Nano-Publics

Nano-Publics PDF

Author: Pat J. Gehrke

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-30

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 3319696114

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This book discusses the results and implications of a two-year public engagement program on nanotechnology. Led by eleven diverse civic groups across the United States, the program events covered a wide range of applications and sparked robust discussions concerning risk and regulation. Through computer-assisted qualitative data analysis, video recordings of the events were coded for expressed levels of knowledge, positive and negative audience responses, perceptions of risk, views on regulation, and speakers’ communication behaviors. These results add richness, nuance, and complexity to our perception of the public's understanding of nanotechnology, its support for regulation, and effective practices of science communication in the context of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies. Nano-Publics also offers further guidance for public engagement research, the regulation of emerging technologies, and potential science communication campaigns.

Nanotechnology and the Public

Nanotechnology and the Public PDF

Author: Susanna Hornig Priest

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-12-19

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1351833766

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From nuclear power to gene therapy to the automobile, history shows that it is useful to encourage and facilitate public discussion about new technologies and their potential dangers. Part of the series Perspectives in Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology and the Public: Risk Perception and Risk Communication assesses results from focus groups, interviews, and other resources to provide a more nuanced understanding of how non-experts perceive nanotechnology and what they expect from it. Includes a series of special essays by social scientists and humanities scholars who have studied nanotechnology and society from different perspectives Assessing how "ordinary" people form opinions about new technologies and their adoption, this book addresses the role of media messages and pre-existing values in this process, as well as how risks can become either amplified or weakened along the way as a result of social mechanisms. Using solid theory and research to back presented concepts on risk perception and communication, the author discusses the potential for using informed consent, labels, and other types of consumer warnings that have proved to be effective in areas other than nano. An in-depth investigation into the concept of mass communication practices, this book explores the paradox of why, despite its appeal and promise, public engagement has had only limited success in the dialogue on nanotechnology. Aimed at finding solutions, the book’s resulting conclusions are considered in the context of broader issues. These include how society makes up its collective mind about technology adoption and all the profound questions this raises, in terms of democratic theory.

Nano-Hype

Nano-Hype PDF

Author: David M. Berube

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2009-12-04

Total Pages: 521

ISBN-13: 1615922369

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Nanotechnology, the science of molecular engineering at the atomic scale, has captured the popular imagination. From movies to TV series to video games, utopian fantasies and horror scenarios involving nanotechnology have become a staple of the entertainment industry. The hyperbole surrounding this new technology comes not only from the media but also from scientists who exaggerate the anticipated benefits of nanotechnology to justify research funding, as well as from environmentalists and globalization opponents, who sometimes indulge in doom-and-gloom prophecies to advance their own agendas. The result is widespread misinformation and an uninformed public.In an effort to set the record straight, professor of communication studies David M. Berube has written this thoroughly researched, accessible overview of nanotechnology in contemporary culture. He evaluates the claims and counterclaims about nanotechnology by a broad range of interested parties including government officials and bureaucrats, industry leaders and entrepreneurs, scientists, journalists, and other persons in the media. Berube appraises programs and grand initiatives here and abroad, and he examines the environmental concerns raised by opponents, as well as the government and private responses to these concerns. With so much argumentation on both sides, it is difficult for anyone to determine what is true. Nano-Hype provides up-to-date, objective information to inform the public.Based on over a decade of research and interviews with many of the movers and shakers in nanotechnology, this critical study will help the reader separate the realistic prospects from the hype surrounding this important cutting-edge technology.

Nano Meets Macro

Nano Meets Macro PDF

Author: Kamilla Kjolberg

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2019-10-10

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 0429533756

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This book explores the enormous diversity in social perspectives on the emergence of nanoscale sciences and technologies. It points to four nodes of interest where nano meets macro: in the making, in the public eye, in the big questions, and in the tough decisions. Each node draws attention to important lines of research and pertinent issues. The book is designed for interdisciplinary teaching, but the richness of issues and perspectives makes it of interest to all researchers, practitioners, and non-academics wanting an introduction to social perspectives on nanoscale sciences and technologies.

