Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society

Labeled either as the "next industrial revolution" or as just "hype," nanoscience and nanotechnologies are controversial, touted by some as the likely engines of spectacular transformation of human societies and even human bodies, and by others as conceptually flawed. These challenges make an encyclopedia of nanoscience and society an absolute necessity.   Providing a guide to what these understandings and challenges are about, the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society offers accessible descriptions of some of the key technical achievements of nanoscience along with its history and prospects. Rather than a technical primer, this encyclopedia instead focuses on the efforts of governments around the world to fund nanoscience research and to tap its potential for economic development as well as to assess how best to regulate a new technology for the environmental, occupational, and consumer health and safety issues related to the field. Contributions examine and analyze the cultural significance of nanoscience and nanotechnologies and describe some of the organizations, and their products, that promise to make nanotechnologies a critical part of the global economy. Written by noted scholars and practitioners from around the globe, these two volumes offer nearly 500 entries describing the societal aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology.   Key Themes - Art, Design, and Materials - Bionanotechnology Centers - Context - Economics and Business - Engagement and the Public - Environment and Risk - Ethics and Values - Geographies and Distribution - History and Philosophy - Integration and Interdisciplinarity - Nanotechnology Companies - Nanotechnology Organizations

About the Author :
David H. Guston (B.A., Yale; Ph.D., MIT) is Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), as well as Associate Director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes and Professor of Political Science. CNS-ASU is a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center funded by the National Science Foundation and dedicated to studying the societal implications of nanoscale science and engineering research and improving the societal outcomes of nanotechnologies through enhancing the societal capacity to understand and make informed choices. Dr. Guston’s book, Between Politics & Science: Assuring the Integrity & Productivity of Research (Cambridge University Press, 2000) was awarded the 2002 Don K. Price Prize by the American Political Science Association for best book in science and technology policy. He has co-authored Informed Legislatures: Coping with Science in a Democracy (University Press of America, 1996), and he has co-edited The Fragile Contract: University Science & the Federal Government (MIT Press, 1994) and Shaping the Next Generation of Science & Technology Policy (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006). Guston has published over 30 articles and book chapters and made more than 90 research presentations on research and development policy, scientific integrity and responsibility, public participation in technical decision making, peer review, and the politics of science policy. He is the North American editor of the peer-reviewed journal Science & Public Policy and serves on the editorial boards of Nanoethics: The Ethics of Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale, Review of Policy Research: The Politics & Policy of Science & Technology, and VEST: Nordic Journal of Science & Technology Studies. Guston has served on the National Science Foundation’s review panel on Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science, and Technology (2000-2002) and on the National Academy of Engineering’s Steering Committee on Engineering Ethics and Society (2002). He has held visiting positions at Columbia University, the Copenhagen Business School, and the Kent School of Law. In 2002, he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is co-chair of the upcoming 2008 Gordon Research Conference on Science and Technology Policy.

Review :
"....This text is not about the nuts and bolts of the technology per se, but rather how nanoscience is affecting-and affected by-human communities.... Editor Guston (Ph.D., MIT; series editor, Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society) is director and principle investigator of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University; the roughly 200 contributors from an international who′s who of academicians, scientists, and think-tank types.... BOTTOM LINE Nanoscience and Society is the set for the rest of us to turn to when confronted with sometimes unnerving reports of "frankenfoods" or other scare tactics advanced by the Luddite brigade. Strongly recommended for purchase by all public and academic libraries."