The Global Redesign Initiative and the need for up-front investment in sustainable technology innovation
May 31, 2010The global financial crisis of 2008-09 laid bare the inadequacies of global systems in an increasingly interdependent world, and highlighted the need to rethink the “architecture of global cooperation” – the idea at the core of the World Economic Forum Global Redesign Initiative. As the World Economic Forum publishes and ...
What’s “I’m A Scientist…” all about? Check out the video
May 29, 2010The good folks at I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here have just posted a new video on YouTube about the event. It gives a great overview of what I’m A Scientist is all about, and what makes it special: http://www.youtube.com/v/e1T4zi-DIh8 I particularly like the comment “It’s different from a normal science ...
Nano Dispersants and nano hysteria – time to think about the science folks!
May 28, 2010Catching up with my email after a long day off the net, I see that a group of Non Government Organizations (NGOs) are urging EPA not to allow the use of an alleged nanotechnology-based dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico. The letter from thirteen organizations was covered in a piece ...
As scientists create the first synthetic cell, the future safety of synthetic biology will depend on sound science
May 26, 2010Last week’s announcement from the J. Craig Venter Institute that scientists had created the first-ever synthetic cell was a profoundly significant point in human history, and marked a turning point in our quest to control the natural world. But the ability to use this emerging technology wisely is already being ...
Want advice? Never trust your family!
May 25, 2010As you’ll have realized from my post last week, I will be competing in I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here in in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m going to be attempting to capture the event from my perspective through a series of rather shorter, more informal blogs ...
Deja vu and synthetic biology – will we learn the lessons of nanotech and genetic modification?
May 25, 2010A guest blog by Hilary Sutcliffe, Director of MATTER, a UK think tank which explores how new technologies can work for us all. The other day, I wrote a piece on the implications of synthetic biology where I suggested that we “need to place discussions on a science basis, and ...
It’s life Craig, but not as we know it!
May 22, 2010Typical. One of the most anticipated technological breakthroughs in years hits the streets, and I’m completely off the web – holed up in an Italian hotel with no internet and no phone. I’m talking of course about J. Craig Venter’s team’s breakthrough in synthesizing a living organism, almost from scratch – ...
I’m a scientist – and I’m going to be hanging on for dear life’s sake!
May 17, 2010I can’t sleep, I’m distracted, I keep breaking out in a cold sweat. And the reason? I have a deceptively simple question going my head – and I don’t know the answer! The question… well, I’ll come to that in a minute. I’d rather put the moment of embarrassment off for ...
Building trust between science and society: A Scientist’s Manifesto
May 9, 2010Having recently finished Robert Winston’s “Bad Ideas? An Arresting History of our Inventiveness,” I was rather taken by his concluding “Scientist’s Manifesto” – a fourteen-point guide to help strengthen the relationship between science and society. As well as reflecting much of my own thinking, it embodies many of the ideas ...
Public participation in nanotechnology – should we care?
May 4, 2010A guest blog by Barbara Herr Harthorn, Director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of California Santa Barbara. A couple of weeks back, my colleague David Guston wrote here about engaging the public on nanotechnology. In his piece he gave an excellent overview of the ...
Nanotechnology policy and regulation timeline
April 30, 2010Marc Saner at Carleton University in Canada sent this timeline of key nanotech policy events to me the other day. It’s probably the most comprehensive compilation of events influencing the development of nanotech policy in America, Europe and Australia I’ve seen to date – well worth taking a look at ...
Power to the people – should citizens be more involved in assessing energing technologies?
April 28, 2010Does the US need more public participation in assessing technologies and their potential impact on society, and informing decisions on their development and use? Richard Sclove – author of a new report on technology assessment – thinks yes; but only as part of a new paradigm for technology assessment. The ...
Found in translation – Journalist Andréia Azevedo Soares’ take on a Brazilian nanotechnology documentary
April 25, 2010Language is often seen as a barrier to communication. But sometimes it provides a valuable buffer between hearing, understanding and responding, and allows unique perspectives that are often drowned out to be heard. A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by Brazilian TV presenter Luís Fernando Silva Pinto for the TV ...
TSCA reform and engineered nanomaterials
April 23, 2010A bit of a wonky blog I’m afraid, but having seen relatively little on the recently introduced Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 and its relevance to engineered nanomaterials on the web, I thought I would post something short and sweet here. Just over a week ago, Senator Lautenberg introduced a bill ...
The nanotech gamble – double or nothing?
April 20, 2010There’s a bit of a brouhaha over nanotechnology safety brewing over at AOL Online. A few weeks ago, investigative reporter Andrew Schneider posted a series of articles questioning both the safety of nanotechnology-enabled products entering the market, and the US government’s response to the emerging challenge. Today, Clayton Teague – ...
The secrets of engaging teens with science
April 13, 2010A guest blog by Sophia Collins, producer of the on-line teen science event “I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here!” “itz hometime but we want to stay and ask questions” These are the words of a 14 year old student, at a school in inner-city London. The school has some of ...
White House plans a new government policy coordination group on emerging technologies
April 10, 2010According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) plans to form a new interagency group on emerging technologies, including nanotechnology and synthetic biology. The announcement was make by Tom Kalil, deputy director for policy at OSTP, at ...
Cultivating ingenuity & humility in an increasingly complex world
April 6, 2010To coincide with my move to the University of Michigan, Seed Magazine has just published a series of ten questions and answers on what I do and what motivates me as a scientist. You can read how well I fared (or didn’t, as the case may be) with questions as ...
Making sense of nanotechnology – a piece of cake!
April 4, 2010The quality’s a bit flaky, but I thought I would upload this video for a bit of fun. It’s the first – and possibly the last – time I will simultaneously attempt to unravel the mysteries of nanotechnology… while baking a cake! Filmed at the National Museum of American History as ...
Public Engagement with Nanotechnology
March 30, 2010A guest blog by David H. Guston, Director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. The President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST) has recently put the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) through its biennial paces. Launched in 2000 by President Clinton, authorized in 2003 ...