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Annotated Bibliography

Yes or No to Nanotechnology?

Sumedh Dadi

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

October 23, 2018

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Annotated Bibliography

Murray, Janet. “The big nano debate” Nanotechnology World, The Guardian. 30 Mar 2012.

https://www.theguardian.com/nanotechnology-world/the-big-nano-debate. Accessed 23

Oct. 2018.

This news article was published in early 2012 in the internationally renowned British

daily newspaper, which obviously does not need any introduction, The Guardian. The

author, Janet Murray, is a British journalist, Personal Relations Coach and she also

happens to be a fundraiser for miscarriage awareness. Murray’s fifteen-year journalism

expertise (she debuted around October 2003) mainly focuses on education, especially that

of college education. However since the mid-2010s, circa late 2013/early 2014, Murray

has changed tracks and started placing more focus on sensitive topics such as feminism,

miscarriage and business-related topics due to the fact that she happens to be a business

blogger as well, focusing extensively on topics such as blog marketing, public speaking

and writer’s block to name a few. Murray’s journalism experience clearly indicates her

credibility as well as her authority to write her article on the validity of nanotechnology,

which she does wonderfully and descriptively.

Murray first starts off the article by praising nanotechnology and its potential effects on

the human psyche. As one proceeds through the article, Murray later develops a

seemingly skeptical tone, by questioning its safety, validity, efficiency and legality. The

rest of the article involves Murray covering a debate on the benefits and dangers of

nanotechnology in Smithycroft, a secondary school located in England. Interestingly,

besides vouching for opinions from the respected authority in Smithycroft, Murray also

chooses five fifth-year students and surveys them on their opinion on nanotechnology.
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The opinion on nanotechnology overall, is divided with two students expressing their

support for nanotechnology and the other two vouching for warning signs related to

nanotechnology.

This article, despite being well-written, did not prove to have much information regarding

nanotechnology and its impacts on the human mind. In fact, in Murray’s story, most of

the well-respected authorities of Smithycroft, ended up being unsure during the end of the

debate and insisted that more research will be required to come to a final conclusion

regarding the use of nanotechnology.

To conclude, despite the fact that Murray had written a very descriptive article for The

Guardian, I would not be able to use this resource for my topic primarily due to the lack

of substantial evidence necessary for backing up my claim. A pity that a well-written

news article like this only proves to be unnecessary for my research. One interesting fact

to take account of, was that this article was written exactly a year after the Hollywood

film Limitless came out in theaters. Limitless, incidentally happens to be the basis for my

inquiry project in the sense that it deals with the miraculous effect nanotechnology can

have on an average homeless, rugged, aimless vagabond.

Saidi, Trust & Sigauke, Esther. “The use of Museum Based Science Centres to Expose Primary

School Students in Developing Countries to Abstract and Complex Concepts of

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology” Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol.

26, no. 5, 19 Apr. 2017, pp. 470-480, Springer Netherlands,

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-017-9692-2. Accessed 23 Oct. 2018.

This academic article, which was written by two students doing their PhD in the

University of Cape Town, provides an overly lengthy but detailed analysis on

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nanotechnology, child development and the potential impacts of nanotechnology on

children. The authors, Saidi and Sigauke, have been writing nanotechnology articles for

close to four years, given the fact that they had started writing around approximately the

same time (January 2014). Coming to the point, Saidi and Sigauke interestingly support

the use of nanotechnology as opposed to their older counterparts mentioned in the

following reference, by explaining how “important” it is to expose primary school-aged

children to nanotechnology. Saidi and Sigauke reason that the exposure of

nanotechnology will in a way, heighten the curiosity and inquisitiveness of the average

child’s mind, and this will later in the long run help them develop a sort of mental

framework or “an epistemic and conceptual understanding of real-world phenomena”

which will later again as a result, help them in problem-solving. The authors proceed to

later emphasize on the dearth of scientific institutions and programs focused on raising

nanotechnology awareness in South Africa, and they later strongly emphasize on quick

action on the development of nanotechnology-related programs in South Africa.

Unlike the other two references, this academic journal excerpt strongly supports the

emphasis of nanotechnology without addressing its side effects. Even though one could

argue that the article lacks flexibility in the sense that it fails to see the other side of the

spectrum, I believe that this is what makes the article stand out when compared to the

other references. However, like the other two references, this article unfortunately

happens to be boringly objective, probably due to the fact that this reference was intended

to be a well-read lab report for the respective South African professors. The article, in

spite of all its flaws, proves to be the best reference due to the excess amount of detailed

information, and will definitely aid me in my inquiry project.

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Oxford University Press. "Health Risks Of Nanotechnology: How Nanoparticles Can Cause

Lung Damage, And How The Damage Can Be Blocked." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 June

2009. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610192431.htm>.

This article, which was written by a couple of Oxford University students, mainly places

a majority of its emphasis on the disadvantages of nanotechnology and the dozens of

“extremely tiny” nanoparticles involved in the manufacturing of those respective

products in the nanotechnology industry, which is described by the author as “an

important emerging industry with a projected annual market of around one trillion US

dollars by 2015”. The authors, start off the story by establishing the relevance of

nanotechnology in everyday life matter such as health maintenance, and they later

proceed to discussing the history of nanoparticles, which was apparently “born” or

originated in Germany circa 1984. However, as of recently, nanotechnology has been

receiving widespread media attention and this has hit the minds of aspiring as well as

several veteran scientists. These scientists and researchers are willing to take the risks of

nanotechnology by plunging into the deep end of the human body by testing

nanoparticles on different body parts such as tissues in order to ensure adequate

regulation of drug release as well as inhibition to healthy tissue damage. Unfortunately

for those nanotechnology enthusiasts, through a wide range of periodically conducted

experiments, it was finally determined that nanotechnology plays a somewhat crucial role

in lung damage in living organisms, primarily due to a presence of a lethal but unknown

compound located in the nanoparticles.

The unnamed authors of this article have done a splendid job in writing this article,

mainly intended for the science enthusiasts. Even though the authors quickly change
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stances from being supportive to against nanotechnology, they brilliantly describe their

change of stance in a clear and objective way by providing facts as well as descriptive

analyses of the various experiments that were conducted. Thanks to the article which

contains bundles of information of proof on the lethality of nanoparticles, I could

definitely use this reference for my project as a counter-argument. This reference bears a

slight uncanny resemblance to the first one in the sense that both are objective and

straightforward, while at the same time, it happens to be more descriptive and useful

when compared to the latter. Counter-arguments are anyways, essential for my inquiry

project because in the end of the day, the evidence that I gathered from this article, will

play a crucial role in helping me form an accurate conclusion.