Nanotechnology: Do You Know What It Is? Do You Care?

August 24, 2009

No. Nanotechnology is not what makes iPod's Nano possible. If only it were that simple. But it really begs the question, Do you know what nanotech is? And for those of you who have a pretty good idea, Do you care?

The reason I ask is that lately I've been noticing a flutter of announcements, commentaries, and news pieces about whether nanotechnology is safe or not. For example, last fall, Andrew Maynard, chief scientist at Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, testified before the U.S. Congress’s House Science Committee, saying that the government is not doing enough to ensure the safety of these materials.

Nano in Your Flintstones?

January 15, 2009

You may not know this, but nanotechnology is making its way into your vitamins and supplements and the FDA may not be able to effectively regulate it. A new report from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnology states that "The ability of the FDA to regulate the safety of dietary supplements using nanomaterials is severely limited by lack of information, lack of resources and the agency’s lack of statutory authority in certain critical areas."

Currently there are about 40 dietary supplements on the market that claim to use nanoscale ingredients, such as calcium, magnesium and silver. You can search PEN's inventory of nanotechnology-based consumer products on the word supplement and see what those products are.

The report, called "A Hard Pill To Swallow: Barriers to Effective FDA Regulation of Nanotechnology-Based Dietary Supplements," offers the following:

• comprehensive history of FDA’s evolving role with dietary supplements
• highlights key changes in laws, legislation and resources that have significantly affected the agency’s ability to provide oversight of the burgeoning supplements market
• provides recommendations to Congress and the FDA for what steps should be taken

The report is free and written in language that is easily digested (perhaps unlike some nanotechnology-laced supplements!)

Hello From Madison, WI

September 14, 2008

For the first part of this week, I'm in Madison, WI (right), attending a nanotech conference specially designed for reporters. The conference, "Nano Meets Bio: The Risks and Rewards," is off to good start. I wasn't sure what to expect really. I've been to a lot of conferences in my day and they can sometimes be too sciency (read: booooring!) But the first talk, by Wendy Crone, associate professor in the dept of engineering, was anything but.

Crone spent her time getting us all familiar with the concept of nanotechnology. We humans are pretty dense about stuff we can't see. Out of sight, out of mind, don't cha know. So she had us do a little activity to put nanotech into perspective. She gave us all strips of paper about the length of a pencil and safety scissors (there was wine drinking, after all). She asked us to cut that strip in half, then cut that half in another half, then cut that half in half, etc., etc., and to see how far we could get. I could only do it 7 times. Granted I don't have the most delicate lotus-petal-like fingers in the world nor was I using the most advanced cutting technology. But the point became quickly tangible. I couldn't get that far and even though my mere spec of a paper was just that, mere, I would need another 20 snips or so for it to count as nano-sized.

Try it, if you don't believe me.

She made a lot of great points, namely that nano is small, and when things get down that small, they sometimes behave in ways that they don't on a larger scale. It's like the particles are on Las Vegas time or something. They become very volatile or change color or get drunk and blow all of their cab fare on the nickel slots.

Crone also pointed to a great graph (right) that originated in a 2001 report from Merrill Lynch, called "The Next Small Thing: An Introduction to Nanotechnology." It makes the point that, basically, nanotech is an innovation on par with the car and the computer. Today, the technology is new, we don't know too much about it, what it can do, how it will help or hurt us, the possibilities it will open up. In fifty years, it will be everywhere and like the hundreds of computers that surround us, we may not even think twice about its existence.

Photo: Jeff Miller, UW-Madison University Communications

Scientists Ask the Public What They Think

September 05, 2008

There's a tendency for policy makers and scientists to do their studies, draw their conclusions and make their recommendations from way up high in their ivory towers. Meanwhile us peasants are standing around, looking around....wondering what just happened. So I was surprised and delighted to hear about two projects where the public was (and is being) invited to provide their opinions about nanotechnology.

The first I one is the National Citizen's Technology Forum, which involves researchers and citizen-panelists at Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the Colorado School of Mines,  the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to

• Generate informed, deliberative public opinion about how to manage the technology
• Demonstrate that average, non-expert citizens can understand even quite complex issues
  
• Provide information to other concerned citizens about techniques that can enhance the abilities of ordinary citizens to help shape public policy on important issues

The forum head this past March examined four areas of scientific and technological growth: nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technologies, and cognitive science. The results of the workshop are on the Web site.

The other publication participation forum I read about is happening next week in Maryland. On September 8, the FDA is holding a public meeting to gather comments from people that will help the agency develop guidelines about nanoproducts for the FDA Nanotechnology Task Force Report.

This is amazing. I'm so intrigued that I'll be looking more deeply into this forum and the idea of involving the public in these kinds of policies. Coming soon: a My Take on this very subject. Stay tuned. 

