Sensitive, Selective Mercury Sensor Nanoparticle-based colorimetric method detects part-per-billion levels of mercury - Chemical & Engineering News, USA

A new colorimetric method provides a simple and sensitive way to detect mercury in aqueous samples.

The advance may form the basis of an instrument-free procedure for monitoring mercury levels in lakes and rivers and may lead to similar types of detection methods for other metals.

The potential and the pitfalls of nanomedicine - NanoWerk, USA
Despite the enormous promise of nanomedicine, and the considerable funding going into the field, the research into the ethical, legal and social implications of nanomedicine is comparatively minute. As Peter Singer wrote in his 2003 tutorial "Mind the gap: science and ethics in Nanotechnology": “The science leaps ahead, the ethics lags behind.” As with nanotechnology in general, there is danger of derailing nanomedicine if the study of ethical, legal and social implications does not catch up with scientific developments.

Nanotechnology — Friend or Foe? - Exduco, Italy
The science of nanotechnology is enabling a myriad of breakthroughs in lots of areas. With any relatively new technology the question of safety begs to be answered. Is nanotechnology — and everything it encompasses — safe?