Nanoparticle Chicken Feed Keeps Birds Healthy

Feb. 29, 2008 — Researchers at Clemson University have fed nanoparticles to chickens, eliminating deadly bacteria and making the chickens safer for human consumption.
The research could reduce the number of cases of food-borne diseases in the United States and one day treat the more than five million people in developing countries who die annually from diarrhea.
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Accident involved nanostructured explosive materials

Chemical & Engineering News – February 27, 2008

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1st Annual Conference on Nanotechnology Law, Regulation and Policy

Co-Sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies In partnership with Arizona State University and Burdock Group
February 28-29, 2008
Program Description

Nanotechnology was incorporated into more than $50 billion in manufactured goods last year, according to Lux Research. By 2014, the market will grow to $2.6 trillion. By 2011, over $15 billion in nano-enabled drugs and therapeutics will be sold—up from more than $3 billion in 2006. And industry experts project that nanotechnology will be incorporated into $20 billion worth of consumer food products by 2010.

Yet, despite this rapid commercialization, no nano-specific regulation exists anywhere in the world. Most regulatory agencies remain in an information-gathering mode—lacking the legal and scientific tools, information and resources they need to adequately oversee exponential nanotechnology market growth.

Now, for the first time, you’ll get to meet all the top officials from these government departments in one place and learn of their plans for regulating food and drug nanotech products. You’ll hear what’s really happening in Europe and Asia, on Wall Street, in the corridors of major corporations, in the more advanced laboratories, at forward-thinking universities and in the halls of Congress.

And you’ll also get the answers to those questions you’ve been talking to your colleagues about for the last several months:

* How is FDA going to implement its Nanotechnology Task Force Report?
* How is OSHA going to deal with nanotech issues in the workplace?
* Is Congress ready to act on nanotechnology if federal regulators don’t?
* What first and second generation nanotechnology products are already on the market, and what’s to come?
* Do Europe and Asia approach nanotechnology safety and oversight differently
than the United States?
* When it comes to nanotechnology, should size make a regulatory difference?

see

Draft Nanomaterial Research Strategy (NRS) January 2008 USA

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New NNI strategy document on nanotech EHS research

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Call for Papers Human Security, Social Cohesion and Disability

May be of interest to some. Feel free to distribute as you see fit.

Call for Papers – Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal (www.rds.hawaii.edu)

Human Security, Social Cohesion and Disability

Guest Editors: Gregor Wolbring, Program in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Dept of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary;

Anita Ghai, Department of Psychology Jesus and Mary College, New Delhi;

Kirk Allison, Program in Human Rights and Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota;

Human security and social cohesion are two central requisites for the medical and social well being of disabled people. Science and technology (S&T) advances often seen as essential for disabled people also impact on human security and on social cohesion. Human security according to the Commission on Human Security is concerned with safeguarding and expanding people’s vital freedoms. It requires both shielding people from acute threats and empowering people to take charge of their own lives. The Commission identified economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, political security, freedom from fear, and freedom from want as primary concerns.

Social cohesion in very general terms means: All that which brings people together (European New Towns Platform). In Canada the following description is in use: “Social cohesion is the ongoing process of developing a community of shared values, shared challenges and equal opportunity within Canada, based on a sense of trust, hope and reciprocity among all Canadians.” (Jeannotte and Sharon, 2001). This has also been articulated complementarily in terms of social capital which has been defined among others as “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam 1995).

More about the concepts can be found in the below references:

· Gregor Wolbring (2006). Human Security and NBICS http://www.innovationwatch.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours.2006.12.30.htm

· Gregor Wolbring (2007). NBICS and Social Cohesion http://www.innovationwatch.com/choiceisyours/choiceisyours-2007-01-15.htm

· Caroline Beauvais and Jane Jenson.(2002) Social Cohesion: Updating the State of Research. Canadian Policy, Research Networks, Canadian Heritage, Ottawa. http://www.cprn.com/doc.cfm?doc=167&l=en

· European New Towns Platform. (2005). “The Top 8 Specific Challenges for Social Cohesion in New Towns.” http://www.newtowns.net/themes

· Definitions of Social Capital http://www.analytictech.com/networks/definitions_of_social_capital.htm

· Social Captial Initiative, Working Paper 1, 1998, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTTSOCIALCAPITAL/0,,contentMDK:20194767~menuPK:418848~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:401015,00.html

We are honored that the theme for an issue of The Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal will be human security, social cohesion and disability. This topic is chosen because the discourse around human security and social cohesion is of central importance for disability studies and for the well-being of persons with disabilities. At the same time discourses in disability studies can crucially clarify and test the discourses of human security and social cohesion.

