The Brown & White

Public knowledge about nanotechnology and its unforeseen risks is limited but growing, said Sharon Friedman, director of the Science and Environmental writing program and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Friedman, who has spent the past seven years researching nanotechnology and its coverage in society, revealed her findings at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and the Society for Risk Analysis in San Antonio, Texas earlier this year.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation and measurement of materials as little as one-one hundredth nanometers in size.

Nano can be found in cosmetics, sunscreens, longer-lasting tennis balls, bumpers on cars and scratch resistant paints, Friedman said. Though found in these everyday items, the potential health and environmental risks are unknown.

Scientists have yet to fully determine the affects of nanotechnology and have not communicated with society about the possibilities, Friedman said.

She said it is not so much the science aspect of nanotechnology that interests her, but how the technology as a whole is portrayed to the public.

Friedman's concerns about public knowledge caused her to seek out other professors interested in this developing technology.

Martin Harmer, an Alcoa Foundation professor of materials science and engineering, is also interested in how nanotechnology is integrated into society.

"The good and the bad are not unique to nano," Harmer said. "Nano fibers can get into the lungs and act like asbestos. Nanotechnology has also been used to develop new drug delivery methods."

In conjunction with Lehigh research scientist Brenda Egolf, Friedman has conducted studies on newspapers in the U.S. and the U.K. because the public gathers most information through the media, Friedman said.

Friedman said she compares perceptions to reality in her research.

She looks at what the public has access to and how much information is available.

"We want to see what information is available to readers if they want to read it," Friedman said.

Longitudinal studies are conducted to study the media, Friedman said.

Documents about nanotechnology and its risks are found in LEXUS Academic, a search engine that has a compilation of newspapers in the U.S. and the U.K.

By searching with a controlled list of search terms, Friedman and researchers are able to find articles and pieces on nanotechnology.

Students use content-analysis with standardized format when reading documents to obtain a quantitative analysis of each document, Friedman said.

Most of the articles that do discuss the uses and risks of nanotechnology focus on the regulations rather than the science.

It is safer to talk about the regulations because it is rarely controversial when there are no bad effects of nano released yet, Friedman said.

There are now over 600 products available that use nanotechnology.

With long-term chronic exposure, potential risks could be large, Friedman said.

Friedman said she fears that until something bad happens, nanotechnology risk might not be recognized and written about.

The goal of the research was to develop indications for a whole variety of aspects of nano that are interests of society, Harmer said.

"Jobs can be created in the field of nano, but they can also be lost because of nano," Harmer said.

New technology affects the environment, health and the general public, Friedman said.

"Technology is rising so fast, and the public needs to be informed because they are using it daily," Friedman said.

Harmer said nanotechnology is a multidimensional field, including science and awareness.

"It is an important [field] and it will be an important field," Harmer said. "I see it as a field that will capture the imaginations of young scientists.

School kids have a growing awareness of nanotechnology. It offers something different than the traditional physics and mathematics, Harmer said.

Lehigh created a course, Nanotechnology and Society, in response to growing interest in nanotechnology.

The course is available to students across all colleges because nanotechnology is versatile and affects everyone, Harmer said.