From a piece in Red Herring: “Mark Mansour, an attorney for Foley & Lardner, issued the warning during a talk at the NanoBusiness 2006 conference in New York City. He said nanotech businesses need to step up their efforts to explain the complex technology to the public—before their foes do… ” ‘Friends of the Earth… Continue reading Nanotech industry advocates gear up to fight back
Here’s your chance to relocate to sunny Arizona and get paid (okay, not well paid, but paid something) for studying the societal implications of nanotech. I suspect that most people entering this field are skeptical of technology, so let’s try to fill this job with someone who’s enthusiastic, to provide balance. This Center is looking… Continue reading Fun job open in Nano & Society studies
Tomorrow I’ll be speaking on “public perceptions” at the Nanotech & Food conference in DC. Rather than a discourse on public perceptions of nanotech in general — which are as yet pretty vague — I’ll focus on what consumers expect from their food companies in terms of responsible decisions on which engineered nanoparticles, if any,… Continue reading Heading off annoyance from nanofoods
Mark Sims of Nanorex, a Foresight participating member, reports that he has completed the first nanomechanical simulation of the Merkle/Drexler universal joint. He used the nanoENGINEER-1 software on a Dell laptop, taking about 24 hours to complete the simulation of a 3,846-atom structure. Mark explains: “A universal joint is a joint in a rigid rod… Continue reading Nanomechanical simulation of atomically-precise universal joint
Judy Conner at Foresight brings to our attention this item at PhysOrg.com by Ben Mathiesen: “Until recently, nanoscale devices could only be crafted through chemical reactions or by pushing components together on a smooth surface. Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark have developed and demonstrated practical tools allowing the precise manipulation and assembly of… Continue reading Denmark pursues goal of 3D nanomachines
I’m out in DC for the Public Participation in Nanotechnology Workshop (pdf), just completed. The group of 150 was a mix of academics, government officials, some miscellaneous stakeholders (such as me on behalf of Foresight), a few researchers, and a small number of businessfolks including Jim Von Ehr of Zyvex. It was a two-day conference… Continue reading Public participation in nanotechnology planned
From Joanne Shatkin of Cadmus Group: “The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), has found that nanoparticles were not the cause of the respiratory problems experienced by users of Magic Nano, in fact, the product does not contain nanoscale particles. Magic Nano was labeled as such because it forms a “wafer thin film” on… Continue reading Magic Nano: neither magic nor nano
Earlier I reported that the National Press Club meeting on nanotech sponsored by IIT’s Center on Nanotechnology & Society would be webcast. It’s now up, in four parts, at the meeting’s web page (requires Real Player). Particularly colorful: Andrew Kimbrell (who opposes nanotech) and Congressman Brad Sherman. Sean Murdock and John Sargent give pro-tech views.… Continue reading Webcast: Nanopundits at National Press Club
MIT now has a series of mini-documentaries over at Technology Review online. Check out the 5-minute film “Nanogates” describing a new sub-nanometer valve that is small enough to channel individual molecules. Currently it is the last film on this page. (Requires Flash player)
Yesterday at the IFTF meeting (pdf) “Beyond the Horizon: Science and Technology in Ten, Twenty and Fifty Years” we heard from a leading synthetic biologist. In addition to describing this fascinating and potentially powerful new technology, he made a plea that it not be “re-militarized” (as biology was formerly, he said) and that we needed… Continue reading Synthetic biology and nanotech
