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.

Because of their far-reaching consequences, truly transformative technologies always generate controversy. This encyclopedia covers the ethical, legal, policy, social, economic, and business issues raised by nanoscience.

This two-volume set provides a comprehensive overview of modern nanoscience, and encompasses advanced techniques of nanocomposite materials that make their way from the laboratory to the field for the revival of energy and environmental systems in a sustainable manner. It includes the design and the sophisticated fabrication of nanomaterials along with their potential energy and environmental applications, while looking at how nanoscience and nanotechnology can be used to promote environmentally friendly processes and strategies. The books' purpose is to promote eco-friendly methods and techniques by covering many elements of both the synthesis and uses of nanoparticles and nanofluids for energy and environmental engineering. They provide an up-to-date synthesis of nanocomposite materials for modern nanotechnology applications in the fields of environment protection, heterogeneous catalysis, wastewater treatment, fuel cells, electrochemical energy conversion, and storage applications. The set is designed for environmental scientists, nanotechnologists, chemists, engineers, and individuals seeking current research on nanotechnology and its applications in environmental engineering. Graduate students working in these fields will also find it a valuable resource. Volume 2 focuses on toxicological assessment, negative impacts of nanomaterials, green synthesis, energy conversion, and storage applications.

An authoritative examination of the present and potential impact of nanoscale science and technology on modern life Because truly transformative technologies have far-reaching consequences, they always generate controversy. Establishing an effective process for identifying and understanding the broad implications of nanotechnology will advance its acceptance and success, impact the decisions of policymakers and regulatory agencies, and facilitate the development of judicious policy approaches to new technology options. Nanoscale: Issues and Perspectives for the Nano Century addresses the emerging ethical, legal, policy, business, and social issues. A compilation of provocative treatises, this reference: Covers an area of increasing research and funding Organizes topics in four sections: Policy and Perspectives; Nano Law and Regulation; Nanomedicine, Ethics, and the Human Condition; and Nano and Society: The NELSI Imperative Presents differing perspectives, with views from nanotechnology's most ardent supporters as well as its most vocal critics Includes contributions from professionals in a variety of industries and disciplines, including science, law, ethics, business, health and safety, government regulation, and policy This is a core reference for professionals dealing with nanotechnology, including scientists from academia and industry, policy makers, ethicists and social scientists, safety and risk assessment professionals, investors, and others. It is also an excellent text for students in fields that involve nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is a generic platform with potential applications in many sectors. It promises to be a motor of economic growth with inclusive development through innovation related to materials, foods, medicines, and so on. This book identifies the nature and magnitude of the nanotechnology divide between high-income countries and the rest of the world. It also studies the determinants of the evolution and functioning of state policy and technology clusters in developed regions like the USA and the EU in order to identify the strategies that can or cannot be replicated elsewhere. Tracing the trajectories in nanotechnology being carved out by four emerging countries: China, India, Brazil and Mexico, it identifies common as well as country-specific factors that influence the rates of return to public and private investment related to nanotechnology in emerging countries. The book also makes policy recommendations to bridge the nanotechnology divide while promoting economic growth and inclusive development.

From manufacturing to medicine, nanotechnology implies revolutionary change. However, the sweeping changes wrought by a technological advance of this magnitude are likely to come at a price that includes unforeseen environmental impact, disruptions in industry, displacement of workers, and deeply controversial applications of the technology and its offspring. Nanotechnology: Ethics and Society provides a conceptually clear and straightforward ethical framework, in which pragmatic questions can be raised regarding the impact of nano-related technologies. The book focuses on general issues related to nanotechnology in nanomaterials and manufacturing as well as impacts on the marketplace and workforce. After an overview of the nanotechnology revolution, the text illustrates key concepts in the assessment model and then applies this model to a case study related to human enhancement technologies. It also offers an ethical agenda for addressing the challenges of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology promises to be the next great technological revolution. This important volume provides a framework for deciding how best to take advantage of nanotechnology opportunities while also minimizing the harm of negative effects.

Nanotechnology & Society is a collection of sixteen papers focused on the most urgent issues arising from nanotechnology today and in the near future. Written by leading researchers, policy experts, and nanoethics scholars worldwide, the book is divided into five units: foundational issues; risk and regulation; industry and policy; the human condition; and selected global issues. The essays tackle such contentious issues as environmental impact, health dangers, medical benefits, intellectual property, professional code of ethics, privacy, international governance, and more.

Explains how existing and proposed law seek to tackle challenges posed by new and emerging technologies in war and peace.

In recent years, questions about democratic influence on science and technology have received much attention. The lesson from the European unrest over GMO is that consumer-citizens will react negatively to being forced to accept the introduction of new, partly untested technologies. A number of political bodies have started to involve citizens and to consider their concerns, attitudes, hopes, and worries in the early stages of the coming nano revolution. This volume is assembles the contributions of experts who analyze a number of these deliberations, mainly in the European Union and the United States. The book analyzes citizen-oriented deliberations along with more stakeholder-oriented deliberations.

This book addresses questions surrounding the feasibility of a global approach to ethical governance of science and technology. The emergence and rapid spread of nanotechnology offers a test case for how the world might act when confronted with a technology that could transform the global economy and provide solutions to issues such as pollution, while potentially creating new environmental and health risks. The author compares ethical issues identified by stakeholders in China and the EU about the rapid introduction of this potentially transformative technology – a fitting framework for an exploration of global agency. The study explores the discourse ethics and participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) inspired by the work of Jürgen Habermas to argue that different views can be universally recognized and agreed upon, perhaps within an ideal global community of communication. The book offers a developed discourse model, utilizing virtue ethics as well as the work of Taylor, Beck, Korsgaard and others on identity formation, as a way forward in the context of global ethics. The author seeks to develop new vocabularies of comparison, to discover shared aspects of identity and to achieve, hopefully, an ‘intercultural personhood’ that may lead to a global ethics. The book offers a useful guide for researchers on methods for advancing societal understanding of science and technology. The author addresses a broad audience, from philosophers, ethicists and scientists, to the interested general reader. For the layperson, one chapter surveys nanoissues as depicted in fiction and another offers a view of how an ordinary citizen can act as a global agent of change in ethics.