Welcome to the 2020 Science Archive
2020 Science started life in 2007 as a nanotechnology blog written by Andrew Maynard on SafeNano. In the following years it developed into a personal blog addressing emerging technologies, responsible innovation, risk, science communication, and the intersection between science and society more generally.
Andrew made he decision to wind the blog down in 2019 as his focus and writing developed in new directions. This archive contains most of the original posts (there have been occasional clean-ups of content). For more recent articles etc. please visit andrewmaynard.net. And thanks for visiting!
BROWSE THE ARCHIVE
To Engineer is Human
I've just had my attention drawn to this inspiring 2 minute video on engineering from University of Michigan PhD student Barry Belmont: The video's part of the National Academy of Engineering Engineering for You Video Contest. What I like about it is the way it...
While the world watches Ebola, Meningitis continues to kill in West Africa
"This year alone, there have been 17,000 cases of meningitis in Nigeria, with nearly 1,000 deaths". It's a statement that jumped out at me watching a video from this summer's Aspen Ideas Festival by my former University of Michigan Public Health student Utibe Effiong....
Advanced Materials – What’s the big deal?
Why are materials important? How do they limit what we can achieve? And what can we do to change this? (Check out the videos below). Advanced Materials Materials and how we use them are inextricably linked to the development of human society. Yet amazing as historic...
Is early development exposure to lead linked to obesity later in life?
A few of my colleagues in the University of Michigan Environmental Health Sciences Department have just published an interesting paper linking lead exposure to obesity in mice (Faulk et al. Perinatal Lead (Pb) Exposure Results in Sex-Specific Effects on Food Intake,...
Confessions of a Scientist Communicator
I consider myself to be pretty self-aware. It’s an illusion of course, but one I am usually blissfully ignorant of. Until some insightful reporter shatters it! This was me a few days ago. I was talking with a journalist about science communication and the perils and...
How far should universities go in hyping research?
An article passed through my Twitter stream today from Gizmodo shouting out "Change Your Hair Color By Etching Nano-Patterns Into Each Strand". It pretty much mirrors a press release from the University of New Mexico claiming "New technology allows hair to reflect...
Hacking the world, public health style
What has the Maker Movement got to do with public health? Quite a lot as it turns out, as I explore in the latest Risk Bites video. This in turn was inspired by being invited to talk at the inaugural We Make Health Fest in Ann Arbor. Tinkerers When I was a...
Q&A on Nanotech regulation in Europe
Chemistry World posted a good article yesterday on nanotech regulation in Europe (Europe mulls best way to handle nanotech by Andrew Williams). I have a couple of quotes in the piece, along with Risk Science Center colleague Diana Bowman). These are taken from a...
Six years of nanoparticle sunscreen safety scribblings
I was going through the 2020 Science archives the other day looking for pieces on nanoparticles and sunscreens, and was rather shocked to see that the earliest article dates back to 2008! Here they are in chronological order - surprising how little things change with...
The antibiotics challenge
Neil Hawkins at Dow Chemical tweeted me a link to this piece in the New York Times this morning: A Dearth in Innovation for Key Drugs (Eduardo Porter) There is clearly something wrong with pharmaceutical innovation. Antibiotic-resistant infections sicken more than two...