While nanotechnology is among the hottest areas of scientific research and many universities are expanding their nano programs, the American public is deeply skeptical, with only 29.5 percent in a recent poll believing that the work is morally acceptable. That result was presented Friday, by Dietram Scheufele, a professor of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Scheufele found much higher percentages of people in Britain (54.1 percent), France (72.1 percent) and Germany (62.7 percent) believe that the research is moral, and sees Americansâ?? religious beliefs explaining the difference.
Office of Strategic Communication