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
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 of becoming a...
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 on 2020 Science over...
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 series is designed to...
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 that we as a council...
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 medieval paintings - with...
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 risk, which the team...
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 and modes of...
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 it. But I did want...
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 something others...
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 today draws on over...