The exciting Nano Future!
dancepartner
Posts: 324
Today, January 15th (2013), a call-in is being conducted at 4 pm EST titled “Nanotechnology: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?” This is being presented by Orion Magazine and NanoAction. You must pre-register to participate, (don’t know why) but here’s the link; https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=j5u2p9tiqv4qFrustrating how the littlest things trip us at times. Turns out, had I been using the search word nano all this time, I’d have found some up-to-date information on just how superintelligence was progressing!
Nanotechnologies don’t yet come with a great deal of attention and if I had to guess why, I’d go with first and foremost; we have a propensity to ignore what’s easily not understandable. Also, an innate wariness envelops this subject and understandably so. We don’t have to be scientists to know that by messing with atoms, some inherently powerful consequences aren’t far behind.
I found it ironic that NanoAction’s website calls for caution but then promotes nano-tech companies so I’ve been doing some research. I suspect at the heart of this exciting future lies in getting us to accept it before billions more get invested. Here’s a Dutch link that touches on the price of our acceptace. http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Formulation-Science/Numbers-of-nanotech-consumer-goods%20soar?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright
I need to get to work so I won’t be able to participate in this call-in but for anyone who does, I’d really appreciate your assessment. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with an overview of what I’ve recently found for those interested.
Nanotech’s have been around for less than 15 years. However, in the past 5 years, consumer products which contain some nano-element have jumped from 200 to over 1300 and counting by the day. The U.S. oversight is The National Nanotechnology Initiative; http://www.nano.gov/, Germany began their oversight process in 2006 and The Dutch in 2008.
I watched an interesting video on nano particles by Stanford professor Dionne; http://engineering.stanford.edu/.../lights-nano-action-advances-nano...I found several interesting articles mostly from Tech News. Here’s one from January 2012; “The Perils of Small Stuff. What we know about Nanotech Safety Today.”
Castranova is chief of the Pathology and Physiology Research Branch at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, W. Va. He joined the institute in 1977, soon after it opened. At the time, he studied black lung disease in West Virginian coal miners, providing scientific evidence that coal dust caused the disease. Now, he's leading an effort to study the safety of nanotechnology, analyzing how nanotech factories might affect workers and how cleaning sprays containing nano-silver particles affect people who use them at home.
In our studies, we mimic what would be the consumer use of that material. We measure the airborne levels of the nanoparticles. And then we expose animals to those airborne levels of that nanoparticle and look at how the lungs, heart and blood vessels respond.
In what industries are workers exposed to nanoparticles?
Well, nanoparticles are being developed for uses in almost all industries. For instance, they are being used in sunscreens because they absorb ultraviolet light. They’re used in cosmetics because the nanoparticles allow the cosmetics to be applied more smoothly and evenly.
They’re used in automotive industry because they can be used in composites for light weight and strength. They’re being used as an additive to diesel fuel because they decrease pollution in the exhaust. They’re being used in athletic equipment such as tennis rackets, golf clubs. And lastly, they’re being explored for use in nanomedicine, in targeted drug delivery, medical imaging and dental implants.
What have you found in your worker safety studies?
With nanotitanium dioxide and carbon nanotubes, we do find there is the potential, after inhalation exposure, for adverse health effects in a worker. We found that carbon nanotubes tend to cause chronic lung scarring, called interstitial fibrosis. The carbon nanotubes get into the tiny air sacs in the lungs and form a matrix upon which fibrous cells grow very rapidly.
The titanium dioxide sprays study is completed and we have published a paper on it. We saw that there were minor lung effects and some significant cardiovascular effects: The small blood vessels couldn't dilate normally. Usually, when you exercise, you want your vessels to dilate. That will increase oxygen flow to the heart.
If you make particles very, very small, they have unique physical and chemical characteristics and the question is, "Will you also have unique biological interaction?" And there's no reason to suspect you wouldn't. The example I like to give is this famous glassware from the island of Burano in Venice, Italy. The famous color is red. That red color is from nano gold and you know gold is yellow, right? But if you make it small enough, it looks red. So that's the easiest way to see that if you make things very small, physical and chemical properties change.
Nanotechnologies don’t yet come with a great deal of attention and if I had to guess why, I’d go with first and foremost; we have a propensity to ignore what’s easily not understandable. Also, an innate wariness envelops this subject and understandably so. We don’t have to be scientists to know that by messing with atoms, some inherently powerful consequences aren’t far behind.
