Early social entrepreneurship investing is fundamentally different from other social investing, a... more Early social entrepreneurship investing is fundamentally different from other social investing, and requires a new model for funding and evaluation.
As the global scientific community converges around the need for far-reaching reductions in green... more As the global scientific community converges around the need for far-reaching reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, policymakers are weighing the practical steps required to meet the unprecedented challenge of climate change. The ambitious goal recommended by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to reduce GHG emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050. Reductions of this magnitude demand a comprehensive policy response, the assessment and quantification of which are the subject of this project. This research is one part of a larger ICLEI--Local Governments for Sustainability initiative to assist 1,000 member cities in envisioning the possibilities and limitations of the role municipalities can play in meeting the 80% reductions by 2050 target (hereafter “80x50”). Local governments have a critical complementary role to play in abating U.S. GHG emissions. Focusing on stationary GHG sources over which cities have primary jurisdiction, local governments could abate up to 30% of national emissions and 40% of city emissions in 2050 under our most optimistic assumptions. These forecasts are highly uncertain. However they give reason for optimism, assuming state, federal, and multilateral institutions bring equally ambitious policy interventions to the table.
This report outlines the foundational knowledge and infrastructure development achieved by nanote... more This report outlines the foundational knowledge and infrastructure development achieved by nanotechnology in the last decade and explores the potentials of the U.S. and global nanotechnology enterprise to 2020 and beyond. It aims to redefine the R&D goals for nanoscale science and engineering integration, and to establish nanotechnology as a general- purpose technology in the next decade. The vision for the future of nanotechnology presented here draws on scientific insights from U.S. experts in the field, examinations of lessons learned, and international perspectives shared by participants from 35 countries in 5 international brainstorming meetings hosted or co-hosted by the principal authors of this report.5 The report was peer reviewed and received input from various stakeholders’ public comments at the website http://wtec.org/nano2/. It aims to provide decision makers in academia, industry, and government with a nanotechnology community perspective of productive and responsible paths forward for nanotechnology R&D.
This article seeks to answer several
questions: Where does the global science community need to ... more This article seeks to answer several
questions: Where does the global science community need to provide reliable data that will assist policymakers and regulators to develop confidence regarding the safety of these materials? What are the critical needs that will move us forward safely and intelligently in this promising field? Are the paradigms generally developed to assess the fate and effects of solute contaminants applicable to nanomaterials? We propose
a way to answer these questions and move Nano environmental, health, and safety (EHS)
forward, creating a new framework for detecting, determining
the fate, characterizing the hazards, and assessing
the risk of engineered nanomaterials. To understand why
and how these frameworks are relevant, we must first look
at what nanotechnology is, examine the current state of
strategies to manage nanomaterials and instill public the field, and highlight the issues inherent in studying nanotechnology.
The risks associated with exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) will be determined in part b... more The risks associated with exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) will be determined in part by the processes that control their environmental fate and transformation. These processes act not only on ENM that might be released directly into the environment, but more importantly also on ENM in consumer products and those that have been released from the product. The environmental fate and transformation are likely to differ significantly for each of these cases. The ENM released from actual direct use or from nanomaterial-containing products are much more relevant for ecotoxicological studies and risk assessment than pristine ENM. Released ENM may have a greater or lesser environmental impact than the starting materials, depending on the transformation reactions and the material. Almost nothing is known about the environmental behavior and the effects of released and transformed ENM, although these are the materials that are actually present in the environment. Further research is needed to determine whether the release and transformation processes result in a similar or more diverse set of ENM and ultimately how this affects environmental behavior. This article addresses these questions, using four hypothetical case studies that cover a wide range of ENM, their direct use or product applications, and their likely fate in the environment. Furthermore, a more definitive classification scheme for ENM should be adopted that reflects their surface condition, which is a result of both industrial and environmental processes acting on the ENM. The authors conclude that it is not possible to assess the risks associated with the use of ENM by investigating only the pristine form of the ENM, without considering alterations and transformation processes.
Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engin... more Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been hampered by a lack of adequate techniques for the detection and quantification of ENMs at environmentally relevant concentrations in complex media. Analysis of ENMs differs from traditional chemical analysis because both chemical and physical forms must be considered. Because ENMs are present as colloidal systems, their physicochemical properties are dependent on their surroundings. Therefore, the simple act of trying to isolate, observe, and quantify ENMs may change their physicochemical properties, making analysis extremely susceptible to artifacts. Many analytical techniques applied in materials science and other chemical/biological/physical disciplines may be applied to ENM analysis as well; however, environmental and biological studies may require that methods be adapted to work at low concentrations in complex matrices. The most pressing research needs are the development of techniques for extraction, cleanup, separation, and sample storage that introduce minimal artifacts to increase the speed, sensitivity, and specificity of analytical techniques, as well as the development of techniques that can differentiate between abundant, naturally occurring particles, and manufactured nanoparticles.
Ecotoxicology research is using many methods for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but the collect... more Ecotoxicology research is using many methods for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but the collective experience from researchers has not been documented. This paper reports the practical issues for working with ENMs and suggests nano-specific modifications to protocols. The review considers generic practical issues, as well as specific issues for aquatic tests, marine grazers, soil organisms, and bioaccumulation studies. Current procedures for cleaning glassware are adequate, but electrodes are problematic. The maintenance of exposure concentration is challenging, but can be achieved with some ENMs. The need to characterize the media during experiments is identified, but rapid analytical methods are not available to do this. The use of sonication and natural/synthetic dispersants are discussed. Nano-specific biological endpoints may be developed for a tiered monitoring scheme to diagnose ENM exposure or effect. A case study of the algal growth test highlights many small deviations in current regulatory test protocols that are allowed (shaking, lighting, mixing methods), but these should be standardized for ENMs. Invertebrate (Daphnia) tests should account for mechanical toxicity of ENMs. Fish tests should consider semistatic exposure to minimize wastewater and animal husbandry. The inclusion of a benthic test is recommended for the base set of ecotoxicity tests with ENMs. The sensitivity of soil tests needs to be increased for ENMs and shortened for logistics reasons; improvements include using Caenorhabditis elegans, aquatic media, and metabolism endpoints in the plant growth tests. The existing bioaccumulation tests are conceptually flawed and require considerable modification, or a new test, to work for ENMs. Overall, most methodologies need some amendments, and recommendations are made to assist researchers.
Early social entrepreneurship investing is fundamentally different from other social investing, a... more Early social entrepreneurship investing is fundamentally different from other social investing, and requires a new model for funding and evaluation.
As the global scientific community converges around the need for far-reaching reductions in green... more As the global scientific community converges around the need for far-reaching reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, policymakers are weighing the practical steps required to meet the unprecedented challenge of climate change. The ambitious goal recommended by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to reduce GHG emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050. Reductions of this magnitude demand a comprehensive policy response, the assessment and quantification of which are the subject of this project. This research is one part of a larger ICLEI--Local Governments for Sustainability initiative to assist 1,000 member cities in envisioning the possibilities and limitations of the role municipalities can play in meeting the 80% reductions by 2050 target (hereafter “80x50”). Local governments have a critical complementary role to play in abating U.S. GHG emissions. Focusing on stationary GHG sources over which cities have primary jurisdiction, local governments could abate up to 30% of national emissions and 40% of city emissions in 2050 under our most optimistic assumptions. These forecasts are highly uncertain. However they give reason for optimism, assuming state, federal, and multilateral institutions bring equally ambitious policy interventions to the table.
