USA PCAST meeting on Nanotech

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) is scheduled to meet in open session on Monday, June 25, 2007, in Arlington, VA. The PCAST subcommittee on nanotechnology has convened representative experts from academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations to provide an overview of nanotechnology applications and implications. The PCAST subcommittee is tentatively scheduled to hear presentations on applications of nanotechnology, with specific examples of nanotechnology-based innovation and commercialization across a range of products and industries. The PCAST also is tentatively scheduled to hear presentations on the environmental, health, and safety implications of nanotechnology from a range of perspectives. The presentations are intended to inform, in part, the Council’s review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative and assessment of progress towards realizing the benefits of nanotechnology advances.

Additional information and the final agenda will be posted at the PCAST web site at: http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/pcast.html, where interested participants may also register.

Atomic spectroscopy on a chip

see more at source

Nanotechnology, Privacy and Shifting Social Convention

see paper here

Synthetic Biology Conference 3.0

The conference will take place at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, from 24th-26th June 2007
more at source.

Safety and Ethical Aspects of Synthetic Biology

SYNBIOSAFE is a scientific project supported fully by the European Commission´s 6th framework programme. It is the first European project to research the safety and ethical aspects of synthetic biology, and aims to proactively stimulate a debate on these issues.
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Report on synthetic biology by the Rathenau Institute

see here
and download here
WED97
Constructing Life 2006.pdf

Constructing life – Vriend, H. de
titel Constructing life
auteur Vriend, H. de
corporatieve auteur
plaats van uitgave Den Haag
jaar van uitgave 2006
uitgever Rathenau Instituut
ISBN
aantal pagina’s 88
reekstitel Working Document ; 97
korte beschrijving Early social reflections on the emerging field of synthetic biology.
signatuur RP-WED-97
taal engels
project naam Synthetische Biologie
PDF samenvatting

Who we are

The Rathenau Institute carries out research into the development of science and technology.

The institute has two key tasks:

1. Stimulating both public debate and the formation of political judgements. Technological and scientific developments sometimes give rise to more questions than answers. The Rathenau Institute highlights the significance of these developments for individuals and society. What are the possibilities, yet also the risks? In professional jargon this is called Technology Assessment (TA).
2. Describing the Dutch science system. The Rathenau Institute is investigating the dynamics of the scientific and technological process: how is the science system organised, how does it respond to scientific, societal and economic developments, and to what specific scientific developments does this lead? This task is called Science System Assessment (SciSA).

The Rathenau Institute is an independent body and was founded in 1986 by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, which also funds it. Administratively the institute falls under the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

The Rathenau Institute addresses a broad field of interest, varying from biotechnology to spatial planning. The institute can devote resources to any technological or scientific development which could have consequence to Dutch society. These are not exclusively new technologies – such as nanotechnology, genomics or artificial intelligence – but also existing technological systems such as nuclear energy, organ donation or water management (see list of all projects).

Every two years the Rathenau Institute lays down the proposed project’s in a so-called work programme. To select the subjects the institute looks at the political agenda and questions put forward by society (for more information see working methods). The work programme is offered for review to the Minister of Education who sends it with a reaction to the Dutch Lower House. The work programme is published widely, including notification in the Government Gazette. The institute renders an account of work it undertakes in its annual reports.
see here

Towards neuro-memory-chip: Imprinting multiple memories in cultured neural networks

see PDF of source

Nanotechnology is one way to combat the counterfeit supply chain

more at source

Lights! Water! Motion!

The world’s urban infrastructure needs a $40 trillion makeover. Here’s how to reinvigorate our electricity, water, and transportation systems by integrating finance, governance, technology, and design.
PDF here

Reboot 9

Reboot is a community event for the practical visionaries who are at the intersection of digital technology and change all around us…
2 days a year. 500 people. A journey into the interconnectedness of creation, participation, values, openness, decentralization, collaboration, complexity, technology, p2p, humanities, connectedness and many more areas.
Applied towards us as individuals, citizens, teachers, culture workers, entrepreneurs, creators and change makers.
See this years sessions, connect with the participants or join the conversations around this years sessions.
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Solar cells with 40.7% efficiency made, 58% efficient possible

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Another of my biweekly columns out

New column here
The column is now published by two sources: Innovationwatch.com (every 15th of a month) and Healthwrights (every 30th of a month)