Article | REF: NM8005 V1

Nanotechnologies: promises and debates

Authors: Jean-Yves BOTTERO, Jean-Marc GROGNET, Louis LAURENT

Publication date: December 10, 2010

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


Overview

Français

ABSTRACT

Debates associated with the development of nanotechnologies illustrate the questions raised by technological progress in general. Although significant benefits are envisaged, presented and sometimes overrated by scientists, aside from the hopes raised and expected progress, questions are raised on how the consequences induced by these new technologies can be mastered; these questions, sometimes criticisms are raised by the scientific community as well as by representatives of associations from the "civil society". The aim of this article is to present this very rich debate via certain examples from three key sectors: nanomaterials and their applications in the domain of sustainable development, health and medicine, as well as that of information and communication technologies.

Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.

Read the article

AUTHORS

  • Jean-Yves BOTTERO: CNRS Research Director at the European Research and Teaching Center for Environmental Geosciences, Aix-en-Provence, France

  • Jean-Marc GROGNET: Director of Research at the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA)

  • Louis LAURENT: Scientific manager of the Paris-Saclay campus project

 INTRODUCTION

Summary:

The debates surrounding the development of nanotechnology are a good illustration of the questions raised by technological progress in general. On the one hand, major benefits are glimpsed, presented and sometimes over-expressed by scientists, technologists and industrialists. On the other hand, alongside the hopes raised and the progress expected, questions are being raised as to how to control the consequences that these new technologies may entail, with these questions, and sometimes these criticisms, coming as much from the scientific community itself as from representatives of associations from "civil society". The aim of this article is to take the measure of this very rich debate through a few examples drawn from three key sectors: nanomaterials and their applications in the fields of sustainable development, health and medicine, and information and communication technologies.

You do not have access to this resource.

Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference

A Comprehensive Knowledge Base, with over 1,200 authors and 100 scientific advisors
+ More than 10,000 articles and 1,000 how-to sheets, over 800 new or updated articles every year
From design to prototyping, right through to industrialization, the reference for securing the development of your industrial projects

This article is included in

Nanosciences and nanotechnologies

This offer includes:

Knowledge Base

Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees

Services

A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources

Practical Path

Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills

Doc & Quiz

Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading

Subscribe now!

Ongoing reading
Nanotechnologies: promise and debate