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| Nanotechnology: A Blessing or A Curse? (First Year) |
2006 Fall
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| Austin College
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Texas
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Freshman Seminars
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| Super-drugs that eliminate cancer cells without side effects and repair heart tissue non-invasively; army uniforms that can monitor a soldier's health, detect and detoxify chemical agents, heat and cool the soldier; self-cleaning floor tiles and windows; stain-free pants. Nanotechnology has already created some of these items, and promises to create the others.
In recent years nanotechnology emerged as a field of scientific research and technological innovation. Newspapers, magazines, and TV news programs report on various aspects of this new technology. Some reports focus on the anticipated benefits of nanotechnology, while others emphasize the perceived risks associated with it. Movies, TV series, video games, utopian fantasies, and horror scenarios involving nanotechnology have become a staple of the entertainment industry.
This course aims to explore the connections between nanotechnology and society, and nanotechnologys potential economic, social, ethical, and environmental implications. We will begin with an introduction of the broad field of nanotechnology, followed by a discussion of nanotechnology in the context of technology and progress. We will look at nanotechnology from different viewpoints, such as those of the government, the military, the environment, and the general public. Nanotechnology in culture and in science fiction will also be explored.
Students will learn through lectures, reading and writing assignments, and active participation in classroom discussions. Each student will conduct an independent project on one application of nanotechnology that will culminate in a class presentation
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| Course Syllabus Website
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Course Instructor(s):
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