Nanotechnology in Society
at the University of Wisconsin - Madison
As part of the NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University (CNS-ASU), researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are working on issues broadly related to the social, legal, and ethical implications of nanotechnology. This includes ongoing surveys about public attitudes toward nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, experimental studies of message processing and public understanding of nanotechnologies, and long-term tracking of media coverage.
The different projects at the University of Wisconsin-Madison bring together researchers from Life Sciences Communication, Rural Sociology, Journalism & Mass Communication, and the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies.
Recent Project Updates
December 7, 2008 - Nano and its capacity to alter the fundamentals of nature, it seems, are failing the moral litmus test of religion. In an advance online report published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, survey results from the United States and Europe reveal a sharp contrast in the perception that nanotechnology is morally acceptable. Those views, according to the report, correlate directly with aggregate levels of religious views in different countries. (UW press release.)