Opportunities in the 'post-academic' world

Though some see the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative's funding of Ethical, legal, and societal implications research is superfluous, the authors argue that this type of research helps narrow three cultural gaps: 1) the fragmentation of academic fields into multiple subdisciplines, 2) the artificial separation between pure and applied research, and 3) the gap between science and the society it serves.