Blogger: Richard Jones
URL: www.softmachines.org/wordpress
First post: August 2004
Who is the blog written by?
Richard Jones is an experimental polymer physicist at Sheffield University in the UK as well as the senior strategic advisor for nanotechnology for the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. His research is focused on the properties of polymers and biopolymers at surfaces and interfaces. He has also written a book entitled Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life, which attempts to explain nanotechnology to the layreader (see “The future of nanotechnology”).
What topics does the blog cover?
Part of its purpose is to support and publicize Jones’ book, so it mainly discusses nanotechnology issues that would interest the general public. Jones often picks up on nanotechnology stories in the wider media and gives his personal view on them; and in a series of longer posts he gives his thoughts on the future of nanotechnology and how it might be used in areas like medicine. A recent entry, for example, looked at a potential new way of sequencing genomes using nanoporous membranes.
Who is it aimed at?
Jones generally steers clear of including too much technical detail, thereby making the blog suitable for general readers and scientists in other disciplines. Even those working within nanotechnology will appreciate Jones’ thoroughness in trawling the media for nano-related stories and the light-hearted tone he then recounts them in.
Why should I read it?
As a keen popularizer of science, Jones writes with clarity and flair. His blog reads like a well-crafted magazine column and is both informative and entertaining. Overall it provides a good digest of the most interesting developments in nanotechnology around the world, with Jones throwing in plenty of his own thoughts and anecdotes to spice things up. For example, the article he wrote for Physics World in 2004 about the future of nanotechnology apparently received some criticism for its use of imaginative images. The posts that describe this incident are both entertaining and insightful, and generate an interesting discussion on how scientific concepts should be illustrated for the general public.
How often is it updated?
Every few days, but posts often run to several hundred words.
Can you give me a sample quote?
When I was in Norway a few months ago, I was talking to an official from their research council about the Norwegian national nanotechnology strategy. He explained how they were going to focus on a few application areas for nanotechnology, starting with nanotechnology for energy, nanotechnology for medicine, and nanotechnology for information technology. Thus far his list was very similar to lists being compiled by just about everybody else in the world. Then he went on to explain that the fourth area would be nanotechnology for fish, and I had to admit to myself that the latter focus probably would be nationally distinctive.
