Synthetic biology and the public: Time for a heart to heart?

by Andrew Maynard | Sep 30, 2008 | Engagement, Public Perception, Synthetic Biology

So, you have a cool new science that could make a major impact on global challenges like energy, disease and pollution and you want to make sure it reaches its full potential.  What do you do?  At some point, having a heart to heart with “the public” might be a good...

A consumer’s guide to nanotechnology

by Andrew Maynard | Aug 21, 2008 | Engagement, Nanotechnology, Public Perception

  How cool is this: A nanotech-enabled labcoat to protect the user against… well, nanomaterials presumably, amongst other things!   The labcoat—which uses Nanotex technology to make it stain resistant—is part of a major update to the Project on Emerging...

Synthetic biology, ethics and the hacker culture

by Andrew Maynard | Jun 13, 2008 | Civic Science, Engagement, Synthetic Biology

Read Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat” or Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon”, and you get a glimpse into how the hacker culture that emerged at the tail end of the twentieth century revolutionized the digital world.  Will a confluence of emerging...

Decoupling “nanotechnology”

by Andrew Maynard | May 17, 2008 | Communication, Engagement, Nanotechnology, Oversight

“Nanotechnology” as an overarching concept is great for sweeping statements and sound bites, but falls short when it comes to real-world decision-making.  As nanoscale technologies are increasingly used in everything from antimicrobial socks to anti-cancer...

Nanotechnology—in bed with Madonna?

by Andrew Maynard | Apr 25, 2008 | Engagement, Nanotechnology, Public Perception

If you want proof that nano is mainstream, just pick up the U.S. May edition of fashion magazine “Elle.”   Sharing cover-space with Madonna is the latest article on nanotech and the beauty business. Elle might not be your first choice of reading for cutting edge...

Of jellybeans and buckyballs…

by Andrew Maynard | Apr 13, 2008 | Communication, Engagement, Nanotechnology

Here’s a small diversion for a slow Sunday afternoon:  Take sixty jellybeans and ninety cocktail sticks, and try to construct a model of a buckyball—a carbon-60 molecule.  It’s tricky, but not impossible. Constructing a candy buckminster fullerene is one of ten nano...