Watch videos from others who have responded to the following questions. Add your own voice to the conversation.
What would you want to know before eating fried food that was made with nano-infused cooking oil?
How would you feel if your favorite restaurant switched to nano-infused cooking oil without telling you?
Since 1991, Earth & Sky has worked with thousands of scientists to produce more than 5,000 radio spots on night sky astronomy, and on sustainability needs and strategies for the 21st century. Recently, Earth & Sky has created stories to build a bridge between nanotechnology scientists and the public. Use the player below to listen to stories on nanotechnology topics relevant to this episode of Power of Small.
Program Title: Clean, Green, and Unseen
Taped at University of California, Berkeley
Nanotechnology already offers new and improved consumer products, from sunscreen and eye shadow to car wax and food supplements. It’s certain to provide solutions for some of our worst environmental problems and lead the way to a more sustainable future. The solutions cover the spectrum from monitoring, reducing and cleaning up pollution to creating cleaner, cheaper energy sources that free us from dependence on petroleum products. New solar power technologies, lighter and stronger construction materials for cars and other vehicles for improved fuel efficiencies, and processes to inactivate and/or remove a wide range of toxic substances from water and soil; all may be possible through advances in nanotechnology.
The town of Sunnyville is thrilled with the jobs and development promised by a new Solar Synergies plant for manufacturing highly efficient, inexpensive, nanotech solar cells. Plus, the technology could put a big dent in the nation’s fuel bills. However, there are no good data to predict the risk these nanomaterials pose to city residents or the environment. Should plant construction go forward? Who determines the risks—the company, the university that holds the patent, the government? Do we need new regulations to govern production and use of these and other nanomaterials, or are the laws we have adequate? John Hockenberry, award winning correspondent for NBC and NPR, leads the panel through a series of dilemmas, forcing them to put their principles to the test.
