Ron Bailey has written up his differences with Alan Goldstein, which were explored at a debate at the Foresight Vision Weekend a few days ago. “Waiting until the ethicists catch up with scientific and technological progress is a recipe for technological stagnation. Slowing innovation is not cost free. It makes a difference to tens of… Continue reading NanoBioEthics: Advancing past the "Carbon Barrier"
Next up is co-chair of the Research sessions, Hiroshi Yokoyama, Director of the Nanotechnology Research Institute, part of AIST in Japan — one of the leaders of nanotech in Japan. He is an expert in liquid crystal nanotech but in this talk he is giving an overview of nanotech in Japan. A survey showed that… Continue reading Nano in Japan
Liveblogging the Foresight Conference: Apologies for not blogging yesterday’s afternoon session, including the “Controversies in Nanotechnology” talk (by me), the IP talk by Stanford prof Mark Lemley, the IP panel (I was moderating), and the Public Equity panel — featuring the colorful Michael Weiner of Biophan, who advised against taking investment funds from VCs. This… Continue reading Rigid addressable nanoscaffolds & single-stranded DNA origami
Liveblogging the Foresight Conference: Just finishing up is Jim Von Ehr of Zyvex, introduced as a “rock star of nanotechnology” by Charlie Harris. His goal is molecularly precise manufacturing of products at any length scale. He is agnostic on the method. They just won an R&D 100 award, and have quite a long list of… Continue reading Zyvex: molecularly precise nanomanufacturing
Another view of the clean water panel at the Foresight Conference, from Michael Kanellos of CNET News.com: “What’s the biggest hazard for the future? Global warming? Oil shortages? “A small, but growing number of people think that a looming shortage of drinking water constitutes a much larger crisis. Water consumption is doubling every twenty years,… Continue reading Lack of clean water: the biggest hazard
Now up: “Federal Government Regulation of Nanotechnology: Present and Future Trends” by Nancy White of Central Michigan University. She began with “The government is coming.” Areas likely to be regulated are limitation of self-replication and encryption of software used with nanotech. “Foresight’s policies will probably be used by the Federal government.” This pre-planning “should be… Continue reading The government is coming — nanotech regulation
See Michael Kanellos of CNET News.com’s brief report on the Foresight Conference.
Liveblogging the Foresight Conference. Now in progress is the clean water panel, moderated by Anthony Waitz of Quantum Insight. First up is Fred Tepper of Argonide, which makes nanoalumina filters which look like paper and are made in a paper mill, based on Russian technology. When the nanoalumina reaches 15% weight of the filter, over… Continue reading Nanotech for clean water
First after lunch was Volker Rieke from Germany, who explained that Germany is #2 (after US) in nanotech publications, and directed us to the Nano-map to find out what is happening in German nanotech. Now speaking is Helena Acheson, Head of Division, Science, Technology & Innovation Policy and Awareness Division, Forfás, a think tank for… Continue reading NanoGermany and NanoIreland
Now we have Jo Anne Shatkin of Cadmus Group on assessing risks of nanoscale materials. She described the process she uses, making the point that hazards are different from risks—no material is completely safe, and there is no risk if there is no exposure. Risk = hazard x exposure probability. Risk assessment is for making… Continue reading Risk assessment for nanomaterials
