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Next week sees the debut of the PBS science program NOVA’s new series Making Stuff – a four part special “exploring the materials that will shape our future”, hosted by NY Times technology columnist David Pogue. You may recall that I expressed some reservations over the program’s approach to bioengineered materials a few weeks back [...]
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As I report on the Risk Science Blog, the latest iteration of the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report has dropped “Nanoparticle Toxicity” as an emerging and significant risk. Instead, the far more generic “Threats from New Technologies” takes its place. This is a welcome move – but I do have some reservations. Certainly, identifying [...]
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Update 1/6/11: The comment period has been extended to January 21 There are only two days left to comment on the current draft US National Nanotechnology Initiative Environmental, Health and Safety strategy (the comment period closes January 6) – so time to read the draft, log in to the portal and add your comments. This [...]
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A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati under the slightly provocative title “Small Gods and the Art of Technology Innovation”. The talk is now available on-line (slides and audio at least) – and viewable below – through the excellent work of the folk at CAC. Rather sneakily, [...]
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Which were the most popular 2020 Science blogs of 2010? In reverse order, based on page views, here are the ten most-read posts: 10. Just how risky can nanoparticles in sunscreens be? Friends of the Earth respond A guest blog from Georgia Miller and Ian Illuminato at Friends of the Earth, responding to a challenge [...]
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Getting an unbiased perspective on nanotechnology is probably as close to impossible as you can get. Governments invest in nanotech because they believe in its ability to inspire new research and stimulate economies and social change. Corporations invest in nanotech because they think it will give them an edge in a hyper-competitive world. Neither is [...]
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I’m feeling a little lazy today, so this is a cross-posting from the University of Michigan Risk Science Center newsletter. It draws in part on the talk I gave at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center this past weekend as part of their “where do we go from here?” series. The whole setup at CAC by [...]
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I must have been just a little worked up when I spoke with Gwyneth Shaw at the New Haven Independent a couple of weeks ago on nanotechnology. I’m usually fairly circumspect with my comments to reporters (OK, so I know some readers have just spattered their coffee across the computer screen, but do try to [...]
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The US National Nanotechnology Initiative’s latest iteration of its Environmental, Health and Safety Research Strategy has just been posted on-line for public comment. Between now and January 6, anyone who is interested is encouraged to read the draft and comment on the on-line portal – hopefully sparking a dialogue which will strengthen the final document. [...]
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There’s something rather liberating about being asked to give a no-holds talk on your perspective on life, the universe and everything. So when the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center asked if I would speak as part of their “Where do we go from here?” series, I jumped at it. No holds barred is probably an exaggeration [...]
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In an interconnected world, global issues demand integrative solutions. It’s a statement that many people would agree with – in systems where associations between cause and effect are complex, you ignore synergistic inter-relationships between factors at your peril. But when it comes to technology innovation, it seems that the rules don’t apply. This week I [...]
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As Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, it’s probably not surprising that I’m constantly being asked “what on earth is risk science?” What is surprising is how hard it is to come up with a clear and concise answer. Which is why I decided to spend a good portion of my “installation” [...]
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Here’s a bit of trivia: with the 4000 character limit on comments on the National Nanotechnology Initiative Draft Strategic Plan, you might as well ditch the official portal, and tweet your comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy – 28 tweets would do it! As you can probably guess, I’ve just been compiling [...]
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Despite the risk of receiving absolutely no comments (please don’t let me down!), I thought I’d try something new and ask for some feedback on the background blurb for a meeting I’ve been working on. The meeting is a symposium on Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation being organized by the Risk Science center next September. [...]
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Friends of the Earth have just released a new report challenging claims that nanotechnology will lead to greener, more energy-efficient technologies, lower-impact technologies. I’ve only had the chance to skim through the report so far, and so don’t have detailed comments on it. But on my initial skim a number of things struck me: The [...]
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Dan Sarewitz has a rather provocative commentary in Nature this morning, where he suggests that proposals to increase basic research may be good politics, but questionable policy. The headline alone is probably enough to get some science-advocates’ blood boiling, whether they go on to read the piece or not: “Double trouble? To throw cash at [...]
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Just thought I’d circulate this on the 2020 Science network – please feel free to pass on the information to anyone who might be interested. We have finally started the process of looking for two junior faculty to join the Risk Science Center at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. This is an [...]
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Back in the mists of time, I was approached with a crazy proposition – would I help co-edit a book on nanotechnologies regulation! In a moment of weakness I said yes, and a little more than two and a half years later, the book is finally about to hit the shelves. I actually think the [...]
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This image from the first US National Science and Engineering Festival attracted my attention this morning: It’s a wordle constructed from responses to the question “What will be the greatest discoveries and advancements science and engineering will bring us in the 21st century?” What grabbed my attention was the prominence of nanotechnology in the mix [...]
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Last week while at the NISE Net network-wide meeting, I was fortunate enough to see a preview of part of NOVA’s forthcoming series Making Stuff. The series focuses on the wonders of modern materials science. But rather than coming away enthralled by the ingenuity of scientists, I found myself breaking out in a cold sweat [...]
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Complete the following: Setting: A well known and sometimes off-beat technology commentator explores new breakthroughs on a popular TV science and tech show. Story: Spiders’ silk is incredibly strong, but in short supply (ever tried harvesting silk from a spider?). So why not take the gene responsible for making spider silk, and splice it into [...]
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The immediate lessons from the Deepwater Horizon disaster are pretty obvious – we (or at least somebody) messed up! But what about the less-obvious lessons – especially those concerning technology innovation and how it’s handled? The Fall 2010 issue of Findings – the University of Michigan School of Public Health Alumni magazine – contains a [...]
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A weekly reflection on life in academia Today was my first Poster Day at the School of Public Health. For those readers not intimately attuned to the School’s calendar (i.e. most of you), it’s a chance for second year Masters students to present and talk about their Summer field experiences (something all students are required [...]
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New technologies depend on uncommon materials, and society depends on new technologies. Which means that economies that develop the former and control the latter have something of an upper hand in today’s interconnected and technology-dependent world. This has clearly not escaped the notice of the Chinese. China, which controls around 90% of the world’s rare [...]
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Back in August, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences published a collection of essays under the editorship of Donald Kennedy and Geneva Overholster on the (seemingly) increasingly strained relationship between science and the media. I was too embroiled in the move to Michigan at the time to pay it much attention, but a news [...]
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Now that I’ve had some time to get to grips with my new position as Director of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center, I thought it was high time I started letting people know something about where the Center will be heading over the next few years. Cross-posted on the Risk Science Center’s home [...]
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Sometime in the past couple of weeks – I’m not entirely sure when as accounts are conflicting – the World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC) posted a draft of a new report examining the long-term impacts and research directions of nanotechnology. The “Nano2″ study was supported by the National Science Foundation under the direction of Mike [...]
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A guest blog by John Dorr, Vice President of Business Development Nanocomp Technologies Inc. Despite all the fuss over nanotechnology, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a clear sense of how the technology is contributing to new products. So when the company Nanocomp Technologies Inc. approached me with an idea of writing a guest blog about [...]
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The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology – PCAST – has just released a new report on US K-12 education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (the STEM subjects). The report provides, in the words of the President’s Science Advisor John Holdren, “a strategy for improving K-12 STEM education that responds to the [...]
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You’ve heard the rumors and read the hype – but what really goes on at the Singularity University, based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley? Nature’s Nicola Jones recently went along to take a look, and her report has just been posted – it’s well worth reading. The Singularity University was co-founded in [...]
