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
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 as it turns out –...
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 physics (from 25...
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 more innovatively...
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 educational outreach...
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 several years ago while...
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 affair as you might...
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 counter to Obama's push on...
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 out later this year)....
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 I can’t - Davos is...
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 increasingly irrelevant...