It’s always odd how nanotechnology gets blamed for a lot of the world’s ills A common accusation is that nanotech will lead to a loss of privacy, although this is surely more due to the proliferation of databases and processing power to enable facial or car number plate recognition. It is ironic that some of the most vocal protesters use …
MEPS Demand Tougher Nanotech Rules – Again
More sabre rattling from the the European Parliament who passed a “non binding opinion” with 391 votes in favour and three against, demanding that all nanomaterials should be considered as new substances, and that existing legislation does not take into account the risks associated with nanotechnology.They also demanded that consumer products containing nanomaterials must be labelled ‘nano’. It’s a repeat …
Communicating Nanotechnologies to the Green Technology Forum
Explaining the relevance of nanotechnology to the green community which is my latest attempt at public engagement. My talk (and others, I’m on first) is available as a podcast here. It’s surprisingly difficult to talk clearly to non technical and non business audiences but I gave it my best shot and almost managed to stay within my allotted ten …
A Rational Debate on Australian Nanotech? – No Chance, Mate!
The Australian branch of Friends of the Earth, who really really hate nanotechnology, yes really, and will do anything they can to stop it (despite not being quite sure what it is) are threatening apoplexy, tantrums and running naked through the streets of Canberra painted blue as a result of the Australian Governments decision to have a “Nanodialogue on Nanotechnology …
Predicting the Unpredictable – Why?
Having spent a few weeks looking at public engagement of science, and not being particularly impressed, a Nature article by ethicist Jens Clausen concerning Brain-Machine interfaces comes as a breath of fresh air. Unusually for an article on ethics, it deals with the facts and resists the temptation to imagine some kind of dystopian or utopian future which would throw …
The Last Word (for now) On Public Engagement
My colleague Dexter Johnson has some ideas about how to improve public engagement with nanotechnologies – get rid of the intermediaries! Given that the average spend on an EU funded project in this are must be around €500,00, and there have been dozens of such projects, an army of scientists could be deployed to buy people drinks and badger people …
Debating Walruses & Ice Cream or “Responsible Nanotechnology?”
I spent the weekend discussing the various ways in which (nano)technology may be developed ‘responsibly’ which was, erm, quite interesting. I have parenthesised the ‘nano’ as many of the fears weren’t particularly specific to anything nano, and I am still rather mystified by the various definitions of the word ‘responsible’ which I’m sure will keep the ethicists, philosophers and lexicographers …