Photo: Roy Rainford

Volunteer NanoSafety Program Takes Nose Dive

September 01, 2008

It's a no-brainer, really. If you ask industry to regulate itself, it won't (unless of course, regulating itself will somehow net it ga-schmillions of dollars). It's like asking a child to punish itself whenever it deems itself naughty. Come on.

So no wonder the Environmental Protection Agency's Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, which asks companies to voluntarily provide information about nanomaterials, has failed.

Just days after the deadline, only 19 businesses had made submissions. (The EPA thought they'd receive 240 submissions -- snort!) And only three firms have agreed to take part in a more in-depth program that could involve MORE testing. (The EPA thought they'd get 15 -- cough!)

In this article, EPA spokesman Dale Kemery says, "In no way was this intended to be criteria for success." Ya think?

The EPA will continue accepting submissions until January 2010.

In the meantime, there is a means by which nanomaterials could be evaluated and regulated. It's called the Toxic Substances Control Act, enacted by Congress in 1976.

The EPA needs to get with the times.

Online Inventory of Nanotech-Based Consumer Products

August 25, 2008

Although nanotech seems like one of those future areas that won't be realized for years, consumer products based on this area of research are already entering the marketplace. You can find nanosized materials in electronics, automotive, medical and cosmetic products. But what are they?

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnology has published the first public, online inventory designed to help answer that question. While not comprehensive, this inventory lists more than 500 nanotechnology-based consumer items for sale. PEN is keeping a running list (and making it available to you) because they don't feel entirely confident that researchers and policymakers understand how nanosized materials may affect the environment or the people that come into contact with the materials (either in the factory or on the store shelf).

The categories are:

• Appliances
• Automotive
• Coatings
• Electronics
• Food and Beverages (REALLY??)
• Goods for Children
• Health and Fitness
• Home and Garden

Take a look to see if any products you have around the house contain nanosized materials.

Photo: Getty Images

Kevlar Now Fights Germs

July 23, 2008

Kevlar fabrics, which are widely used for fire-resistant and bullet-proof clothing, may now protect emergency workers against one more threat: bioterrorism.

Researchers report in the recent issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research that they've found a way to coat Kevlar with a potent substance, acyclic N-Halamine, that can kill infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses and the spores that cause anthrax.

In experiments with the germ-fighting substance, the researchers demonstrated that dangerous microorganisms stuck to uncoated Kevlar coated but did not adhere to coated Kevlar.

The coating is long-lasting, can be reactivated, and does not cause any loss of fabric comfort or strength, they add.

Since emergency workers are typically the first people to the scene of a catastrophe and are usually wearing Kevlar materials anyway, embedding the fabrics with an extra layer of protection is just common sense.

Image: Courtesy of the American Chemical Society

Nanoparticles Harmful to Plants, Too

July 09, 2008

It seems like the world of nanotech is abuzz with lots of talk and heightened awareness of the potential (and unknown) hazards of nanotechnology. Last week, I posted a blog about how quantum dots can penetrate skin through wounds. It's unclear how dangerous nanoparticles may be to humans. But now new research is showing that certain nanoparticles might be harmful to plants, too.

A team from China and UMass-Amherst studied the effect of zinc oxide particles (used commonly in sunscreen lotions, coatings and paints) on seedling roots. Their on-going mission is to try to answer two questions: Can plants uptake and transport nanomaterials? And can metal-based nanomaterials (like zinc oxide) poison plants.

Their research showed that zinc oxide nanoparticles at certain concentrations got through ryegrass root surfaces, damaged root tissues, entered root cells, and inhibited seedling growth. You can see it in the image here. "A" represents a normal, healthy root tip. But "B" and "C" show the root tips in the presences of zinc oxide. The rootcaps are broken, cortical cells are collapsed and the vascular structures have shrunk.

The results were published by the researchers (Baoshan Xing, a professor in the Department of Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, and Daohui Lin from the Department of Environmental Science at Zhejiang University in China) in the June 25, 2008 online edition of Environmental Science & Technology.

The more I ready about how nanoparticles can have an adverse affect on living cells, the more I think that nanotechnology should be limited to products that people do not injest or put on their skin. At least until scientists have a better understanding of the ways in which these particles interact with cells.

Photo: courtesy American Chemical Society

Steel-melting solar mirror, eco-friendly fireworks, freeing oneself from email's grip and more!

July 04, 2008

June 27 / The New York Times
Data Centers Explore Novel Ways to Cut Energy Use
Data centers make the Web possible. Make my job possible. But electricity consumed by microprocessors in those data center is rising by 16 percent per year. That kind of voracious appetite for energy is expensive and not very green. But people at the recent Data Center Energy Summit are brainstorming solutions to curb the beast's energy appetite, including reusing hot water from cooling systems to filling a town's swimming pool.

