When researchers began exploring nanoscience more than a half-century ago, the field’s potential captured the imagination. Engineer Eric Drexler famously described a “grey goo” of self-replicating machines that could spin out of control in his 1986 book Engines of Creation. Writers such as Michael Crichton followed up with scenarios of nano-sized robots turning against mankind. Such hypotheticals have stayed in the realm of science fiction, but they beg an important question: What are the ethics of nanoscience research?
UD’s new Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy (SEPP) launched last fall, in part, to help students and scientists navigate the implications of emerging research in a responsible manner. Engineering at the nanoscale, or one billionth of a meter, can create materials with improved performance that are stronger, lighter and more effective. The possible upsides have driven much of the research and development focus in the United States and abroad as nanotechnology began really taking off in the past decade.
“There is a great deal of promise of good things that could happen as a result of nanomaterials, but they have to be developed in a deliberate and thoughtful way,” SEPP Director Tom Powers says. “There has to be more of a dialogue between scientists, engineers and those who study the human health and environmental consequences of new technologies.”
Nanoparticles’ small size is key to both their usefulness and their potential danger, Powers says. Small enough to enter cells, manufactured nanoparticles have raised concerns about toxicity, such as by lodging into the lungs in a way similar to asbestos or by entering plants through the root systems. Researchers are not yet certain how the tiny particles circulate and accumulate in various environments — or even how to detect their presence.
Beyond potential health and environmental effects, there may be untoward ramifications of products that nanotechnology engineering could make possible, such as microscopic surveillance tools or surreptitious weapons.
Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is supporting nanotechnology education at UD, with an emphasis on applications in alternative energy research. Together with Ismat Shah, professor of materials science and engineering and professor of physics and astronomy, Powers created a course on nanoscience ethics and held a campuswide workshop on the topic. In November 2011, they helped organize international conferences on nanoethics in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Scientists are open to talking about the risks and benefits associated with nanotechnology, Powers says, but many have put much more thought into their research and manufacturing applications. Moving forward, SEPP encourages improved public communication about the benefits and risks of nanotechnology to inform discussions about manufacturing, commercialization and appropriate regulations and standards — starting with students at UD.
“Many of them will go on eventually to graduate work,” Powers says. “I hope they’ll remember that they actually can do nanoengineering and worry about the ethical, social, political and legal implications of what they’re doing at the same time.”