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.
VidCon 2012: Online learning is where online music was five years ago
YouTube is gearing up to transform the way we learn. At least that's the message that came across loud and clear at this morning's VidCon breakout panel on education. In an overflowing room of well over two hundred conference goers, head of...
VidCon 2012: Community-grown science communicators smoking’ it!
I'm over half way through the first day at VidCon 2012, and thought I would jot a few notes down on the science scene here. OK, so maybe 7,000 people haven't come to the Anaheim Convention Center to hear the latest on the Higgs boson and other...
VidCon and YouTube Science
Having been initiated into the alternative world of teen YouTube culture last year, I am once again being dragged along to VidCon - the Comic-Con of the online video community. This year - the third year for VidCon - promises to be bigger than...
Communicating about communicating science at the National Academies
I've just spent the last two days at the National Academies of Science listening to a long strong of folks talk about the Science of Science Communication. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I wasn't a speaker and so could just kick back...
Think Design – an alternative take on nanotech (in 11 minutes!)
A few weeks ago I was asked to give a "TED style talk" on nanotechnology for the University of Michigan Environmental Health Sciences department 125th anniversary. What they got was a short talk on "thinking small":...
Carbon nanoparticles could be ubiquitous to many foods
TEM images of carbon particles from foods containing caramelized sugar. Click to see larger image. Source: Palashudding et al. Nanotechnology leads to novel materials, new exposures and potentially unique health and environmental risks - or so the...
Nanoparticles, cosmetics and sunscreens – again!
Robin Erb has a good piece on cosmetics and safe ingredients in the Detroit Free Press this week - it tackles the very limited regulation over what goes into cosmetics, but balances this with a useful perspective on consumer choice and how this in...
Nano M&Ms?
Not in the technical sense I'm afraid, but thought it would be fun to post this image of nano-branded M&Ms. They were used as part of a recent NanoDays session with local school kids exploring the broader implications of nanotechnology. The...
Nano quadrotors – a game-changing technology innovation, but can we handle it?
It's been hard to avoid the buzz surrounding nano quadrotors this week, following the posting of Vijay Kumar's jaw-dropping TED talk - and the associated viral video of the semi-autonomous machines playing the James Bond theme. The quadrotors are...
Dip into Mind The Science Gap
If you haven't been reading the Mind The Science Gap blog, you really should. Ten Masters of Public Health students have been excelling themselves as they hone their ability to take published research and translate it into something accessible to a...
Is Maynard going over to the nano-dark side?
A few weeks ago I spent some time chatting with Howard Lovy for an article for the Nanobusiness Commercialization Association. That interview was posted by Vincent Caprio on his blog a few days ago, and raised a few eyebrows - was I showing signs...
Are consumers risking skin cancer because of fears over nanoparticles in sunscreens?
This has just landed in my email in box from Craig Cormick at the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education in Australia, and I thought I would pass it on given the string of posts on nanoparticles in sunscreens...
Wonders and Worries – Retro nano at its best!
Here's an introduction to the "wonders and worries of nanotechnology" that I think is rather brilliant: It's part of a series being produced by the Science Museum of Minnesota for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education network (NISE Net). The...
World Economic Forum: Top Emerging Technologies Trends
For the past few months, the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has been working on identifying some of the most significant trends in technology innovation. Published yesterday by WEF, these represent ten areas...
Superstition and science – another A World Of Surprises video
Another product of the A World Of Surprises project with James King and a bunch of extremely talented public health and science students. This is a video from Gracie Trinidad, and explores the frisson between superstition and science through...
The Tale of Rhino Banana(TM)
A product of the A World Of Surprises project with James King and a bunch of extremely talented public health and science students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsgGiXZSM-w The task was to explore the confluence between mundane and catastrophic...
Exploring speculated catastrophe and mundane reality
Credit: James King Last semester, speculative designer James King worked with myself and a small group of science and public health students at the University of Michigan to explore how a fusion of science and creative art can lead to new insights...
National Academy publishes new nanomaterials risk research strategy
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...
Mind the Science Gap – Helping science students connect with a non-science audience
Cross-posted from the Scientific American Incubator blog: Studying for a Masters degree in Public Health prepares you for many things. But it doesn’t necessarily give you hands-on experience of how to take complex information and translate it into...
2012 World Economic Forum Global Risk Report
Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog The World Economic Forum Global Risks Report is one of the most authoritative annual assessments of emerging issues surrounding risk currently produced. Now in its seventh edition, the 2012 report launched...
Spare a comment – student science writers need your help!
In a little over a week, ten of my University of Michigan Masters of Public Health students will embark on an intensive science blogging course - and they need your help! Every week for ten weeks, each student will take a recent scientific...
Brain candy for the intellectually incapacitated – the sequel
Two years ago I posted links to ten (relatively) mindless online "games" as a bit of fun, and as something not too taxing to indulge in over the holiday break. Having reached that point again where anything more intellectually challenging than tic...
A few Small Issues about Public Engagement on Nanotechnology
A guest blog by Craig Cormick. Over the past decade there has been a significant growth in public engagement activities relating to nanotechnology and when you look across all the data being generated you can learn a lot about how the public view...
Exposure to silver nanoparticles may be more common than we thought
The past few years has seen an explosion of interest in silver nanoparticles. Along with a plethora of products using the particles to imbue antimicrobial properties on everything from socks to toothpaste, nanometer scale silver particles have...
Techno Hype or Techno Hope? Two panel discussions on technology innovation
I've been up to my eyeballs this past few weeks in stuff, and haven't had as much time as usual to post here. So this weekend I thought I would take the easy route and post a couple of videos from the recent Symposium on Risk, Uncertainty and...
New US federal strategy for nanotechnology safety research released
The latest iteration of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative's Environmental, Health and Safety Research Strategy was released today - downloadable from nano.gov. A draft of the document has been on the streets since last December - this...
EC adopts cross-cutting definition of nanomaterials to be used for all regulatory purposes
The European Commission had just adopted a "cross-cutting designation of nanomaterials to be used for all regulatory purposes" (link). The definition builds on a draft definition released last year, but includes a number of substantial changes to...
US National Nanotechnology Initiative to release latest Environmental, Health and Safety research strategy, Oct 20
This coming Thursday (Oct 20 2011), the US National Nanotechnology Initiative is releasing the latest version of the Initiative's federal nanotechnology environmental, health and safety research strategy. The strategy will be available for...
New models needed to master technology trends – World Economic Forum
In his opening remarks at this year's Summit on the Global Agenda, World Economic Forum founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab placed the need for new models to support effective use of technology innovation firmly on the table. This is the...
Inspiring teachers – a blast from the past
Two years ago, I wrote a piece about ten things that inspired me to become a scientist. One of those was my high school teacher. We never kept in touch, but through the miracle of the web, that post eventually came to his attention, and we...