Nanotechnology: small science, BIG DEAL - The Science Museum, London
Small is beautiful, strong and lifesaving, and can make you look younger. At least, that's what Nanotechnology at the Science Museum tells us. This latest exhibition in the Antenna series (a constantly updated exhibition devoted to science and technology news) gives an upbeat assessment of the uses and versatility of tiny particles.
The exhibition explores the use of nanoparticles and nano-sized devices in six 'everyday' themes, from health and environmental science to leisure and gadgets.
A nanometre is one millionth of a metre, and nanoparticles are of this size. They can be naturally occurring or artificial; the most famous is perhaps buckminsterfullerene, the form of carbon discovered by Sir Harry Kroto in 1985.
Nanotechnology is something of a nano-exhibition, taking up a small corner of the ground floor of the Wellcome Wing. Even so, it manages to cover many aspects of the technology. Each of the six themes comprises a single display case containing objects and graphics, and a touchscreen giving further information.
In the cases there are solar panels, ultra-strong tennis rackets, face creams, medical diagnostics and even stain-resistant trousers - these particles really do get everywhere. Some of the displays are more successful than others.
The See For Yourself section explores the types of microscope that enable us to see such small particles. It contains the exhibition's only interactive - a very simple yet brilliantly effective illustration of how an atomic force microscope works.
The same section also houses a jar containing five grams of nanoparticles; the accompanying label gives the impressive statistic that this is enough for everyone in the world to have three million each. Unfortunately, it looked like a jar of talc, which wasn't so impressive.
Given the amount of space the exhibition occupies, the objects, graphics and text panels can only provide a brief illustration of each theme. Instead, most of the information on each subject area is found by reading the touchscreen displays.
Each has a choice of three or four topics on a theme, and several pages of text and illustrations for each topic. These are brief, but well written; the section discussing the concept of 'grey goo' (out-of-control self-replicating machines) was particularly well done.
However, it is disappointing that so much of the information is displayed on a computer.Perhaps a change of emphasis in the topics covered might have helped here.
There's no doubt that nanotechnology is a hot topic right now - the British and US governments are keen to fund research in this area, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sponsored this exhibition.
But many of the items on display illustrate research and products that have been in the public domain for several years. Given that Antenna is the Science Museum's science news strand, it would have been nice to see a greater emphasis on current research. Big Planet, Small Science, the section on environmental science, did this, but other sections of the exhibition seemed like old news.
Another disadvantage of putting most information on touchscreens is that any discussion of the social implications of the technology is tucked away, leaving the exhibition with an overwhelmingly celebratory feel.
There are some important issues to be talked about in relation to many of the products displayed. Only the Big Planet, Small Science area has a whole touchscreen topic dedicated to the potential pitfalls of nanotechnology.
Perhaps the curators felt that the final What Do You Think? section would redress this issue. Here, visitors can respond to three questions, and their answers will be passed on to the DTI. The questions are displayed on touchscreens with video vox-pop stimulus material.
The first asks visitors to say what nanotechnology project they would fund if they had the money. The vox-pops show five suggestions that repeat ideas mentioned elsewhere in the show. Some of these are already in production, so it will be interesting to find out how the DTI will use the responses.
The next question is on 'nanotechnology and privacy'. It gives the example of Radio Frequency Identification tags, which are used to track goods in supermarket warehouses and are now in a shop near you. Are such tags 'harmless or Big Brother?' asks the screen; 'It all depends on where it is used... I think the question is too vague,' one astute visitor replied.
Finally, the 'high-tech versus low-tech' touchscreen asks whether money should be spent on nanotechnology to clean dirty water or to dig wells. Again, this is a complex issue with many scientific, social and ethical dimensions and the question is simplistic. One wonders what the DTI will really be able to do with the answers.
Rachel Souhami is a freelance curator and visiting lecturer in science communication at Imperial College, London
Small is beautiful, strong and lifesaving, and can make you look younger. At least, that's what Nanotechnology at the Science Museum tells us. This latest exhibition in the Antenna series (a constantly updated exhibition devoted to science and technology news) gives an upbeat assessment of the uses and versatility of tiny particles.
The exhibition explores the use of nanoparticles and nano-sized devices in six 'everyday' themes, from health and environmental science to leisure and gadgets.
A nanometre is one millionth of a metre, and nanoparticles are of this size. They can be naturally occurring or artificial; the most famous is perhaps buckminsterfullerene, the form of carbon discovered by Sir Harry Kroto in 1985.
Nanotechnology is something of a nano-exhibition, taking up a small corner of the ground floor of the Wellcome Wing. Even so, it manages to cover many aspects of the technology. Each of the six themes comprises a single display case containing objects and graphics, and a touchscreen giving further information.
In the cases there are solar panels, ultra-strong tennis rackets, face creams, medical diagnostics and even stain-resistant trousers - these particles really do get everywhere. Some of the displays are more successful than others.
The See For Yourself section explores the types of microscope that enable us to see such small particles. It contains the exhibition's only interactive - a very simple yet brilliantly effective illustration of how an atomic force microscope works.
The same section also houses a jar containing five grams of nanoparticles; the accompanying label gives the impressive statistic that this is enough for everyone in the world to have three million each. Unfortunately, it looked like a jar of talc, which wasn't so impressive.
Given the amount of space the exhibition occupies, the objects, graphics and text panels can only provide a brief illustration of each theme. Instead, most of the information on each subject area is found by reading the touchscreen displays.
Each has a choice of three or four topics on a theme, and several pages of text and illustrations for each topic. These are brief, but well written; the section discussing the concept of 'grey goo' (out-of-control self-replicating machines) was particularly well done.
However, it is disappointing that so much of the information is displayed on a computer.Perhaps a change of emphasis in the topics covered might have helped here.
There's no doubt that nanotechnology is a hot topic right now - the British and US governments are keen to fund research in this area, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) sponsored this exhibition.
But many of the items on display illustrate research and products that have been in the public domain for several years. Given that Antenna is the Science Museum's science news strand, it would have been nice to see a greater emphasis on current research. Big Planet, Small Science, the section on environmental science, did this, but other sections of the exhibition seemed like old news.
Another disadvantage of putting most information on touchscreens is that any discussion of the social implications of the technology is tucked away, leaving the exhibition with an overwhelmingly celebratory feel.
There are some important issues to be talked about in relation to many of the products displayed. Only the Big Planet, Small Science area has a whole touchscreen topic dedicated to the potential pitfalls of nanotechnology.
Perhaps the curators felt that the final What Do You Think? section would redress this issue. Here, visitors can respond to three questions, and their answers will be passed on to the DTI. The questions are displayed on touchscreens with video vox-pop stimulus material.
The first asks visitors to say what nanotechnology project they would fund if they had the money. The vox-pops show five suggestions that repeat ideas mentioned elsewhere in the show. Some of these are already in production, so it will be interesting to find out how the DTI will use the responses.
The next question is on 'nanotechnology and privacy'. It gives the example of Radio Frequency Identification tags, which are used to track goods in supermarket warehouses and are now in a shop near you. Are such tags 'harmless or Big Brother?' asks the screen; 'It all depends on where it is used... I think the question is too vague,' one astute visitor replied.
Finally, the 'high-tech versus low-tech' touchscreen asks whether money should be spent on nanotechnology to clean dirty water or to dig wells. Again, this is a complex issue with many scientific, social and ethical dimensions and the question is simplistic. One wonders what the DTI will really be able to do with the answers.
Rachel Souhami is a freelance curator and visiting lecturer in science communication at Imperial College, London
