Harry Potter educates about nanotechnology and Britain’s MI5 is looking for a technology futurist

A University of Houston team has received a $3M grant to create nanotechnology education programmes for local middle and high school students. They will be using Harry Potter and his magic as a metaphor for nanotechnology (from Nanowerk News),

“Despite being an adult, the story of Harry Potter and his magical world struck me both as an individual and a scientist. Clearly, most kids and many other adults also share this fascination,” Pradeep Sharma, the associate professor who is heading the program, said. “The tantalizing part is that several aspects of the ‘magic’ in Harry Potter can be explained by science or is certainly achievable in the future, given the way technology is leaping forward.” One example that would easily translate in the classroom, Sharma said, is Harry’s magical cloak, which makes him invisible.

Yes, every time some scientist does work on cloaking objects by bending light, Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility is mentioned (I have several references and it’s in my Nanotech Mysteries wiki here). Earlier this month, Australians decided to introduce nanotechnology education to teachers (more details here). As far as I know, there are no such programmes in Canada.

For anyone who has ever dreamed about being Q (the technology guru in James Bond movies) in real life, there’s an opportunity. Britain’s MI5 has advertised for this (from Physorg.com),

Applicants must have “world-class scientific expertise and credibility in relevant scientific and technology disciplines”, their advertisement read.

“I think it’s unlikely that the person will be required to develop a weapons system for the latest Aston Martin,” Professor John Beddington, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, told the BBC.

However, the successful candidate will help protect Britain against threats to national security by keeping on top of the latest moves in science and technology.

“It will involve a sort of future-gazing to see where technology will be taking us in a year or so,” Beddington said.

Good luck.

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