Thursday, January 29, 2009

Nanophotonics: MIT lecture


Here is an interesting talk from MIT about nanophotonics. Evelyn Hu meticulously describes designing and building a new generation of optical materials from nano-sized elements. She hopes to harness “the magic of light in nanostructures”. More here

**If you enjoyed this post please also check out:

What is nanotechnology?
.
History of Nanotechnology
.
Nanotechnology - risks and benefits

Nanotechnology and Climate Change

COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME !!
.
So please, tell us what you think.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Update on 'Nanotechnology in New South Wales' report

I have been having a read of the 'Nanotechnology in New South Wales' report, in particular, the brief section on 'The Environment' (pages 45-47) and it is interesting to note that:
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3.158 While it had the required regulatory tools DECC advised that they do not have enough information as yet on the likely downstream impacts of nanomaterials that they might encounter (page 46)
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Also:
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"there are a lot of questions to think about before we know how we can apply the tools we have . . . we do need to know what we are dealing with. As yet I do not think we have got that clearly. We need more information" (page 47)
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While it was promising to see that 'the issue of the uncontrolled release of nanomaterials into the environment is their primary concern', what was most interesting was that DECC was "not doing any on the ground research" (page 47) but was "keeping abreast" of developments overseas.
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3.159 While the department is not doing any research itself it is keeping abreast of developments.
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The report suggested:
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Recommendation 1
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That the New South Wales Government recommend that nano-versions of existing chemicals are assessed as new chemicals, during the review of the national regulatory frameworks.
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See also:
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Nanotechnology in New South Wales
.

**If you enjoyed this post please also check out:

What is nanotechnology?
.
History of Nanotechnology
.
Nanotechnology - risks and benefits

Nanotechnology and Climate Change

COMMENTS ALWAYS WELCOME !!
.
So please, tell us what you think.