by Andrew Maynard | Jul 5, 2015 | Emerging Technology, Nanotechnology, Public Health
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.
by Andrew Maynard | Jan 15, 2015 | Future, Public Health, Technology Innovation
The challenges of governing emerging technologies are highlighted by the World Economic Forum in the 2015 edition of its Global Risks Report. Focusing in particular on synthetic biology, gene drives and artificial intelligence, the report warns that these and other...
by Andrew Maynard | Jan 7, 2015 | Environment, Public Health, Risk, Technology Innovation
Earlier this week, The Conversation reported that, “The future is bright, the future is … quantum dot televisions.” And judging by the buzz coming from this week’s annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that’s right – the technology is providing manufacturers with a...
by Andrew Maynard | Jan 2, 2015 | Public Health
The chances are that, if you follow news articles about cancer, you’ll have come across headlines like “Most Cancers Caused By Bad Luck” (The Daily Beast) or “Two-thirds of cancers are due to “bad luck,” study finds” (CBS...
by Andrew Maynard | Nov 19, 2014 | Public Health, Risk
Vaping has come of age it seems – at least according to the Oxford Dictionaries. The word “vape”, which is synonymous with electronic cigarette use, has been selected as the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2014. So what is vaping, and what are...
by Andrew Maynard | Oct 26, 2014 | Health, Public Health
I’m a bit of a cash register receipt junkie. I obsessively stuff my wallet with those little slips of thermal paper telling me how much I’ve spent. And it has to be paper – none of this e-receipt nonsense. But an article published last week in the...