Thus, we urge potential contributors, regardless of their fields of training, to articulate their ideas about human security, social cohesion and disability. We especially encourage contributors to envision:

· Future threats to human security and social cohesion including threats linked to new and emerging sciences and technologies processes and products and their impact on disabled people.

· How disability studies discourses have generated tools and will continue to generate tools which can be used to minimize future threats to social cohesion and human security.

· Other possible prevention strategies and fixes to possible future threat to human security and social cohesion.

We encourage the submission of empirical case studies and theoretical models and we especially encourage contributions which cover the topic from a low income country background.

Potential contributors to this Special Issue might consider:

1. What is the “disability,” the discrimination angle of human security and social cohesion?
2. What is the body image angle of human security and social cohesion?
3. What is the importance of the disability studies angle on human security and social cohesion for other marginalized groups, for the marginalized majority of the world?
4. What are potential future threats to human security and social cohesion and what would the impact be on disabled people?
5. What are the cultural angles of human security and social cohesion?
6. What is the role and potential of law?
7. What empirical evidence and theoretical models illuminate the processes and effects?
8. What is the impact of emerging social concepts such as transhumanism, which is?
9. What is the impact of new and emerging sciences and technologies?
10. What role does or could disability studies be playing in the interaction between new and emerging sciences and technologies and human security and social cohesion?
11. How do or do not the human security and social cohesion discourses serve the needs of disabled people?
12. What are the connections between human security and violent conflict?
13. What are the relationships between development and poverty reduction, human security, and the prevention of violent conflict?
14. What is the impact of natural disasters on those with disabilities in terms of security and cohesion
15. How can social capital be discussed in context of disabled people, human security and social cohesion?

Send via email 250-word abstracts, by March 31st, 2008 to Guest Editors Gregor Wolbring gwolbrin@ucalgary.ca ; Anita Ghai anita.satyapal@gmail.com and Kirk Allison alli0001@umn.edu. Please be sure to send abstracts to all editors. For those abstracts that are selected, we will request completed articles of approximately 3000-5000 words two months after the note of invitation to submit a full article was sent. Note that an invitation to submit an article based on an abstract does not guarantee publication of that article in The Review of Disability Studies.

For more information about The Review of Disability Studies, please go to http://www.rds.hawaii.edu

microorganisms and plants in the synthesis of nanoparticles

Abstract Nanotechnology involves the production,
manipulation and use of materials ranging in size
from less than a micron to that of individual atoms.
Although nanomaterials may be synthesized using
chemical approaches, it is now possible to include the
use of biological materials. In this review, we
critically assess the role of microorganisms and
plants in the synthesis of nanoparticles.
J Nanopart Res (2008) 10:507–517

EU wants code of conduct for nanotech research

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Nanostructures tested as beta-carotene carriers in beverages

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Nanogovernance

This is a conference being held at George Washington Law School here in Washington on February 12, 2008 on approaches to nanotechnology environmental governance. Attendance is free. The morning session features several speakers on issues surrounding the environmental regulation and governance of nanotechnology. The afternoon session is a panel discussion focusing on the issue of whether it is possible or desirable to merge existing approaches to create a comprehensive environmental governance regime for nanotechnology.

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Nanotech Stewardship

Voluntary EPA program criticized for not giving agency the data it needs to regulate nanoscale materials

Env Sci & Tech
Also appeared in print Feb. 4, 2008, p. 10
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Enhanced Cellular Mobility Guided by TiO2 Nanotube Surfaces

Copyright © 2008 American Chemical Society

Enhanced Cellular Mobility Guided by TiO2 Nanotube Surfaces

Karla S. Brammer, Seunghan Oh, John O. Gallagher, and Sungho Jin*

Materials Science & Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093

ASAP Nano Lett., ASAP Article, 10.1021/nl072572o
Web Release Date: February 6, 2008

Organic retailer launches nanotechnology info campaign

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The dummy’s guide to engineering genes

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New Bionanoscience dept launched at TU Delft Netherlands

Over the next decade, TU Delft will invest €10m derived from its assets in the new department, which will form part of the university’s Kavli Institute of Nanoscience. The Kavli Foundation will also donate $5m (€3.4m).
The new department will explore the full spectrum from nanoscience to cell biology to synthetic biology to create gene regulation systems, artificial biomolecules and nanoparticles that can be deployed within the cell.

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Open biohacking kit project

contains information on important protocols in genetic engineering, stem cell research, microbiology and
other fields of related interest.
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Pursuing Synthetic Life, Dazzled by Reality NY Times

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Solazyme is a synthetic biology company that unleashes the power of marine microbes to create clean and scalable solutions for the renewable energy, industrial chemical, and specialty ingredient markets.

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U.K.’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) – Smart materials and systems

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U.K.’s Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) note on synthetic biology

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