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.
Technology innovation and life in the 21st century: Views from Civil Society
In 2009, I commissioned ten guest articles on technology innovation from people working for, associated with or generally reflecting the views of Civil Society groups. Over six years on, these essays still present insightful and often challenging...
What will it take to master the fourth industrial revolution?
In April 2000, Bill Joy famously wrote in Wired Magazine: Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species. At the time, Joy was an accomplished...
What if we approached risk like entrepreneurs approach innovation?
If you’ve been following this month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), you’ll know with absolute certainty that the future is cool, shiny and stuffed to the brim with “must-have” gadgets. Reading the ebullient reports, you’d be hard-pressed to find...
Five steampunk technology trends to watch for in 2016
It’s that time of year again when technology pundits peer into their crystal balls, and predict the hottest tech trends of the coming twelve months. Let’s be honest though, these lists can get a little stale. So I thought I’d break ranks this year by imagining what a top tech trends list would look like in a “steampunk” world, where steam engines, clockwork mechanisms, and retro-artistic flair, rule supreme.
If Elon Musk is a Luddite, count me in!
On December 21, the company SpaceX made history by successfully launching a rocket and returning it to a safe landing on Earth. It’s also the day that SpaceX founder Elon Musk was nominated for a Luddite Award. It’s an odd juxtaposition, to say the least.
Hoverboards and health: how good for you is this year’s hottest trend?
Walking across campus to my office each morning this semester, I’ve found it hard to ignore the growing number of students using hoverboards to get around. These two-wheel self-balancing boards (they don’t really hover, Back-to-the-Future-style) are one of the hottest gadgets this holiday season. As sedentary lifestyles continue to be a major underlying factor in chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, I wondered whether these trendy two-wheelers are simply another way to avoid the exercise we all need to stay healthy. As it turns out, it’s not only their health that hoverboard users need to worry about.
Cancer: Countering the “bad luck” hypothesis
A new study has just been published in the journal Nature that calls the so-called “bad luck hypothesis”of cancer formation into question, and concludes that cancer risk is heavily influenced by external factors.
Are vegetarian diets really more harmful to the environment?
Carnegie Mellon University had an eye-catching headline on its news feed this morning: Eat More Bacon. It was based on a new study that suggests fruit and veg have a higher environmental impact per calorie than meat. However, the analysis failst to take account of the nutritional needs in a healthy diet.
What’s the real risk from consumer drones this holiday season?
This holiday season, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is estimating that over one million small “Unmanned Aerial Systems” (sUAS’s) – drones, to the rest of us – will be sold to consumers. But as hordes of novice pilots take to the air, just how safe are these small bundles of metal, plastic, video cameras and whirling blades?
Making sense of gene drives and gene editing
Gene editing and gene drives are rapidly emerging as the disruptive technologies du jour. But what are they, what can they do, and why should you care? Just last week, research was published that took us a step closer to being able to re-engineer...
Are you breathing carbon nanotubes, and should you be worried?
For over two decades, carbon nanotubes have been attracting attention. First, they were seen as a super-strong, super-conductive new form of carbon that could potentially revolutionize everything from space travel to drug delivery. Later,...
Why do people read science blogs?
Why do people read science blogs? Surprisingly, we don't have a good answer to this. There's a vibrant online community of people blogging about science, and talking about blogging about science, and blogging about blogging and talking about...
New report on sustainable hydraulic fracking
Back in 2011 - while I was Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center - I was part of a larger team exploring the possibility of conducting a full-blown assessment of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) possibilities and pitfalls in...
Microbeads: The science behind the risk
There's a new viewpoint article in the Journal Environmental Science and Technology that calls for a ban on the use of microbeads, based on available evidence, and that has been causing something of a stir. The authors argue that the number of...
For tech innovation to succeed, we need parallel innovation in how we think about risk
In October 2014, Google announced it was working on an innovative nanotechnology-based approach to avoiding and managing disease. The idea was to create a pill that would deliver magnetic, functionalized nanoparticles from the gut to the...
Small Acts of Kindness – Thank You Postcard Underground!
In this age of public outrage and social media shaming, small acts of private kindness sometimes don't seem to count for that much. Yet even though they may not have the social cachet of jumping on the hashtag du jour, to the individual who...
