Smart science for the 21st century - Andrew Maynard for SafeNano, UK
An increasing reliance on technological fixes to global challenges — including nanotechnology — demands a radical rethink of how we use science in the service of society. We need a new way of doing science. This “smart science” must train future practitioners to work across conventional boundaries and remove the barriers to interdisciplinary research that continue to persist. It must be socially relevant. And it must engage citizens at every level — with the recognition that scientists need to be socially literate, as much as citizens need to be scientifically literate.

New Device for Germophobes Runs Into Old Law - New York Times, USA
Some nanotechnology skeptics say that slowing commercialization is exactly what the E.P.A. ought to be doing.

The silver particles provide a good example of why, in their view. Silver’s sterilizing powers were first noticed by the ancient Egyptians, but no one can be certain that long experience with the metal is a complete guide to its hazards in its newly engineered forms. Nanoscale particles are often unusually potent. They may also have other unexpected properties that will become apparent only if many people or other living things are exposed to significant quantities over long periods of time.