Those of us who spend our days looking at innovation would do well to look at the other side now and then. The New Yorker gives us a chance with a book review by Steven Shapin of the book “The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900” (Oxford) by David Edgerton. He… Continue reading Nanotechnology: utopian, dire, or neither?
Nanotech Briefs has announced its Nano 50 award winners for 2007, in the categories of Innovators, Products, and Technologies. (Full disclosure: I was a judge again this year.) Great to see Zyvex on the list. Don’t see your favorites? Maybe they weren’t nominated. Don’t let that happen for the Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes; nominate your… Continue reading Nano 50: Nanotechnology winners announced
Nanowerk brings to our attention some confusion on an IEEE blog: Somewhere along the line, the advocates for molecular nanotechnology (MNT) seem to have lost interest in actually seeing molecular manufacturing come to pass if it meant that the concepts of the mechanically engineered approach (Dry) are abandoned in favor of a biologically engineered method… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Enough with the wet/dry debate already
Some sunscreens contain simple nanomaterials: nanoparticles of zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Sunscreens have had these for decades, but the particles used to be bigger, which is why lifeguards at the beach used to have white noses. Now the particles are smaller, so the sunscreens are transparent. Applying the “nanotechnology” label to these products is… Continue reading To use or not to use: Nanotechnology in sunscreens
In the Edigest email from Nanotechnology.com, we found the interview below with a young researcher whose work has been mentioned here before. Normally we don’t reprint items in their entirety, but I could not find this on the Nanotechnology.com website, or elsewhere on the web, so here it is. Its appearance in the Edigest was… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Toward matter programmable to atomic precision
The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 in the U.S. gives patent rights for federally-funded research done in universities to the universities themselves, in effect. Many people regard this strategy as a succcess, and many countries around the world are copying it. But is this the best way to handle this publicly-funded intellectual property? After over 25… Continue reading Maximizing nanotechnology patent benefits
Nanowerk brings to our attention a resolution on nanotechnology by a labor group for food and agricultural workers claiming to represent 12 million people. It has a number of sections, but here’s an example: To demand that national and international patent offices, like the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), decline to register all patent applications… Continue reading Food workers worried about nanotechnology
The May/June Technology Review (free reg. req’d) features an essay by philosopher Roger Scruton attempting to examine the ethical issues of highly advanced technologies. While the focus is on biotech, nanotech is hinted at: …why cannot machines be produced as humans are now produced, by self-reproduction? Why not indeed. They could, in principle. Scruton makes… Continue reading Philosopher confused by longevity, nanotechnology
We’ve written here before about the Environmental Defense/DuPont effort to create a framework to deal with nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks. Now NRDC has issued its own report and framework. An excerpt from the report: The current approach to chemical regulation cannot be relied upon to prevent harm from nanomaterials; it is slow,… Continue reading Competing nanotechnology control frameworks
To end our week on a cheerful note, Freeman Dyson points to a positive trend affecting nanotechnology in an interview in TCS Daily: I tell young people that the new technologies of computing, telecommunication, optical detection and microchemistry actually empower the amateur to do things that only professionals could do before. Amateurs and small companies… Continue reading Dyson on opening up science