June 28 / The New York Times
I Freed Myself From E-Mail’s Grip
Gasp! This guy stopped using email. On purpose. His server didn't even go down or anything!

June 29 / Guardian
Calls for ID Card to Replace Passwords
Passwords be damned! Finally, an industry group known as the Information Card Foundation is advocating that we replace our passwords with an electronic ID card. Advantages: security and signing in just once.

June 30 / Guardian
Welcome to the Particle Menagerie
Up, down, top, bottom, charm, strange, axions, sleptons and quarks. How do physicists dream up such whimsical names for the fundamental particles they discover? Simon Singh explains

June 30 /  Guardian
The Brains Behind the Operation
Cern scientists have invented a new way to network computers, and it could be the next leap forward in computing.

June 30 / Discovery News
Meet the Steel-Melting Solar Mirror
Enterprising kids know you can melt crayons by focusing light on them with a magnifying glass. MIT students are now vaporizing wood, and can theoretically melt steel, by focusing sunlight with mirrors.

July 1 / Popular Science
Powering Cars With Toxic Waste
Scientists invent a uranium-eating molecule that could help turn nuclear junk into fuel.

July 1 / Technology Trends
Toward Eco-Friendly Fireworks
Researchers are developing new pyrotechnic formulas that burn cleaner and produce less smoke.

July 1 / Scientific American
Farming Solar Energy in Space
Japanese scientists are working on the hardware needed to realize orbital generators as a form of clean, renewable energy, with plans to complete a prototype in about 20 years.

July 1 / The New York Times
Google’s Ethos, Applied to Dining
Crowdsourcing sommeliers and open source recipes. Let's eat.

July 1 / Guardian
Hybrid Embryos: U.K. Team Plans Stem Cell First
British scientists got the okay from their gov to create the world's first human stem cells from embryos that are part human and part animal.

July 2 / Nature
How to Weave an Invisible Rug
You've heard of an invisibility cloak. Researchers calculate that a carpet, not a cloak, would be the most realistic kind of cloaking device. It would produce a controlled mirage.

July 2 / The New York Times
Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecom Immunity
Senator Barack Obama’s Web site has netted him lots-o cash. Now it's netted him lots-o backlash. When followers heard he supported legislation granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, they protested electronically.

July 3 / Wired
Laugh at High Gas Prices With a 282-MPG VW
Fuel efficiency seems like oxymoron. But now Volkswagen is upping the ante with a new bullet-shaped car that gets triple-digit mpg. Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha.

July 3 / Scientific American
Who Will Die?: Computer Predicts Which Death Row Inmates Will Be It
Sounds like a gruesome game that no one would want to play. But the predictions could actually lead to a fairer appeals process.

July 3 / The New York Times
See Spot Run. Now Find Out Where He Went.
Track everyone, everything with GPS, for under $130.

July 3 / Guardian
Environment: Climate Risk From Flat-Screen TV
The rising demand for flat-screen televisions could have a greater impact on global warming than the world's largest coal-fired power stations, a leading environmental scientist warned yesterday.

July 3 / IEEE Spectrum Online
Crimeware Pays
Adware, phishing, and spam are a strange -- and big -- business.

July 3 / IEEE Spectrum Online
Iraq Electricity, By the Numbers
The scorching truth about electricity use and need in Iraq.

Qdots Get Under Your Skin

July 03, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a "My Take" on Discovery Tech written by Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnology. His point was that the United States spend about half that of Europe to assess potential risks in the field of nanotech.

Today I read a notice from North Carolina State University saying that researchers have discovered that quantum dots can penetrate skin through wounds or scrapes. Quantum dots are tiny, round semiconductor nanocrystals about 5 or so nanometers in diameter (the average cell is about 1,000 nanometers in diameter). Qdots are used for lots of different things, but among them, medical imaging. They can be engineered to link to antibodies that attach to specific molecules and they can be designed glow brightly in any desired color.

So, in other words, you could engineer different kinds of qdots (fluorescing in a variety colors) to attach to a cells or proteins and then watch what happens by tracking the glowing lights.

But if qdots can penetrate wounds or scrapes, then the health care worker that is handing the materials could be in jeopardy of getting some under their own skin. The researchers, who report their work in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology say that this potential route of exposure should not be overlooked.

Ever since quantum dots made the scene, no one has been able to say definitively whether these things are safe or not for use in medical applications. It gets back to Maynard's point about how much money the United States government is actually putting toward assessing risk. In short, not much. And that could have serious health implications later, if we're not careful.

Photo: Evident Technologies