8/22/2011 2:35:00 PM

Medgadget: Safeguarding the Promise of Nanotechnology

Medgadget

Amid global competition, collaboration lifts everyone’s boat. At least in certain areas where the stakes are high, risks are unknown, and social responsibility is in the public spotlight. This is certainly the case of emerging technologies, and the bleeding edge is where nanotechnology lives today. Heralded as “leading to the next Industrial Revolution”, nanotechnology represents a collection of capabilities, processes and techniques aimed at the manipulation and engineering of matter at an atomic level. While exploiting new properties that emerge at the nanoscale for a variety of applications in medicine, electronics, energy, and just about every other industry, shared concern regarding the health and safety implications of engineered nanomaterials – and the processes and products that incorporate them – have ignited lively debates and calls for robust research efforts amongst a heterogeneous community of stakeholders.  Full article