by Hilary Sutcliffe | May 25, 2010 | Ethics, Guest Post, Oversight, Synthetic Biology
A 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...
by Andrew Maynard | May 17, 2010 | Education, Engagement
I 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...
by Barbara Herr Harthorn | May 4, 2010 | Engagement, Guest Post, Nanotechnology
A 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...
by Andrew Maynard | Apr 28, 2010 | Emerging Technology, Engagement, Policy
Does 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...
by Andrew Maynard | Apr 25, 2010 | Communication, Nanotechnology
Language 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...