I found it ironic that NanoAction’s website calls for caution but then promotes nano-tech companies so I’ve been doing some research. I suspect at the heart of this exciting future lies in getting us to accept it before billions more get invested. Here’s a Dutch link that touches on the price of our acceptace. http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Formulation-Science/Numbers-of-nanotech-consumer-goods%20soar?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright
I need to get to work so I won’t be able to participate in this call-in but for anyone who does, I’d really appreciate your assessment. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with an overview of what I’ve recently found for those interested.
Nanotech’s have been around for less than 15 years. However, in the past 5 years, consumer products which contain some nano-element have jumped from 200 to over 1300 and counting by the day. The U.S. oversight is The National Nanotechnology Initiative; http://www.nano.gov/, Germany began their oversight process in 2006 and The Dutch in 2008.
I watched an interesting video on nano particles by Stanford professor Dionne; http://engineering.stanford.edu/.../lights-nano-action-advances-nano...I found several interesting articles mostly from Tech News. Here’s one from January 2012; “The Perils of Small Stuff. What we know about Nanotech Safety Today.”
Castranova is chief of the Pathology and Physiology Research Branch at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, W. Va. He joined the institute in 1977, soon after it opened. At the time, he studied black lung disease in West Virginian coal miners, providing scientific evidence that coal dust caused the disease. Now, he's leading an effort to study the safety of nanotechnology, analyzing how nanotech factories might affect workers and how cleaning sprays containing nano-silver particles affect people who use them at home.
In our studies, we mimic what would be the consumer use of that material. We measure the airborne levels of the nanoparticles. And then we expose animals to those airborne levels of that nanoparticle and look at how the lungs, heart and blood vessels respond.
In what industries are workers exposed to nanoparticles?
Well, nanoparticles are being developed for uses in almost all industries. For instance, they are being used in sunscreens because they absorb ultraviolet light. They’re used in cosmetics because the nanoparticles allow the cosmetics to be applied more smoothly and evenly.
They’re used in automotive industry because they can be used in composites for light weight and strength. They’re being used as an additive to diesel fuel because they decrease pollution in the exhaust. They’re being used in athletic equipment such as tennis rackets, golf clubs. And lastly, they’re being explored for use in nanomedicine, in targeted drug delivery, medical imaging and dental implants.
What have you found in your worker safety studies?
With nanotitanium dioxide and carbon nanotubes, we do find there is the potential, after inhalation exposure, for adverse health effects in a worker. We found that carbon nanotubes tend to cause chronic lung scarring, called interstitial fibrosis. The carbon nanotubes get into the tiny air sacs in the lungs and form a matrix upon which fibrous cells grow very rapidly.
The titanium dioxide sprays study is completed and we have published a paper on it. We saw that there were minor lung effects and some significant cardiovascular effects: The small blood vessels couldn't dilate normally. Usually, when you exercise, you want your vessels to dilate. That will increase oxygen flow to the heart.
If you make particles very, very small, they have unique physical and chemical characteristics and the question is, "Will you also have unique biological interaction?" And there's no reason to suspect you wouldn't. The example I like to give is this famous glassware from the island of Burano in Venice, Italy. The famous color is red. That red color is from nano gold and you know gold is yellow, right? But if you make it small enough, it looks red. So that's the easiest way to see that if you make things very small, physical and chemical properties change.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Personally, I think it's an interesting subject and one worth discussing, not dissing.
:shh:
Me, I'm here - "Nanotechnologies don’t yet come with a great deal of attention and if I had to guess why, I’d go with first and foremost; we have a propensity to ignore what’s easily not understandable."
(probably why I've heard of this before but not actively pursued additional information; it's much to process)
It's complicated stuff and it takes some effort to gain even a basic understanding of nanotechnology but there is literature out there that explains the basics fairly clearly. The best way to allow unsafe experimentation to continue is to be uninformed about the subject.
I agree; the easiest way for this to get out of hand is for us to remain ignorant of it.
hedonist; there was some comments on a thread somewhere, something about you keeping a nice balance. I just want to thank you for that.
I'm starting to get the feeling that you think you are LeVar Burton. Every thread getting it's reading rainbow book recommendation.