Nature Nanotechnology, the preeminent journal on nanoscience and nanotechnology, has introduced an advisory panel of experts to guide the journal’s coverage at the intersection of nanotechnology and society. Faculty Fellows Andrew Maynard and Diana Bowman have been selected to be among seven or so experts from around the world to serve on this advisory panel.
Scientific and technological progress are only part of the nanotechnology’s potential impact. The journal is interested in how ongoing research and new discoveries can be structured and covered to address challenges facing modern society. The advisory panel will aid journal editors in answering tough questions in service of that goal.
For example, how does the public perceive [nano]technology? Have the material benefits and risks been considered fully? Will the deployment of [nano]technology be environmentally and economically sustainable? Could [nano]technology create more harm than benefits to society, for example in terms of inequalities? Even more fundamentally, is the research itself conducted in a responsible and sustainable way?
Maynard and Bowman have worked on such questions before. They recently published an analysis of international efforts at regulating nanomaterials in cosmetics. Bowman also co-teaches a course on nanotechnology with Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law Dean Douglas Sylvester.