Thesis

C₆₀ was discovered in 1985 but it took five years to confirm that this famous molecule was spherical. Chris Toumey revisits a debate that highlighted different approaches to science.

Can the nanotech community learn anything from biotechnology? Chris Toumey reports.

It is 20 years since researchers at IBM spelt out the name of their company with atoms. Chris Toumey looks at the story behind a landmark in nanotechnology.

Nanoscale objects cannot be seen in the traditional sense, but that should not stop us from thinking about how we visualize the nanoworld, as Chris Toumey reports.

A 1959 lecture by Richard Feynman has become an important document in the history of nanotechnology but, as Chris Toumey reports, there are disagreements about when it became important, and why.

Irrespective of what he got right and what he got wrong in his famous 1959 lecture, Richard Feynman's vision and imagination have had an important role in the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology, as Richard Jones reports.

Surveys have found that almost half of all scientists in the US are religious. Chris Toumey explores what this might mean for nanotechnology.

A report on nanotechnology published in 2004 by two learned societies in the UK has had impacts in other areas of science and technology, as Richard Jones reports.

Most scientists think of science as completely objective, but lab studies by social scientists — including several carried out in nanotechnology labs — suggest that it is more subjective than many scientists realize. Chris Toumey looks at the results of these studies.

Interactions between scientists and artists or designers can be beneficial for both sides and, as Richard Jones reports, offer intriguing glimpses of the future.

The relationship between humans and technology is often viewed as a debate between technophobes who oppose technology, irrespective of its benefits, and technophiles who think that all technology is good. Chris Toumey prefers the cyborg point of view.

Various codes of conduct have been proposed for nanotechnology — Richard Jones examines what they mean for individual researchers.

Nanomedicine and homeopathy both involve very small amounts of material, but that is where the similarity ends, as Chris Toumey explains.

From possible next-generation electronic devices to the detailed workings of living cells, molecules can process information in many different ways, as Richard Jones reports.

New research by social scientists is presenting a clearer picture of the factors that influence the public perception of nanotechnology and, as Chris Toumey reports, the results present challenges for those working to increase public acceptance of nanoscience and technology. See focus on public perceptions of nanotechnology.

From solar power to supercapacitors, nanoscience and technology have the potential to help solve a number of pressing energy problems but, as Richard Jones reports, the credit crunch and wild swings in the price of oil could get in the way of these solutions.

The differences between the sciences and the humanities have been debated in academic circles for decades. Chris Toumey explores how nanotechnology fits into this picture and how the nature of science itself is a legitimate subject for researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

The self-assembly properties of block copolymers are primitive when compared with natural examples such as protein folding but, as Richard Jones reports, promising new approaches and ideas are being explored.

Do molecules have beauty? Is it possible to fall in love with one? Based on what Harry Kroto and others have written about buckminsterfullerene, Chris Toumey thinks that the answer to both these questions is yes.

When a research council in the UK consulted the public about different aspects of nanomedicine, the feedback was loud and clear. Richard Jones reports.