SAFENANO Community

Today I have been working with the OECD Database on research into the safety manufactured nanomaterials.  Let me say firstly this is a very impressive and ambitious attempt to gather together information about all of the relevant nano EHS studies which have been carried out or are currently underway.  Having just gone live, it is perhaps ...

From 2020science.org:The National Research Council of the National Academies releases its review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health, and Safety Research.  And it’s not pretty. Most people acknowledge that innovation is vital to economic and social prosperity.  But ...

From 2020science.org:  First impressions of the ICON EHS Database Analysis Tool What do you do this holiday season when the turkey’s lost its appeal, you’ve seen every movie worth watching ten times over, and conversational déjà-vu sets in?  If you are really desperate, you could play “nano-trivia”—and thanks to the fine folks at ...

$38 million!  The number keeps floating before my eyes; a retinal imprint from the press release.  $38 million for nanotechnology environmental impact research, courtesy of the folks at the U.S. National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency.  $38 million to be spent over the next five years on addressing the ...

The SafeNANO blog is no stranger to the use (and possible abuse) of nanometre-scale silver—products ranging from silver-enhanced socks and toothpaste to plush toys and cure-alls have all appeared in the spotlight recently.  With each passing month, the number of nano-silver gizmos on the market is growing.  Back in March 2006 when the ...

Addressing potential nanotechnology environment, health and safety (EHS) impacts up-front makes good business sense – doesn’t it?  The US-based advisory firm Lux Research certainly thinks so.  The latest document from the organization—“Nanomaterials State of the Market Q3 2008: Stealth Success, Broad Impact”—recommends investors ...

Read Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat” or Neal Stephenson’s “Cryptonomicon”, and you get a glimpse into how the hacker culture that emerged at the tail end of the twentieth century revolutionized the digital world.  Will a confluence of emerging technologies—including information tech, biotech, and nanotech—lead to a similar revolution ...

It seems that significant nanoparticle risk studies are just like London buses, you wait ages for one to arrive and then two come along together.   Last month we had the Poland et al. study concerning the hazardous nature of MWCNT. This highly reported study was the first to explicitly test the hypothesis that long carbon nanotubes behave ...

Why nano?  Why care?  For non-nanotech initiates, an obsession with nanotechnology must sometimes seem a bizarre occupation of the sad and lonely.  And even within the nanotechnology community, who hasn’t had occasional doubts over the legitimacy of singling out “nano” as something special?  Yet occasionally a piece of work ...

''Nanotechnology'' as an overarching concept is great for sweeping statements and sound bites, but falls short when it comes to real-world decision-making.  As nanoscale technologies are increasingly used in everything from antimicrobial socks to anti-cancer drugs, perhaps its time to rethink how we talk about the myriad diverse technologies ...