Can public engagement stunt academic careers?
As an academic, I take public engagement seriously. I see it as a responsibility that comes with the societally-sanctioned license to study the things that I'm passionate about. And I consider it a privilege to interact with others who can inform...
Characterizing nanoparticles in the 1880’s
On May 29th, there were 52,000 nanoparticles per cubic centimeter of air measured at the top of the Eiffel Tower. This may not seem the most compelling opening to an article, until you realize that the measurement was made in 1889 – over 100 years before nanotechnology and nanoparticles began hitting headlines as one of the most talked about emerging technologies in recent decades. The particles were measured by the Scottish scientist John Aitken, using his newly developed device for counting airborne dust particles.
Politics don’t always play a role in attitudes toward science issues
Comments provided for GENeS on the launch of the Pew Research Center attitudes survey on Americans, Politics and Science Issues (July 1 2015) Political leanings are frequently associated with attitudes toward science and technology in the U.S. Yet...
Should indoor tanning be banned?
Just how dangerous is indoor tanning? A couple of weeks ago, colleagues from the University of Michigan published an article with a rather stark recommendation: an immediate age limited ban on indoor tanning in all U.S. states, followed by a five-year phase-in ban for all commercial tanning.
Using animations in science communication
Can short animations be used for effective science communication, asks guest-blogger Queen Alike, Public Health Specialist at the National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine (NLM).
American universities: reclaiming our role in society
American universities are facing a crisis of relevance. There is, quite simply, a growing tension between their internal cultures and their role within society. But the good news is that a growing number of us academics are taking this issue head on, exploring a broader range of models for what it means to be a scholar within society, and challenging old models that stand in the way of such progress.
Lubchenco – Delivering on Science’s Social Contact
In 1998, then-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Dr. Jane Luchenco called for a “New Social Contract with science”. She argued that, in the face of emerging challenges, scientists needed to rethink their roles and responsibilities within society. Next Wednesday she will be examining how far we’ve come – and how far we still need to go – on delivering on science’s social contract, at the University of Michigan meeting on Academic Engagement in Public and Political Discourse.
A new home for Risk Innovation
Five years ago, I joined the University of Michigan School of Public Health as Director of the U-M Risk Science Center. It’s been a good five years. However, last year, the good folks at Arizona State University made me an offer I couldn’t refuse – the opportunity to expand substantially my work on risk and innovation, at one of the most exciting and progressive universities in the U.S.
The Poetry of Innovating Responsibly
What have technology innovation, haiku, and this summer’s blockbuster-in-waiting Jurassic World got in common? The answer: a short book of haiku on responsible technological innovation that a group of colleagues helped put together last summer.
No New York Times, wearable computers couldn’t be as harmful as cigarettes!
I was taken aback- to say the least – by an article from the New York Times that crossed my Twitter feed today that suggested wearable electronics like the new Apple Watch could be has harmful as smoking. I have to wonder whether the author actually read the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph on which it’s based!
Solving public health challenges through innovation
Last Thursday, the second annual University of Michigan Innovation In Action competition concluded, with six stunning student pitches for startups that could make a significant dent on the health and well-being of communities. It was a great example of what can be achieved at the intersection of public health, entrepreneurship, and the creativity and energy that students can bring to real-world problems.
Dunkin’ Donuts ditches titanium dioxide – but is it actually harmful?
In response to pressure from the advocacy group As You Sow, Dunkin’ Brands has announced that it will be removing allegedly “nano” titanium dioxide from Dunkin’ Donuts’ powdered sugar donuts. As You Sow claims there are safety concerns around the...
Toxicologists are Freakin’ Awesome!
Risk Bites is going to be at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering Expo this year (Saturday March 21st – be there!). I’ll be there as part of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) annual meeting, sharing the SOT stand. Given the toxicology theme, we have a special Risk Bites video for the Expo – a toxicology primer in 3 minutes for completely uninitiated.
Responsible Innovation, and the (nano) entrepreneur’s dilemma
Responsible innovation is a great concept – it embodies ideas around ensuring our inventiveness works for the long term good of society, without inadvertently throwing up more problems than it solves. But to entrepreneurs and others trying to make ends meet while launching a new product or idea, it can quickly begin to look like an ill-affordable luxury