Small talk : Discussing Nanotechnologies

Report from a three-year United Kingdom project that explored the aspirations and concerns of scientists and the public about nanotechnologies, and how these views can be shared with policy-makers. Specifically, it examined how collaboration could help the science community, science communicators, and policymakers to learn more about public views of nanotechnology and the process of gathering these views. Authors found that practitioner led discussions were an extremely an effective ways to communicate information about nanotechnologies. It also found that the general public are generally positive about nanotechnology, are more concerned with regulatory frameworks that will deal with any risks posed by nanotechnology development rather then worried about specific risks that might arise, and that there is a significant gap between the public