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
Jurassic Park: The Rise of Resurrection Biology (from chapter two of Films from the Future)
I was a newly minted Ph.D. when I first saw Jurassic Park. It was June 1993, and my wife and I were beginning to enjoy our new-found freedom, after years of too much study and too little money. I must confess that we weren’t dinosaur geeks. But there was something about the hype surrounding the movie that hooked us. Plus, we fancied a night out.
In the Beginning … Chapter One of “Films from the Future”
I first saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey on a small black and white TV, tucked in a corner of my parents’ living room. It was January the first 1982, and I was sixteen years old…
YouTube channel on the Science of Risk hits a milestone
It's been a while coming, but the YouTube channel Risk Bites has just hit 10,000 subscribers. It may not sound a lot when compared to some YouTube mega-channels, but for a low-budget channel that occupies the space between academic expertise and people who just want...
Second-guessing consumer views on products using nanotechnology
This month's copy of the journal Nature Nanotechnology has a commentary in it by myself and colleague Justin Kidd, where we ask whether manufacturers of nano-enabled water treatment products are in danger of second-guessing consumer views. The commentary draws on...
Excerpts from Films from the Future
Over the next several weeks, I'll be posting short excerpts from Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies ahead of the book's publication on November 15 -- visit regularly to read the latest, and remember that you can pre-order the book now...
Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies
I'm thrilled that my new book Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies (Mango Publishing) is now available! From the listing: Learn how movies reveal the future of technology Fans of The Science of Interstellar, The Second Machine Age,...
Book update: New title, Amazon Listing, Publication Date, Contents, and more …
After a hectic summer of writing and editing, I'm pleased (if a little frazzled) to report that the book formerly known as "The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future" is on schedule to be published mid-November of this year. Just to whet your appetite, here's a quick update...
The Sounds of the Moviegoer’s Guide to the Future
I must confess that, over the past year, I've taken immersing myself in the movies at the core of The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future rather seriously -- perhaps too seriously! Of course, I've watched the movies many, many times. But I've also been submersed in their...
Nootropics
Excerpted from a early draft of Films from the Future: The Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies (out November 2018); inspired by the movie Limitless. In 2004, the academic and medical doctor Anjan Chatterjee wrote a review of what he termed “Cosmetic...
The “Science” of Predicting Bad Behavior
Excerpted from a early draft of The Moviegoer's Guide to the Future; inspired by the movie Minority Report. In March 2017, the British newspaper The Guardian ran a web-story with the headline “Brain scans can spot criminals, scientists say”.[1] Unlike in Minority...