Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Author: William S. Bainbridge
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-12-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9789048157686

A revolution is occurring in science and technology, based on the recently developed ability to measure, manipulate and organize matter on the nanoscale - 1 to 100 billionths of a meter. At the nanoscale, physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering converge toward the same principles and tools. As a result, progress in nanoscience will have very far-reaching impact. The nanoscale is not just another step toward miniaturization, but a qualitatively new scale. The new behavior is dominated by quantum mechanics, material confinement in small structures, large interfacial volume fraction, and other unique properties, phenomena and processes. Many current theories of matter at the microscale have critical lengths of nanometer dimensions. These theories will be inadequate to describe the new phenomena at the nanoscale. As knowledge in nanoscience increases worldwide, there will likely be fundamental scientific advances. In tum, this will lead to dramatic changes in the ways materials, devices, and systems are understood and created. Innovative nanoscale properties and functions will be achieved through the control of matter at its building blocks: atom-by-atom, molecule-by molecule, and nanostructure-by-nanostructure. Nanotechnology will include the integration of these nanoscale structures into larger material components, systems, and architectures. However, within these larger scale systems the control and construction will remain at the nanoscale.

Nanotechnology: Societal Implications

Nanotechnology: Societal Implications
Author: William S. Bainbridge
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2007-07-03
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1402054327

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise great technical breakthroughs in the coming decades. In this book, leading scientists, engineers, and social scientists review the possible uses of these impending technical developments in various industrial, medical, and national security applications. They also examine the corresponding ethical, legal, social, economic, and educational issues that these developments raise.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology
Author: Ahmed S. Khan
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2012-05-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1439859531

Advances in nanotechnology are transforming the ways of creating materials and products, leading society to the threshold of a second industrial revolution. However, future opportunities will depend significantly on how nanotechnology stakeholders deal with the short-term and long-term benefits, limitations, uncertainties and risks of nanotechnology. They will be tasked with navigating a variety of new social and ethical challenges associated with areas such as privacy, the environment, energy, population, genetics, agriculture, food, and security. Unique in its depth, breadth, and variety of viewpoints, Nanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications stimulates, inspires, and builds awareness of nanotechnology’s impact on society. Spanning the immense range of disciplines at work in nanotechnology, the book’s selection of chapters focuses on how advances in science, and the convergence of multiple technologies, will impact society at individual, community, national, and international levels. The book focuses on raising the awareness of nanotechnology stakeholders, which includes undergraduate and graduate students; educators in sciences, engineering, business, and public policy; engineers; business and finance professionals; and policymakers. It also addresses the demands on the future workforce to learn new skill sets. The book uses an interactive format—which includes case studies, scenarios, and Web exercises—to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills. Content includes numerous tables, statistics, and figures to supplement and enhance the topics covered in each chapter. The result is a must-read for anyone seeking either a technical or nontechnical understanding of the societal impact of nanotechnology.

Nanoethics

Nanoethics
Author: Fritz Allhoff
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2007-08-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0470084170

Nanotechnology will eventually impact every area of our world Nanoethics seeks to examine the potential risks and rewards of applications of nanotechnology. This up-to-date anthology gives the reader an introduction to and basic foundation in nanotechnology and nanoethics, and then delves into near-, mid-, and far-term issues. Comprehensive and authoritative, it: Goes beyond the usual environmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns to explore such topics as privacy, nanomedicine, human enhancement, global regulation, military, humanitarianism, education, artificial intelligence, space exploration, life extension, and more Features contributions from forty preeminent experts from academia and industry worldwide, reflecting diverse perspectives Includes seminal works that influence nanoethics today Encourages an informed, proactive approach to nanoethics and advocates addressing new and emerging controversies before they impede progress or impact our welfare This resource is designed to promote further investigations and a broad and balanced dialogue in nanoethics, dealing with critical issues that will affect the industry as well as society. While this will be a definitive reference for students, scientists in academia and industry, policymakers, and regulators, it's also a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand the challenges, principles, and potential of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology Challenges

Nanotechnology Challenges
Author: Joachim Schummer
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 478
Release: 2006
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9812567291

This book introduces the latest methods for the controlled growth of nanomaterial systems. The coverage includes simple and complex nanomaterial systems, ordered nanostructures and complex nanostructure arrays, and the essential conditions for the controlled growth of nanostructures with different morphologies, sizes, compositions, and microstructures. The book also discusses the dynamics of controlled growth and thermodynamic characteristics of two-dimensional nanorestricted systems. The authors introduce various novel synthesis methods for nanomaterials and nanostructures, such as hierarchical growth, heterostructures growth, doping growth and some developing template synthesis methods. In addition to discussing applications, the book reviews developing trends in nanomaterials and nanostructures.

Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society

Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society
Author: David H. Guston
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-07-14
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781412969871

Labeled either as the "next industrial revolution" or as just "hype," nanoscience and nanotechnologies are controversial, touted by some as the likely engines of spectacular transformation of human societies and even human bodies, and by others as conceptually flawed. These challenges make an encyclopedia of nanoscience and society an absolute necessity. Providing a guide to what these understandings and challenges are about, the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society offers accessible descriptions of some of the key technical achievements of nanoscience along with its history and prospects. Rather than a technical primer, this encyclopedia instead focuses on the efforts of governments around the world to fund nanoscience research and to tap its potential for economic development as well as to assess how best to regulate a new technology for the environmental, occupational, and consumer health and safety issues related to the field. Contributions examine and analyze the cultural significance of nanoscience and nanotechnologies and describe some of the organizations, and their products, that promise to make nanotechnologies a critical part of the global economy. Written by noted scholars and practitioners from around the globe, these two volumes offer nearly 500 entries describing the societal aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Key Themes - Art, Design, and Materials - Bionanotechnology Centers - Context - Economics and Business - Engagement and the Public - Environment and Risk - Ethics and Values - Geographies and Distribution - History and Philosophy - Integration and Interdisciplinarity - Nanotechnology Companies - Nanotechnology Organizations

Introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Introduction to Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Author: Gabor L. Hornyak
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 1791
Release: 2008-12-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1439889953

The maturation of nanotechnology has revealed it to be a unique and distinct discipline rather than a specialization within a larger field. Its textbook cannot afford to be a chemistry, physics, or engineering text focused on nano. It must be an integrated, multidisciplinary, and specifically nano textbook. The archetype of the modern nano textbook

Assessing the Societal Implications of Emerging Technologies

Assessing the Societal Implications of Emerging Technologies
Author: Evan S. Michelson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2016-05-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317302222

A growing problem of interest in the field of science and technology policy is that the next generation of innovations is arriving at an accelerating rate, and the governance system is struggling to catch up. Current approaches and institutions for effective technology assessment are ill suited and poorly designed to proactively address the multidimensional, interconnected societal impacts of science and technology advancements that are already taking place and expected to continue over the course of the 21st century. This book offers tangible insights into the strategies deployed by well-known, high-profile organizations involved in anticipating the various societal and policy implications of nanotechnology and synthetic biology. It focuses predominantly on an examination of the practices adopted by the often-cited and uniquely positioned Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies in the United States, as well as being informed by comparisons with a range of institutions also interested in embedding forward-looking perspectives in their respective area of innovation. The book lays out one of the first actionable roadmaps that other interested stakeholders can follow when working toward institutionalizing anticipatory governance practices throughout the policymaking process.

Nanotechnology in a Nutshell

Nanotechnology in a Nutshell
Author: Christian Ngô
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2014-01-04
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9462390126

A new high-level book for professionals from Atlantis Press providing an overview of nanotechnologies now and their applications in a broad variety of fields, including information and communication technologies, environmental sciences and engineering, societal life, and medicine, with provision of customized treatments. The book shows where nanotechnology is now - a fascinating time when the science is transitioning into complex systems with impact on new products. Present and future developments are addressed, as well as a larger number of new industrial and research opportunities deriving from this domain. An overview for professionals, researchers and policy-makers of this very rapidly expanding field. Brief chapters and colour figures with a contained overall length make the book attractive at an attractive price - a must for every professional’s shelf. Mihail C. Roco, National Science Foundation and National Nanotechnology Initiative, wrote the preface underlying the importance and weight of the present book to this exciting and epoch-awakening field of research and applications: “Nanotechnology is well recognized as a science and technology megatrend for the beginning of the 21st century. This book aims to show where nanotechnology is now - transitioning to complex systems and fundamentally new products - and communicates the societal promise of nanotechnology to specialists and the public. Most of what has already made it into the marketplace is in the form of “First Generation” products, passive nanostructures with steady behaviour. Many companies have “Second Generation” products, active nanostructures with changing behaviour during use, and embryonic “Third Generation” products, including 3-dimensional nanosystems. Concepts for “Fourth Generation” products, including heterogeneous molecular nanosystems, are only in research.”

Nanotechnology and Global Sustainability

Nanotechnology and Global Sustainability
Author: Donald Maclurcan
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1439855773

The rise of collaborative consumption, peer-to-peer systems, and not-for-profit social enterprise heralds the emergence of a new era of human collectivity. Increasingly, this consolidation stems from an understanding that big-banner issues—such as climate change—are not the root causes of our present global predicament. There is a growing and collective view that issues such as this are actually symptoms of a much more vicious, seemingly insurmountable condition: our addiction to economic, consumption, and population growth in a world of finite resources. Nanotechnology and Global Sustainability uses nanotechnology—the product of applied scientific knowledge to control and utilize matter at atomic and molecular scales—as a lens through which to explore the interrelationship between innovation, politics, economy, and sustainability. This groundbreaking book addresses how stakeholders can actively reshape agendas to create positive and sustainable futures through this latest controversial, cross-sectoral technology. It moves beyond issues of efficiency, productivity, and utility, exploring the insights of 22 contributors from around the world, whose work spans the disciplines of science and the humanities. Their combined knowledge, reinforced with various case studies, introduces an exciting prospect—how we can innovate without economic growth. This new volume in the Perspectives in Nanotechnology series is edited by Dr. Donald Maclurcan and Dr. Natalia Radywyl. Dr. Maclurcan is a social innovator and Honorary Research Fellow with the Institute for Nanoscale Technology at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Dr. Radywyl is a social researcher and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Faculty of Life and Social Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. This book is written for a wide audience and will be of particular interest to activists, scholars, policy makers, scientists, business professionals, and others who seek an understanding of how we might justly transition to sustainable societies.