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.
Should experts engage directly with people on current issues like the disaster in Japan?
A couple of days ago I posted a blog that noted the absence of direct information on the Fukushima nuclear crisis coming out of US Schools of Public Health. In it, I wrote As events at the Fukushima power plant unfolded, I assumed – rather naively...
Tracking information on radiation health risks in Japan
This past few days I've been up to my eyeballs in tracking and responding to the developing crisis in Japan, and have not had much time to think about emerging technologies or this blog. Much of my time has been spent on brushing up on my health...
Technology innovation and human health risk – rethinking the intersection
As anyone who has followed my work over the past few years will know, I have a deep interest in the potential benefits and risks associated with emerging technologies, and in particular whether we can swing the balance towards benefits by thinking...
Nanotechnology safety – a new video blog from the ASME Nanotechnology Institute
Back in December 2009, I rode the Acela Express up to New York from Washington DC for the day to record one of a series of nanotechnology podcasts for the ASME - the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The podcast was to be part of a new...
The art of regulating nanotechnologies
The recently published International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies has a rather unconventional cover image. But it's one that I must confess I am rather pleased with. The image is a photo of a piece of Murano glass that I picked up...
Crowdsourcing “sinful” images for a tech talk – can you help?
How would you illustrate the "Seven Deadly Sins of Techno-Complacency" (see below)? On March 8, I'm giving a combined Second Live/Real Life talk on emerging technologies, inspired by the Seven Deadly Sins. This will be a rather tongue in cheek...
Obama’s 2012 budget does not bode well for safe & productive workplaces
In one of the more bizarre yet less publicized proposed cuts in the 2012 Obama budget, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers are on the chopping block. Bizarre, because the move is directly...
The New Toxicology of Sophisticated Materials: Nanotoxicology and Beyond
Cross-posted from The Risk Science Blog Several months ago, I was asked by a colleague if I fancied co-authoring a review on nanotoxicology for a copy of Toxicological Sciences celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Society of Toxicology (coming...
Davos 2011 – Committed to changing the state of the world
Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. As it did last year, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos has left me with a daunting task - how do I summarize the highlights of the meeting in a single, short post? The answer of course is that...
Davos 2011 – Partnering with teens to build a better world
This is not a science and technology post - which is a bit odd for a science and technology blog. But I wanted to introduce five people who together shake up the whole idea of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos as being an elitist and...
Davos 2011: Global Risks permeate conversations this year, but where’s the science?
Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. Take a metaphorical slice through this year's annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, and Global Risk would be writ large through every part of it. Hot on the heels of the sixth Global Risk report,...
Davos 2011 – physics superstar meets music superstar; talks cosmology
I don't usually write about personal interactions here, but this is one I couldn't resist - physics superstar Lawrence Krauss talking cosmology with music superstar Peter Gabriel. I was with Lawrence at a World Economic Forum dinner when he bumped...
Asking smart people dumb questions – the new role of challengers at Davos
Cross-posted at ForumBlog.org - the World Economic Forum blog My high school physics teacher used to tell me there’s no such think as a dumb question. It’s a lesson I’ve carried with me through my professional career as a scientist. But it’s a...
Obama spotlights innovation, but how do we get it right?
Technology innovation was front and center of Obama's State of the Union speech tonight. This is extremely good news for those of us who believe more needs to be done, and done better, to ensure science and technology translate into effective...
Davos 2011: Desperately seeking Google
It's that time of year again - 2000+ of the worlds top movers and shakers are beginning to descend on the Swiss ski town of Davos for this year's Annual World Economic Forum meeting. Political heavyweights like Clinton, Annan, Sarkozy and Cameron...
Nanotechnology – what web resources do you find most helpful?
Over at the Risk Science Center blog, I have posted a request for help on web-based nanotechnology resources. Given that 2020 Science has such a nano-savvy readership, I thought I would cross-post the request here. If you have any suggestions on...
Building a sustainable future: World Economic Forum tackles the opportunities and challenges presented by technology innovation
"Technology doesn't just happen" - people must be sick of hearing me say this. Yet as chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies, it's something I seem to end up saying rather a lot as we strive to help...
Obama’s 21st century regulatory system will demand more innovative thinking on risk
Cross posted from the Risk Science Center Blog: There's a lot to like in President Obama's perspective on 21st century regulation. Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Obama outlines his thinking behind his new executive order to review and...
NOVA Making Stuff, nanomaterials and a web-lactating goat
Next week sees the debut of the PBS science program NOVA's new series Making Stuff - a four part special "exploring the materials that will shape our future", hosted by NY Times technology columnist David Pogue. You may recall that I expressed some...
Nanoparticle Toxicity dropped from the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report
As I report on the Risk Science Blog, the latest iteration of the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report has dropped "Nanoparticle Toxicity" as an emerging and significant risk. Instead, the far more generic "Threats from New Technologies" takes...
US National Nanotechnology Initiative draft EHS Strategy – good in part
Update 1/6/11: The comment period has been extended to January 21 There are only two days left to comment on the current draft US National Nanotechnology Initiative Environmental, Health and Safety strategy (the comment period closes January 6) -...
A bluffer’s guide to Risk Science in the 21st century
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati under the slightly provocative title "Small Gods and the Art of Technology Innovation". The talk is now available on-line (slides and audio at least) - and viewable below...
The geopolitics of nanotechnology – an ideaological counterweight from ETC?
Getting an unbiased perspective on nanotechnology is probably as close to impossible as you can get. Governments invest in nanotech because they believe in its ability to inspire new research and stimulate economies and social change. ...
The art of risk science
I'm feeling a little lazy today, so this is a cross-posting from the University of Michigan Risk Science Center newsletter. It draws in part on the talk I gave at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center this past weekend as part of their "where do...
The NNI at 10 – did I really say that?
I must have been just a little worked up when I spoke with Gwyneth Shaw at the New Haven Independent a couple of weeks ago on nanotechnology. I'm usually fairly circumspect with my comments to reporters (OK, so I know some readers have just...
US Nanotechnology Environmental, Health & Safety Research Strategy open for comment
The US National Nanotechnology Initiative's latest iteration of its Environmental, Health and Safety Research Strategy has just been posted on-line for public comment. Between now and January 6, anyone who is interested is encouraged to read the...
Small gods and the art of technology innovation
There's something rather liberating about being asked to give a no-holds talk on your perspective on life, the universe and everything. So when the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center asked if I would speak as part of their "Where do we go from...
Emerging technologies at the World Economic Forum – rethinking integrative approaches to global risks
In an interconnected world, global issues demand integrative solutions. It's a statement that many people would agree with - in systems where associations between cause and effect are complex, you ignore synergistic inter-relationships between...
Reviewing the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan – Twitter on steroids?
Here's a bit of trivia: with the 4000 character limit on comments on the National Nanotechnology Initiative Draft Strategic Plan, you might as well ditch the official portal, and tweet your comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy -...
Nanotechnology, climate and energy: over-heated promises and hot air?
Friends of the Earth have just released a new report challenging claims that nanotechnology will lead to greener, more energy-efficient technologies, lower-impact technologies. I've only had the chance to skim through the report so far, and so...