Nanotechnology, which alters the fundamentals of nature by manipulating matter on an atomic or molecular scale, is becoming a larger presence in everyday life through its use in more than a thousand products ranging from solar panels and scratch-resistant automobile paint to enhanced golf clubs. Even so, cultural and religious beliefs, as well as concerns about health and safety, give rise to differing views of its acceptability. This image shows a view from within a flattened, twisted carbon nanotube. Nanotubes are tiny tube-like structures that have unique electronic, thermal, and structural properties that make them potentially useful for nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science.

Credit: Vin Crespi, Pennsylvania State Physics. Distributed under the Creative Commons license.

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizonia State University will use "real-time technology assessment," a social science tool that relies on understanding the social, moral, political, and economic dynamics of nanotechnologies, to develop a strategic vision for their anticipatory governance.

Credit: Roxanne Wheelock, CNS-ASU

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at University of California, Santa Barbara will pool together interdisciplinary research to produce new knowledge about the challenges to successful development of nanotechnologies in North America, Europe, Asia and other regions.

Credit: George Foulsham, UC Santa Barbara