Nanowerk brings to our attention a new report Democratic technologies? The final report of the Nanotechnology Engagement Group (pdf) which examines the success or otherwise of various attempts at public engagement in nanotech. The foreword by Prof. Richard Jones ends: This report summarises the experiences of public engagement on nanotechnologies that have taken place over [...]

US Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose), who has played a key role in previous US nanotechnology legislation and won the 2005 Foresight Institute Government Prize, has introduced a wide-ranging new nanotech bill, described by Nanowerk. In addition to addressing risks: The NANO ACT includes a number of provisions to create partnerships, raise awareness, and implement [...]

The new book Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology is now out. From the press release: Examining the impact of nanotechnology on society, “Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology”…offers incisive essays on the potential risks and rewards of applications of nanotechnology written by both proponents and critics of this burgeoning technology. [...]

Most of us are somewhat-to-very concerned about climate change — how can nanotechnology help? Nanowerk brings our attention to a UK report (pdf) looking at how relatively conservative nanotech advances could make a contribution: The study concludes that nanotechnology is likely to have a significant positive effect on the UK’s green house gas emissions: “From [...]

In the postal mail today was the paper copy of a 6-7 July 2006 conference report: “The Risk Governance of Nanotechnology: Recommendations for Managing a Global Issue” (link to PDF) held at the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue last summer. This well-run and highly international meeting is the highest profile meeting to include consideration [...]

The University of South Carolina has released a survey of nanotechnology researchers’ views on various nanotech issues. For example, most agreed that: Nanotechnology will draw more students into science, engineering and math than would otherwise have chosen to study in these fields. I think this is already true — after all, students have been reading [...]

Just received from Steffen Foss Hansen is a paper by his colleague Evan Michelson at the Wilson Center on the tough issue of “Nanotechnology Policy: An Analysis of Transnational Governance Issues Facing the United States and China.” An excerpt: Due to the rapid pace of R&D, discoveries in nanotechnology could come in great, discontinuous leaps [...]

The nanotechnology project over at The Wilson Center sent Steffen Foss Hansen, a PhD candidate visiting from his university in Denmark, here to Foresight to interview me for a policy project they are doing on nanotech regulation. Normally these kinds of things don’t seem very useful, but I have to make an exception for this [...]

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 [...]

Engineering News tells of a study by Frost & Sullivan on how nanotechnology can make a difference in addressing the issue of climate change: The report looked at five areas where nanotechnology could be helpful, which included the areas of fuel additives, solar cells, the hydrogen economy, batteries and supercapacitors, and insulation. In terms of [...]

Since it was the potential environmental benefits of nanotechnology that first drew me (and many others) to an interest in the field, it’s good to see some official notice of that aspect. From Cordis via Nanowerk News: Much has been said about the potential of nanotechnologies to revolutionise the way we live, with the biggest [...]

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, [...]

The ever-busy folks at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies send word of yet another of their subprojects: a nanotechnology map or “NanoMetro mashup”. Alex Parlini writes: As of this afternoon, I’ve posted a google maps mashup that shows all publicly declared companies, organizations etc working with nanotechnology. To my knowledge, nobody has done [...]

Nanowerk reports on a new nanotechnology ethics database at IIT: NanoEthicsBank. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is their experiment with participatory tagging: In conjunction with the fixed subject terms used in the NanoEthicsBank, we are also developing an experimental “folksonomy” tagging system for the database. A folksonomy is a user-generated taxonomy that uses open-ended labels [...]

Foresight, Battelle, and Working Group members have been working away on our Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems since late 2005. Now the Society of Manufacturing Engineers is pitching in on co-sponsoring the launch conference. Below is the press release; we hope to see you at the conference! —Christine Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems to be [...]

If helping the environment is one of your top goals for nanotechnology — as it is for us here at Foresight — you may want to check out this Thursday’s nanotech webcast from the busy folks at the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Wilson Center. They’re releasing a new report titled “Green Nanotechnology: It’s [...]

The folks over at the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies have been busy, as summarized on their NanoFrontiers page. First we have a report (2 MB pdf) from their NanoFrontiers Workshop, written up by Karen Schmidt. A couple of excerpts: It seems that the sky is the limit on what might one day be [...]

Here on Nanodot we mentioned earlier a nanotechnology survey article titled Synthetic Molecular Motors and Mechanical Machines by Euan Kay, David Leigh, and Francesco Zerbetto. I have a paper copy now and have to admit that it is indeed worth $25, but that the 24-hour online access offered by the publisher at that price would [...]

Nanowerk brings our attention to a new report by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress titled Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think (pdf), apparently authored by Senior Economist Joseph V. Kennedy and sponsored by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ). On molecular nanosystems: At this stage a single product will integrate a [...]

Small Times reports that nanotechnology medical applications are expected to climb immensely: U.S. demand for nanotechnology medical products will increase over 17 percent per year to $53 billion in 2011, says The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry research firm. Afterwards, the increasing flow of new nanomedicines, nanodiagnostics, and nanotech-based medical supplies and devices into [...]