Some sunscreens 'come at a cost' - ABC Science Online

(By Anna Salleh) The most effective nanoparticles in some invisible sunscreens might also be the most toxic, suggests a new Australian modelling study.

The study, by Dr Amanda Barnard of CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering in Melbourne, appears in today's issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

Dr Barnard carried out computer simulations of the properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which are used to make some sunscreens transparent, increasing their appeal to consumers.

Popular nanoparticle causes toxicity in fish, study says - Purdue Newsroom

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A nanoparticle growing in popularity as a bactericidal agent has been shown to be toxic to fish, according to a Purdue University study.

Tested on fathead minnows – an organism often used to test the effects of toxicity on aquatic life -- nanosilver suspended in solution proved toxic and even lethal to the minnows. When the nanosilver was allowed to settle, the solution became several times less toxic but still caused malformations in the minnows.

Atmosphernic nanoparticles impact health, weather prof says - Texas A & M News & Information Service

Nanoparticles are atmospheric materials so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye, but they can very visibly affect both weather patterns and human health all over the world – and not in a good way, according to a study by a team of researchers at Texas A&M University.

Researchers Lin Wang, Renyi Zhang, Alexei Khalizov, Jun Zheng, Wen Xu, Yan Ma and Vinita Lal in the Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry say that nanoparticles appear to be growing in many parts of the world, but how they do so remains a mystery.

Obama’s EPA Poised To Crack Down On Nanotech - New Haven Independent

(By Alex Halpern) The world’s smallest materials are going under the government’s microscope.

Under agency chief Lisa Jackson, the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has promised to tighten regulations on nanomaterials, particles as small as molecules which are used by companies working in fields as varied as cosmetics and advanced materials.

At atomic levels many materials take on unique characteristics. Surface areas relative to mass can increase and often a material’s conductivity or water solubility changes. These properties make nanoparticles the basis for powerful new medical and consumer products. But some nanomaterials have also raised worries from environmental and health watchdogs.

Nanofactories: Brave, Or Grave New World? - New Haven Independent

(By Alex Halpern) A patient without medical insurance downloads a medicine’s formula to his computer. A personal “nanofactory” sits on his desk. It builds the medicine he needs, molecule by molecule, as if printing a document.

Next door, an aspiring tyrant has a nanofactory, too. He’s building guns, lots of guns. Enough to arm a militia.

These scenarios may sound like science fiction. In the view of a leading watcher of the emerging field of nanotechnology, they represent two views of what could be real life in the future.

Toxicology of the Tiny - Miller-McCune

(By James Bradham). Already incorporated into consumer products ranging from baseball bats and clothing to sunscreens and toothpaste, engineered nanoparticles — ENPs — hold great promise in such areas as energy, pollution remediation, medicine and materials science. The nanotechnology industry is projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2015.

It is all made possible by the peculiar properties of nanoparticles, which are defined as having at least one dimension measuring 100 nanometers or less (a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter, or about one one-hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair).

EPA proposes new rules for Certain Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes - Bureau of National Affairs Daily Environment Report, United States

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a significant new use rule (SNUR) for certain multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCTs) for which it has already received a premanufacture notice. Manufacturers and importers of MWCTs will now have to notify the EPA if they plan to use the substance differently than outlined in their premanufacture submission.

Is It "Nano" Cream? Or Isn't It? - New Haven Independent, New Hampshire

By Alex Halperin. The luxury makeup company Chantecaille hawks1.7 ounce pots of high-tech sounding “Nano Gold Energizing Cream” for $420. Other cosmetics companies avoid references to nanotechnology like a dead rat on the samples counter.

For cosmetics companies these days, nanotechnology can be a selling point or a radioactive taboo. But they’re at liberty to say as much or as little as they want about their use of this science. If one U.S. senator has his way, regulators will be better equipped to determine whether that facial cream, sunscreen or foundation contains “nanoparticles” – and whether it presents a hazard to the public.

Engineers explore environmental concerns of nanotechnology - Newswise, Virginia Tech

As researchers around the world hasten to employ nanotechnology to improve production methods for applications that range from manufacturing materials to creating new pharmaceutical drugs, a separate but equally compelling challenge exists.

History has shown that previous industrial revolutions, such as those involving asbestos and chloroflurocarbons, have had some serious environmental impacts. Might nanotechnology also pose a risk?

SAFENANO Review of key developments in 2009 in nanotechnology safety research - Nanowerk News

In its first feature article of 2010, SAFENANO provides a summary of key nanoEHS developments from 2009, and considers how these are likely to shape 2010 in nano.