This report outlines the foundational knowledge and infrastructure development achieved by nanote... more This report outlines the foundational knowledge and infrastructure development achieved by nanotechnology in the last decade and explores the potentials of the U.S. and global nanotechnology enterprise to 2020 and beyond. It aims to redefine the R&D goals for nanoscale science and engineering integration, and to establish nanotechnology as a general- purpose technology in the next decade. The vision for the future of nanotechnology presented here draws on scientific insights from U.S. experts in the field, examinations of lessons learned, and international perspectives shared by participants from 35 countries in 5 international brainstorming meetings hosted or co-hosted by the principal authors of this report.5 The report was peer reviewed and received input from various stakeholders’ public comments at the website http://wtec.org/nano2/. It aims to provide decision makers in academia, industry, and government with a nanotechnology community perspective of productive and responsible paths forward for nanotechnology R&D.
This article seeks to answer several
questions: Where does the global science community need to ... more This article seeks to answer several
questions: Where does the global science community need to provide reliable data that will assist policymakers and regulators to develop confidence regarding the safety of these materials? What are the critical needs that will move us forward safely and intelligently in this promising field? Are the paradigms generally developed to assess the fate and effects of solute contaminants applicable to nanomaterials? We propose
a way to answer these questions and move Nano environmental, health, and safety (EHS)
forward, creating a new framework for detecting, determining
the fate, characterizing the hazards, and assessing
the risk of engineered nanomaterials. To understand why
and how these frameworks are relevant, we must first look
at what nanotechnology is, examine the current state of
strategies to manage nanomaterials and instill public the field, and highlight the issues inherent in studying nanotechnology.
The risks associated with exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) will be determined in part b... more The risks associated with exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) will be determined in part by the processes that control their environmental fate and transformation. These processes act not only on ENM that might be released directly into the environment, but more importantly also on ENM in consumer products and those that have been released from the product. The environmental fate and transformation are likely to differ significantly for each of these cases. The ENM released from actual direct use or from nanomaterial-containing products are much more relevant for ecotoxicological studies and risk assessment than pristine ENM. Released ENM may have a greater or lesser environmental impact than the starting materials, depending on the transformation reactions and the material. Almost nothing is known about the environmental behavior and the effects of released and transformed ENM, although these are the materials that are actually present in the environment. Further research is needed to determine whether the release and transformation processes result in a similar or more diverse set of ENM and ultimately how this affects environmental behavior. This article addresses these questions, using four hypothetical case studies that cover a wide range of ENM, their direct use or product applications, and their likely fate in the environment. Furthermore, a more definitive classification scheme for ENM should be adopted that reflects their surface condition, which is a result of both industrial and environmental processes acting on the ENM. The authors conclude that it is not possible to assess the risks associated with the use of ENM by investigating only the pristine form of the ENM, without considering alterations and transformation processes.
Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engin... more Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been hampered by a lack of adequate techniques for the detection and quantification of ENMs at environmentally relevant concentrations in complex media. Analysis of ENMs differs from traditional chemical analysis because both chemical and physical forms must be considered. Because ENMs are present as colloidal systems, their physicochemical properties are dependent on their surroundings. Therefore, the simple act of trying to isolate, observe, and quantify ENMs may change their physicochemical properties, making analysis extremely susceptible to artifacts. Many analytical techniques applied in materials science and other chemical/biological/physical disciplines may be applied to ENM analysis as well; however, environmental and biological studies may require that methods be adapted to work at low concentrations in complex matrices. The most pressing research needs are the development of techniques for extraction, cleanup, separation, and sample storage that introduce minimal artifacts to increase the speed, sensitivity, and specificity of analytical techniques, as well as the development of techniques that can differentiate between abundant, naturally occurring particles, and manufactured nanoparticles.