Ethics in Nanotechnology

Ethics in Nanotechnology PDF

Author: Marcel Van de Voorde

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 3110719991

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With nanotechnology being a relatively new field, the questions regarding safety and ethics are steadily increasing with the development of the research. This book aims to give an overview on the ethics associated with employing nanoscience for products with everyday applications. The risks as well as the regulations are discussed, and an outlook for the future of nanoscience on a manufacturer’s scale and for the society is provided. Ethics in nanotechnology is a valuable resource for, philosophers, academicians and scientist, as well as all other industry professionals and researchers who interact with emerging social and philosophical ethical issues on routine bases. It is especially for deep learners who are enthusiastic to apprehend the challenges related to nanotechnology and ethics in philosophical and social education. This book presents an overview of new and emerging nanotechnologies and their societal and ethical implications. It is meant for students, academics, scientists, engineers, policy makers, ethicist, philosophers and all stakeholders involved in the development and use of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology PDF

Author: Geoffrey Hunt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-06-17

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1136560718

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Nanotechnology - technology at the molecular level - is held out by many as the Holy Grail for creating a trillion dollar economy and solving problems from curing cancer to reprocessing waste into products and building superfast computers. Yet, as with GMOs, many view nanotech as a high risk genie in a bottle that once uncorked has the potential to cause unpredictable, perhaps irreversible, environmental and public health disasters. With the race to bring products to market, there is pressing need to take stock of the situation and to have a full public debate about this new technological frontier. Including contributions by renowned figures such as Roland Clift, K. Eric Drexler and Arpad Pusztai, this is the first global overview of the state of nanotech and society in Europe, the USA, Japan and Canada, examining the ethics, the environmental and public health risks, and the governance and regulation of this most promising, and potentially most dangerous, of all technologies.

The Ethics of Nanotechnology, Geoengineering, and Clean Energy

The Ethics of Nanotechnology, Geoengineering, and Clean Energy PDF

Author: Andrew Maynard

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-07-26

Total Pages: 622

ISBN-13: 1000152022

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Nanotechnology, clean technology, and geoengineering span the scale of human ingenuity, from the imperceptibly small to the unimaginably large. Yet they are united by a commonality of ethics that permeates how and why they are developed, and how the resulting consequences are managed. The articles in this volume provide a comprehensive account of current thinking around the ethics of development and use within each of the technological domains, and addresses challenges and opportunities that cut across all three. In particular, the collection provides unique insights into the ethics of ’noumenal’ technologies - technologies that are impossible to see or detect or conceive of with human senses or conventional tools. This collection will be of relevance to anyone who is actively involved with ensuring the responsible and sustainable development of nanotechnology, geoengineering or clean technology.

Nanomaterials: Ecotoxicity, Safety, and Public Perception

Nanomaterials: Ecotoxicity, Safety, and Public Perception PDF

Author: Mahendra Rai

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-01-04

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 3030051447

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The environment is prone to suffer pollution and toxic insult from generations of nanomaterials as well from accidental releases during production, transportation, and disposal operations. The NMs could interact with and cause adverse biological effects at cellular, subcellular, and molecular levels. Assessing potential environmental/ecological risks requires quality information on transport and fate of nanoparticles in the environment, exposures and vulnerabilities of organisms to the nanomaterials and standard methods for assessing toxicity for aquatic or terrestrial organisms and human health. The systematic risk characterization and evaluation of the safety of nanomaterials require a multidisciplinary approach and convergence of knowledge and efforts from researchers and experts from toxicology, biotechnology, materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and other branches of life sciences. Although studies are beginning to appear in the literature addressing the toxicity of various nanomaterials and their potential for exposure, at this stage definitive statements regarding the impacts of nanomaterials on human health and the environment remain sketchy requiring an increased level of precautions with regard to nanomaterials, as has happened with other emerging contaminants and technologies (e.g., biotechnology). The need for an increased level of understanding the perception of risk and of benefits will vary and is likely to influence public, regulatory, and non-governmental activities regarding risk and benefit evaluations. Systematic identification and assessment of the risks posed by any new technology are essential. A prudent, integrated, and holistic approach is required to develop best practices based on the scientific understanding about what we know and what we don’t know but need to know. Nanomaterials addresses key issues of ecotoxicological actions and effects of nanomaterials on life and environment, their threats, vulnerability, risks, and public perception. The readers learn to read bad news objectively and think about and search for ecological ‘green’ solutions to current environmental and ecological problems with blue, grey, brown, and red shades for building a sustainable ecosystem. It shows how this molecular terrain is a common ground for interdisciplinary research and education that will be an essential component of science, engineering and technology in the future. The book is divided into three sections. Section I includes general topics related to ecotoxicity of nanomaterials to microbes, plants, human and environment. Section 2 incorporates risks generated by the use of nanomaterials. Section 3 discusss safety issues and the public.

Organic Public Engagement

Organic Public Engagement PDF

Author: Adam S. Lerner

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-03

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 3319643975

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This book advances organic public engagement methods based on ecological thinking. The authors draw on rich multi-disciplinary literature in ecological thinking as well as research from public engagement with science events held over the past several years across the United States. Through this combination of ecology theory and case studies, this book provides both the conceptual foundations and the proven practical applications of public engagement grounded in ecological thinking. It offers engagement scholars an effective and efficient means of carrying out their missions, while simultaneously building a more ecologically valid method for studying actually existing publics.