Project Press Releases
- October 5, 2006pdfNanotechnology: Sold in a Store Near You!Looking for the future? Skip the Kennedy Space Center, Bell Labs, and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Search instead for nanotechnology consumer products sold on the Internet and everywhere from Sharper Image, Brooks Brothers and L.L. Bean stores, to Bloomingdale’s, Circuit City and local Mercedes-Benz dealerships.
- October 5, 2006pdfFDA is NOT Nanotech Ready: Former Official Says FDA Lacks Resources & Faces Legal GapsA new report released today, Regulating the Products of Nanotechnology: Does FDA Have the Tools It Needs? by Michael Taylor, a former Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), examines the agency’s capacity to properly regulate new products containing nanotechnology materials—including food, drugs, medical devices, dietary supplements and cosmetics. Taylor’s report comes days before FDA’s first major public meeting on nanotechnology oversight, scheduled for October 10, 2006.
- September 21, 2006pdfNanotechnology Development Suffers from Lack of Risk Research Plan, Inadequate Funding & LeadershipThe successful development of nanotechnology—with its potential to help provide new medical treatments, sustainable energy, and 21st century jobs—is being jeopardized by the lack of a clear federal strategy for examining possible environmental, health and safety risks and by inadequate funding for this work.
- September 19, 2006pdfPublic Awareness of Nanotechnology Grows, but Majority UnawareResearch findings released today from the first major national poll on nanotechnology in more than two years indicate that while more Americans are now aware of the emerging science, the majority of the public still has heard little to nothing about it. The poll also finds that the public looks to the federal government and independent parties to oversee nanotechnology research and development. These results, according to experts, necessitate increased education and stronger oversight as a means to increase public confidence in nanotechnology.
- September 7, 2006pdfNew Report on Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food Looks at Potential Applications, Benefits, and RisksThanks to nanotechnology, tomorrow’s food will be designed by shaping molecules and atoms. Food will be wrapped in “smart” safety packaging that can detect spoilage or harmful contaminants. Future products will enhance and adjust their color, flavor, or nutrient content to accommodate each consumer’s taste or health needs. And in agriculture, nanotechnology promises to reduce pesticide use, improve plant and animal breeding, and create new nano-bioindustrial products.
- September 6, 2006pdfNanotechnology Can Be Child's PlayMost educators promote “hands-on” science learning—instead of traditional rote memorization—as the best way to teach and excite youngsters about science. Drawing on the world around them, children handle and manipulate the objects they study—plants, rocks, insects, water, magnetic fields. And students learn by using scientific instruments, measurement and observation devices like rulers, microscopes, telescopes, test tubes, and cameras.
- July 19, 2006pdfNanotechnology Report Calls for New Government Risk Research Strategy & FundingA new report by Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, calls for major changes in the U.S. government’s current handling of nanotechnology risk research. His study, Nanotechnology: A Research Strategy for Addressing Risk, proposes for the first time a new comprehensive framework for systematically exploring nanotechnology’s possible risks.
- July 17, 2006pdfIntel Statement on Maynard's A Research Strategy for Addressing RiskThe Intel Corporation congratulates the Woodrow Wilson Center on the publication of their new report, “Nanotechnology: A Research Strategy for Addressing Risk.” Intel is a leader in the field of nano-electronics and has long been a leader in environmental health and safety (EHS).
- May 10, 2006pdfGreen Nanotechnology Policy: Opportunities & ChoicesNanoengineered materials are a rapidly growing segment of the international marketplace of consumer products and manufacturing. Titania nanosize particles are in sunscreens and paint. Carbon nanotube composites are—or soon will be—in automobile tires. Silica nanoparticles are being used as solid lubricants, and nanomaterials are in shampoos, cosmetics and face creams.
- May 4, 2006pdfNanotechnology: Successful Commercialization Depends on Adequate Oversight, Risk Research Strategy, and Public EngagementToday, at hearings convened by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Trade, Tourism and Economic Development, the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies director David Rejeski testified that the country’s “ability to reap the long-term benefits of nanotechnology—in areas from medicine to energy and food production—will depend heavily on how we manage the introduction of the first generation of nanotechnology products.”
