Nanotechnology is rapidly progressing in the research arena and slowly taking hold of our lives in various areas: Food Science, Medicine (drug discovery/delivery, disease prevention/treatment), Chemicals in Consumer Products, and Environmental Science/Policy issues. Furthermore, a growing number of products sold on the market today utilize the benefits of this technology without the equivalent amount of regulation of the unknown properties of the ingredients that make them up.
To Better understand how nanotechnology will affect our lives and National Policy decisions, we need to better understand what are the exact issues that need to be taken into consideration. Below are links to various topics that will provide a better introduction into the field of Nanotechnology and the emerging presence of nanotechnology ("nanofoods", "nanoparticles", "nanofilaments," "nanofilms", etc.) into our current consumer products environment as a whole.
Introduction to Nanotechnolgy:
1) An introduction of the emerging field of nanotechnology is here written by Mike.
2) Here is a simple, interactive, and fun website that is about Nanotechnology for all ages that is produced by the University of California called "Nanozone."
3) To celebrate the current Tour de France and preceeding Rêve tour, a post detailing the science behind carbon fiber in bicycle components has been written by Kayla. Check it out!
4) How will Nanotechnology change our world? Here is a series of television discussion forums titled "Power of the Small" that looks at three main categories of impact: Privacy, Health, and Environment. This is definitely worth viewing to initiate discussion as to what are relevant issues to start to consider about Nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology in the News (selected topics from an exponentially growing source):
1) The theme for National Chemistry Week 2012 was nanoscience as it applies to the environment, energy, materials and health. Nanotechnology: the smallest BIG idea in science! We joined San Diego's ChemExpo — Saturday, October 27, 11:00am-3:00pm at Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. It's hands-on science and it's FREE. A video summary was kindly produced by Benjamin Alden, Assistant Director of SM & MM Web Content, Department of Public Affairs for Claremont McKenna College.
2) A recent article in Nature Nanotechnology (Vol 6, Nov 2011, p 683) titled "The communication challenges presented by nanofoods" will be reviewed and discussed soon.