was not on the importance of “largeness”, but rather on the...
"Selling out" on nanotechnology outreach
Somewhere, I must have taken a wrong turn in my life. Three years ago, I was a serious scientist, doing research no-one understood, and writing papers no-one read. Now I find myself making videos about cream cakes. It all started to go amiss when...
People breathing in nanoparticles? Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman!
Admit it-deep down, your don't really believe people will be exposed to engineered nanomaterials. After all, most nanomaterials will be made in enclosed reactors, handled as precious commodities where not a particle can be spared, and irreversibly...