Ecotoxicology research is using many methods for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but the collect... more Ecotoxicology research is using many methods for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), but the collective experience from researchers has not been documented. This paper reports the practical issues for working with ENMs and suggests nano-specific modifications to protocols. The review considers generic practical issues, as well as specific issues for aquatic tests, marine grazers, soil organisms, and bioaccumulation studies. Current procedures for cleaning glassware are adequate, but electrodes are problematic. The maintenance of exposure concentration is challenging, but can be achieved with some ENMs. The need to characterize the media during experiments is identified, but rapid analytical methods are not available to do this. The use of sonication and natural/synthetic dispersants are discussed. Nano-specific biological endpoints may be developed for a tiered monitoring scheme to diagnose ENM exposure or effect. A case study of the algal growth test highlights many small deviations in current regulatory test protocols that are allowed (shaking, lighting, mixing methods), but these should be standardized for ENMs. Invertebrate (Daphnia) tests should account for mechanical toxicity of ENMs. Fish tests should consider semistatic exposure to minimize wastewater and animal husbandry. The inclusion of a benthic test is recommended for the base set of ecotoxicity tests with ENMs. The sensitivity of soil tests needs to be increased for ENMs and shortened for logistics reasons; improvements include using Caenorhabditis elegans, aquatic media, and metabolism endpoints in the plant growth tests. The existing bioaccumulation tests are conceptually flawed and require considerable modification, or a new test, to work for ENMs. Overall, most methodologies need some amendments, and recommendations are made to assist researchers.
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unprecedented challenge of climate change. The ambitious goal recommended by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to reduce GHG emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050. Reductions of this magnitude demand a comprehensive policy response, the assessment and
quantification of which are the subject of this project. This research is one part of a larger ICLEI--Local Governments for Sustainability initiative to assist 1,000 member cities in envisioning the possibilities and limitations of the role municipalities can play in meeting the 80% reductions by 2050 target (hereafter “80x50”). Local governments have a critical complementary role to play in abating U.S. GHG emissions. Focusing on stationary GHG sources over which cities have primary jurisdiction, local governments
could abate up to 30% of national emissions and 40% of city emissions in 2050 under our most optimistic assumptions. These forecasts are highly uncertain. However they give reason for
optimism, assuming state, federal, and multilateral institutions bring equally ambitious policy interventions to the table.
questions: Where does the global science community need to provide reliable data that will assist policymakers and regulators to develop confidence regarding the safety of these materials? What are the critical needs that will move us forward safely and intelligently in this promising field? Are the paradigms generally developed to assess the fate and effects of solute contaminants applicable to nanomaterials? We propose
a way to answer these questions and move Nano environmental, health, and safety (EHS)
forward, creating a new framework for detecting, determining
the fate, characterizing the hazards, and assessing
the risk of engineered nanomaterials. To understand why
and how these frameworks are relevant, we must first look
at what nanotechnology is, examine the current state of
strategies to manage nanomaterials and instill public the field, and highlight the issues inherent in studying nanotechnology.
unprecedented challenge of climate change. The ambitious goal recommended by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is to reduce GHG emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050. Reductions of this magnitude demand a comprehensive policy response, the assessment and
quantification of which are the subject of this project. This research is one part of a larger ICLEI--Local Governments for Sustainability initiative to assist 1,000 member cities in envisioning the possibilities and limitations of the role municipalities can play in meeting the 80% reductions by 2050 target (hereafter “80x50”). Local governments have a critical complementary role to play in abating U.S. GHG emissions. Focusing on stationary GHG sources over which cities have primary jurisdiction, local governments
could abate up to 30% of national emissions and 40% of city emissions in 2050 under our most optimistic assumptions. These forecasts are highly uncertain. However they give reason for
optimism, assuming state, federal, and multilateral institutions bring equally ambitious policy interventions to the table.
questions: Where does the global science community need to provide reliable data that will assist policymakers and regulators to develop confidence regarding the safety of these materials? What are the critical needs that will move us forward safely and intelligently in this promising field? Are the paradigms generally developed to assess the fate and effects of solute contaminants applicable to nanomaterials? We propose
a way to answer these questions and move Nano environmental, health, and safety (EHS)
forward, creating a new framework for detecting, determining
the fate, characterizing the hazards, and assessing
the risk of engineered nanomaterials. To understand why
and how these frameworks are relevant, we must first look
at what nanotechnology is, examine the current state of
strategies to manage nanomaterials and instill public the field, and highlight the issues inherent in studying nanotechnology.