Should experts engage directly with people on current issues like the disaster in Japan?
March 18, 2011A 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
March 16, 2011This 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
March 10, 2011As 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 about risk and how we address ...
Nanotechnology safety – a new video blog from the ASME Nanotechnology Institute
March 4, 2011Back 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
February 26, 2011The 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 visiting Venice. At the ...
Crowdsourcing “sinful” images for a tech talk – can you help?
February 23, 2011How 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 imagine, but with some serious points ...
Obama’s 2012 budget does not bode well for safe & productive workplaces
February 19, 2011In 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 innovation and education ...
The New Toxicology of Sophisticated Materials: Nanotoxicology and Beyond
February 9, 2011Cross-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). Fool that I am, I ...
Davos 2011 – Committed to changing the state of the world
February 1, 2011Cross-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
January 29, 2011This 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 gathering ...
Davos 2011: Global Risks permeate conversations this year, but where’s the science?
January 29, 2011Cross-posted from the Risk Science Blog. Take a metaphorical slice through this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, and Global Risk would be writ large through every part of it. Hot on the heels of the sixth Global Risk report, this year’s meeting saw the launch of the Risk ...
Davos 2011 – physics superstar meets music superstar; talks cosmology
January 28, 2011I don’t usually write about personal interactions here, but this is one I couldn’t resist – physics superstar Lawrence Krauss talking cosmology with music superstar Peter Gabriel. I was with Lawrence at a World Economic Forum dinner when he bumped into Peter – as one does! He immediately launched into an ...
Asking smart people dumb questions – the new role of challengers at Davos
January 27, 2011Cross-posted at ForumBlog.org – the World Economic Forum blog My high school physics teacher used to tell me there’s no such think as a dumb question. It’s a lesson I’ve carried with me through my professional career as a scientist. But it’s a philosophy that might be just about to come ...
Obama spotlights innovation, but how do we get it right?
January 25, 2011Technology innovation was front and center of Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight. This is extremely good news for those of us who believe more needs to be done, and done better, to ensure science and technology translate into effective solutions that enable economic and social growth. But recognizing ...
Davos 2011: Desperately seeking Google
January 24, 2011It’s that time of year again – 2000+ of the worlds top movers and shakers are beginning to descend on the Swiss ski town of Davos for this year’s Annual World Economic Forum meeting. Political heavyweights like Clinton, Annan, Sarkozy and Cameron will be intermingling with the likes of Gates, ...
Nanotechnology – what web resources do you find most helpful?
January 24, 2011Over at the Risk Science Center blog, I have posted a request for help on web-based nanotechnology resources. Given that 2020 Science has such a nano-savvy readership, I thought I would cross-post the request here. If you have any suggestions on useful websites dealing with nanotechnology – especially those describing ...
Building a sustainable future: World Economic Forum tackles the opportunities and challenges presented by technology innovation
January 19, 2011“Technology doesn’t just happen” – people must be sick of hearing me say this. Yet as chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies, it’s something I seem to end up saying rather a lot as we strive to help decision-leaders maximize the ...
Obama’s 21st century regulatory system will demand more innovative thinking on risk
January 18, 2011Cross posted from the Risk Science Center Blog: There’s a lot to like in President Obama’s perspective on 21st century regulation. Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Obama outlines his thinking behind his new executive order to review and revise a convoluted and potentially disruptive federal regulatory system. But ...
NOVA Making Stuff, nanomaterials and a web-lactating goat
January 15, 2011Next week sees the debut of the PBS science program NOVA’s new series Making Stuff – a four part special “exploring the materials that will shape our future”, hosted by NY Times technology columnist David Pogue. You may recall that I expressed some reservations over the program’s approach to bioengineered materials ...
Nanoparticle Toxicity dropped from the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report
January 12, 2011As I report on the Risk Science Blog, the latest iteration of the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report has dropped “Nanoparticle Toxicity” as an emerging and significant risk. Instead, the far more generic “Threats from New Technologies” takes its place. This is a welcome move – but I do have ...