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New
Nanotechnology Television Series Does 'Sweat the Small
Stuff'
Other topics:
Nanoelectronic Circuits
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
March 10, 2008
Washington, DC Premiere Event Features U.S. Senator Ron
Wyden
Washington, DC -- The Project
on Emerging
Nanotechnologies (PEN) and National Science Foundation (NSF)
will host the
Washington, DC, premiere event for the television series
"Nanotechnology:
The Power of Small" on Wednesday evening, April 2. The event
-- by
invitation only -- will include remarks by U.S. Senator Ron
Wyden (D-OR), a
co-chair of the Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus. |
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The series' three programs explore critical
questions about
nanotechnology's potential impact on privacy, the
environment and human
health: Will nanotechnology make you safer, or will it be
used to track
your every move? Will nanotechnology keep you young, and
what happens if
you live to be 150? Will nanotechnology help clean up the
earth, or will it
be the next asbestos?
"Nanotechnology: The Power of Small" is the first major
television
series to look at the implications of advances in
nanotechnology -- the
ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture
materials that are
usually between one and 100 nanometers in size. A nanometer
is one
billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000
nanometers wide. More
than $60 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology
were sold
globally in 2007. By 2014, Lux Research estimates this
figure will grow to
$2.6 trillion.
The series begins airing on local public broadcasting
stations in April
2008 (see http://powerofsmall.org). It is funded by NSF and
the presenting
station and grantee for the series is Oregon Public
Broadcasting. The
series is a "Fred Friendly Seminars" presentation with
award-winning
National Public Radio correspondent John Hockenberry as
host.
The programs involve Hockenberry asking policymakers,
scientists,
journalists and community leaders to wrestle with difficult
but essential
issues about nanotechnology's potential to impact people's
privacy and
security, health and environment. Featured experts include
Harvard
University researcher George M. Whitesides, PEN chief
scientist Andrew
Maynard, and author Joel Garreau, among others.
The reception marking the Washington, DC, premiere of
"Nanotechnology:
The Power of Small" will take place on Wednesday, April 2nd
from 5:30-7:30
p.m. in the 6th Floor Board Room and Auditorium of the
Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars
(http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions).
The premiere is a "NanoDays 2008" special event. "NanoDays
2008" is a
weeklong series of community-based educational outreach
programs focused on
nanotechnology and engineering, sponsored by the NISE
Network (Nanoscale
Informal Science Education, see
http://www.nisenet.org/nanodays). "NanoDays 2008"
programs are being held at science and natural history
museums,
universities, and policy and education centers around the
nation from March
29 through April 6.
What:
Washington, DC Premiere Event for three-part public
television series,
"Nanotechnology: The Power of Small"
Who:
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Arden L. Bement, Jr., director, National Science Foundation
Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor, Project on Emerging
Nanotechnologies
When:
Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Where:
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 6th Floor
Board
Room & Auditorium. Ronald Reagan Building and International
Trade
Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC; see:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is an initiative
launched by
the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The
Pew Charitable
Trusts in 2005. It is dedicated to helping business,
government and the
public anticipate and manage possible health and
environmental implications
of nanotechnology. For more information about the project,
log on to
http://www.nanotechproject.org.
The Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.pewtrusts.org) is
driven by the power of
knowledge to solve today's most challenging problems. Pew
applies a
rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy,
inform the public
and stimulate civic life. We partner with a diverse range of
donors, public
and private organizations and concerned citizens who share
our commitment
to fact-based solutions and goal-driven investments to
improve society.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the
living,
national memorial to President Wilson established by
Congress in 1968 and
headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center establishes and
maintains a
neutral forum for free, open, and informed dialogue. It is a
nonpartisan
institution, supported by public and private funds and
engaged in the study
of national and international affairs.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent
federal agency
created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of
science; to advance
the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the
national
defense..." With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion,
NSF is the
funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally
supported
basic research conducted by America's colleges and
universities. In many
fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social
sciences, NSF
is the major source of federal backing. For more
information, see:
http://www.nsf.gov |
