Americans distrust the morality of nanotechnology but Europeans have much more faith in the burgeoning science, according to a survey by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor.
Dietram Scheufele, a professor of life sciences communication at the UW, says that is because religion exerts far more influence on public views of technology in the United States than it does in Europe.
Nanotechnology is a branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of materials, structures, devices and circuits at the tiniest possible scale, typically in the realm of individual atoms and molecules.
Scientists see huge potential for advances in computers, medicine and many other fields. But the survey of 1,015 adult residents of the United States found that only 29.5 percent found that nanotechnology was morally acceptable.