Darrell Dvorak at MidwestBusiness.com points out that there’s often some expertise missing from discussions on nanotech risk: Because nanotech operates at the molecular level, there has been much speculation about new, unknown risks of nano products and processes… An encouraging development for a fact-based approach is that regulation has been shown to often hurt more… Continue reading Nanotechnology risks? Ask the economists
We already knew that U.S. President George W. Bush is bullish on nanotechnology, but look who else is on the nanotech bandwagon: Nanotechnology research now under way at the University of Massachusetts Lowell will be a crucial part of any future economic success in both Massachusetts and the United States as a whole, Sen. Edward… Continue reading What George Bush and Ted Kennedy agree on: Nanotechnology
Here’s yet another new national effort in nanotechnology — Kazakstan wants to get in on the action in nanotech: President Nursultan Nazarbaev announced the spending increase on October 13 at a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the country’s Academy of Sciences. Funding will increase by a factor of 25 over the next five… Continue reading Not every country needs a nanotechnology program now
[Instapundit readers: you can sign up for nanotech news emails on the right side of this page at “free registration.”] A nanotechnology report has come out from the World Council of Churches titled “Science, Faith & New Technologies: Transforming Life — Volume I: Convergent Technologies.” (PDF) The World Council of Churches is a group of… Continue reading Nanotechnology: World Council of Churches promotes UN approval required for all new technologies
Roger Brent, director of the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, is a leader in open source biotech: Putting his patents where his principles are, Dr. Brent’s institute has drafted an “Open Source Policy” which commits to “[making] reagents and methods freely available to the research community.” You can see MSI’s open source policy and a… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Lessons from open source biotech
[UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers. For free e-newsletter, subscribe at right, part way down, on this blog’s home page.] The ETC Group, recently mentioned here for its PR skills, has announced a contest to design a Nano-Hazard symbol for nanotechnology: Standard setting bodies around the world are now scrambling to agree on nomenclature that can describe… Continue reading Think twice before labeling nanotechnology products
The ETC Group has a new 63-page PDF report out titled “Nanotech Rx — Medical Applications of Nano-scale Technologies: What Impact on Marginalized Communities?” Although we at Foresight share ETC’s concern for these communities, we disagree with the report. A couple of excerpts: Can OECD donors who have failed to deliver promised mosquito netting to… Continue reading Nanotechnology medicine policy report disputed
Regular Nanodot readers will not be surprised to read this short item at Forbes.com by Andrew Pasek of AFX News, apparently reporting on an article in the China edition of the Wall Street Journal: BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – China is making rapid advances in the field of nanotechnology and the US should monitor China’s progress in… Continue reading China said to be gaining on the US in nanotechnology
Patrick Lin over at the Nanoethics Group let us know that the principals of that group have received a US$250,000 grant from the NSF to study the ethics of using nanotechnology to do human enhancement, through their academic affiliations at Dartmouth and Western Michigan U. The questions to be investigated by the nanoethics research team… Continue reading U.S. nanotechnology funds study ethics of human enhancement
The long-awaited report on the U.S. NNI from the National Academies’ National Research Council has just been issued. For Foresight, the most important part is the review of molecular self-assembly and molecular manufacturing. Here’s the short form: Molecular Assembly: Self-assembly for the manufacturing of simple devices and materials is feasible, but because the probability of… Continue reading National Academies nanotechnology report calls for experimentation toward molecular manufacturing
