Big issues for tiny technology

STM publishing giant Springer has announced a journal about scientific ethics to juxtapose its stable of scientific publications. NanoEthics will focus on the booming field of nanotechnology, an area of science some fear will have damaging affects on the environment and people's health.

A study conducted by the Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) at the University of Toronto, Canada warned of a growing divide between the progress of scientific development in nanotechnology and ethical concerns was growing ever wider.

Dr Peter Singer, an author of the study, entitled, Mind the Gap: Science and Ethics in Nanotechnology cautioned “The science is barrelling forward, but the ethics aren’t and there’s very little public engagement.”

The new journal; NanoEthics: Ethics for Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale is dedicated to addressing the massive issues that will no doubt emerge. “The steep growth of nanotechnology demands a critical view of its effects on society” said Alexander Schimmelpenninck, vice president of publishing, human sciences at Springer.

As the scientific progress behind nano technologies ever gathers momentum, the discipline has become increasingly aware that not only is public perception important to the field, but so are the wider implications of the technology from the impact it can have on society, culturally and economically and of course environmentally.

The journal will closely examine both philosophical and scientific elements of the ethical and social concerns that affect research and development policy in nanotechnology. Although ethics will form the basis for the journal their will be sub-topics that consider environmental, health and socio-economic factors as well as cultural and political impacts.

Editor in Chief of the journal Professor John Weckert said “Nanotechnology seems to offer enormous potential benefits, but scientists, philosophers, social scientists and lawyers among others, need to collaborate in order to maximise these benefits and minimise potential harms.” NanoEthics will support this collaboration.