Source of the document : The Wellcome Trust is an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health.
Established in 1936 and with an endowment of around £13 billion, it is the UK’s largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research.
As a privately endowed charity, we are independent from governments, from industry and from donors.
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Dealing with things smaller than 100 nanometres (for comparison, a human hair is 80 000 nm wide), nanotechnologies are fast becoming the ’next big thing’ (only not so big at all). Yet while nano-enthusiasts say they are the future, nano-sceptics are concerned about potential dangers.
From nano-hype to nano-nonsense, this issue in the ’Big Picture’ series sifts sense from speculation.
What are nanotechnologies and what might they do for us ?
What (if anything) do we need to worry about ?
How are potential benefits weighed against possible downsides ?
What role should the public play in the process of nano development ?
Issue 2 : June 2005
(reproduced with permission of the the Wellcome Trust)