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Nano threats and challenges

Jul 1, 2003

Worries in the science community about a public backlash against nanotechnology have been growing in recent months. Currently, public fears range from the reasonable, such as the unknown effects of nanoparticles on health and the environment, to what scientists consider to be the ridiculous - a world overrun by plagues of self-replicating nanorobots. This is the "grey goo" scenario that looms large in Prey, the recent novel by Michael Crichton that seems to have kick-started this current bout of nano-angst. The nightmare scenario for scientists is that the public - egged on by various pressure groups - will reject nanotechnology in the same way that the UK and other countries have rejected genetically modified (GM) food.

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