Tag Archives: nano and popular culture

Transatlantic nanotechnology, kids learning about nano, and a bit about Playboy bunnies

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) will be hosting an event in September 2009,

Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation: Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC
September 23, 2009

Nanotechnology will impact our lives on a global scale. Over the past year experts from the London School of Economics (LSE), Chatham House, Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies have been examining issues of transatlantic regulatory cooperation.

The main purpose of this event is to discuss recommendations from this research effort that are part of a forthcoming report by LSE and ELI being published by Chatham House. It also is aimed at generating and examining new ideas to enable greater transatlantic cooperation on nanotechnology oversight today and in the future.

The forthcoming report will be launched in the European Union at Chatham House, London UK, September 10 – 11, 2009.

If you can get to PEN’s event in Washington, DC, registration is here. (If you can’t get to Washington, the event will be webcast, live and also archived for later viewing). As for the London event,  you can go here to the London School of Economics for more details. Or you can register for it by emailing: Ms. Carmen Gayoso (nanotech@lse.ac.uk)

I’d heard of the Nano Brothers before but, until this morning, I’d never seen their act. It’s part of a clip from a kid’s PBS series (dragonflytv) where the two hostesses (Ebony and Jasmine) investigate nanotechnology and what the measurement one billionth of a metre actually means.  There’s a transcript and a clip here.

Physorg.com alerted me to this tidbit. The Lower Key Marsh rabbit in Florida was declared an endangered species in 1990, today there are fewer than 300 rabbits, which are also known as Playboy Bunnies (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri). They are subspecies of marsh rabbit named to honor Hugh Hefner after his organization donated money to support field research.  There are more details in the media release on physorg.com here.

credit: Rosanna Tursi (downloaded from physorg.com)

credit: Rosanna Tursi (downloaded from physorg.com)

Good on Hugh Hefner and it was smart of the researchers to find a new way to publicize their bunny’s plight.