Environmental Nanoscience Initiative
Small World
Nanotechnology has been described as the first technological revolution of the 21st century, supporting economic growth and helping to meet some of the greatest challenges we face as a society, from addressing climate change to improving human health.
It could provide new solutions for renewable energy and efficient carbon capture from power stations. In healthcare there is the potential for better diagnostics and drug delivery. It can help improve the environment: from cleaner and more efficient fuels to better water treatment and environmental clean-up.
The technology uses fundamental changes in the properties of materials at the nanoscale to open up new avenues for innovation. Carbon nanotubes, described as the "hottest thing in physics", may resemble rolled up sheets of graphite but they have fundamentally different properties. But do changed properties mean greater risks to the environment and human health? Do they behave in the same way in the environment; are they more persistent; are they more easily taken up by organisms and able to move and accumulate in them?
Understanding the risks posed by manufactured nanomaterials is a global challenge, one that is best tackled by scientists and policymakers working together internationally. Accordingly, NERC, EPSRC, Defra and the Environment Agency are collaborating with the US Environmental Protection Agency on the Environmental Nanoscience Initiative (ENI), the first truly international research programme in environmental nanosciences.