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Andrew Maynard

Carbon nanotubes as a potent cancer promoter – new data from NIOSH

March 14, 2013

Cross-posted from 2020 Science: On Monday, the National Institute for Occupational Safety released new data on the potential role multi-walled carbon nanotubes play as a cancer-promoter – a substance that promotes the development of cancer in the presence of a carcinogen. In the study, mice were injected with methylcholanthrene – a cancer initiating agent – [...]

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Top Ten Emerging Technology Trends for 2013

February 14, 2013

The World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has just published its annual list of the top ten emerging technology trends. Based on expert assessment from council members and others, the list provides insight into technologies that have the potential to have a significant economic and social impact in the near to mid [...]

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At the frontiers of the science of health risk – five areas to watch

January 1, 2013

This week’s Risk Bites video takes a roller-coaster ride through some of the hottest topics in risk science. Admittedly this is a somewhat personal list, and rather constrained by being compressed into a two and a half minute video for a broad audience.  But it does touch on some of the more exciting frontier areas [...]

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How Risky is your Breakfast?

November 6, 2012

Professor David Spiegelhalter is the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge. For more information about his work on risk, uncertainty and communication, please visit his website – Understanding Uncertainty.  Understanding how the numbers add up in relation to risk can help us deal with our own uncertainty, as [...]

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Open access academics: Experiments with YouTube, the Science of Risk, and Professional Amateurism

October 18, 2012

Cross-posted from 2020 Science YouTube intrigues me. Having been dragged into the YouTube culture by my teenagers over the past two years, I’ve been fascinated by the shift from seemingly banal content to a sophisticated social medium. But what has really grabbed my attention is the growth of YouTube as a unique and powerful platform [...]

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Why should I wash my hands if I only pee?

September 24, 2012

“Why should I wash my hands if I only pee?”  It’s the sort of question most parents have had to handle at some time – especially if you have pretentious kids who delight in telling you how pure pee is!  It’s also the subject of the first post in this semester’s Mind The Science Gap [...]

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EPA’s risk assessment system needs an overhaul: Gray and Cohen

September 17, 2012

Quantitative Risk Assessment is hardly a topic that is likely to be seen trending on Twitter or going viral on YouTube anytime soon.  But it is important.  As I teach my students, how we assess and address human health risks affects almost every aspect of our lives.  Beyond the obvious benefits to our health and [...]

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Early heads-up: new Graduate Certificate in Risk Science and Human Health

June 1, 2012

This fall, graduate students at the University of Michigan School of Public Health will be able to sign up for a new Graduate Certificate in Risk Science and Human Health.  The certificate is designed to provide students with a better understanding of science-informed and socially responsive approaches to health risks that are applicable in multiple [...]

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Andrew Maynard taking over as Interim Chair of the UM Environmental Health Sciences department

May 31, 2012

From June 1 I will be taking up the position of Interim Chair in the School of Public Health Environmental Health Sciences Department, as well as continuing to direct the Risk Science Center.  This is a great opportunity to build on the work of the previous chair Howard Hu and prepare the department for my [...]

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Does science literacy increase polarization in risk perception?

May 31, 2012

It’s very easy to assume that people who don’t make smart decisions on risks are – not to put too fine a point on it – stupid (“smart” here usually meaning “the decision I think is right”).  But as many researchers in the decision analysis field will attest to, it’s more complicated than that.  This [...]

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Communicating about communicating science at the National Academies

May 23, 2012

I‘ve just spent the last two days at the National Academies of Science listening to a long strong of folks talk about the Science of Science Communication. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I wasn’t a speaker and so could just kick back and listen – but I did get [...]

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Think Design – an alternative take on nanotech (in 11 minutes!)

May 23, 2012

A few weeks ago I was asked to give a “TED style talk” on nanotechnology for the University of Michigan Environmental Health Sciences department 125th anniversary. What they got was a short talk on “thinking small”: The other talks in the series are also worth checking out – covering topics as diverse as epigenetics, cancer, [...]

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Carbon nanoparticles could be ubiquitous to many foods

May 21, 2012

TEM images of carbon particles from foods containing caramelized sugar. Click to see larger image. Source: Palashudding et al. Nanotechnology leads to novel materials, new exposures and potentially unique health and environmental risks – or so the argument goes. But an increasing body of research is showing that relatively uniformly sized nanometer scale particles are [...]

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Risk Science Center Annual Meeting – May 30 (all welcome!)

May 16, 2012

May 30 sees this year’s Annual Meeting of the University of Michigan Risk Science Center – a chance to hear about some of the activities of the center and (more importantly) provide us with your thoughts and insights into where we should be going in the future.

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New Managing Director joins the UM Risk Science Center

May 15, 2012

I am very pleased to announce that the University of Michigan Risk Science Center has just been joined by Tracy Swinburn as its new Managing Director.  Tracy has a background as an economic analyst, and will be working closely on building up the center’s strategic partnerships with stakeholders, as well as developing and contributing directly [...]

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Flame retardants in furniture foam – weighing the evidence

May 10, 2012

The Chicago Tribune launched a hard hitting investigative series this week on the downsides of flame retardant chemicals. Opening with the line “The average American baby is born with 10 fingers, 10 toes and the highest recorded levels of flame retardants among infants in the world”, the series paints a picture of corporate greed, misinformation [...]

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Nanoparticles, cosmetics and sunscreens – again!

May 5, 2012

Cross posted from 2020 Science Robin Erb has a good piece on cosmetics and safe ingredients in the Detroit Free Press this week – it tackles the very limited regulation over what goes into cosmetics, but balances this with a useful perspective on consumer choice and how this in turn can drive business decisions on [...]

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Risk Science Center goes European

April 26, 2012

You’ll have realized from Rick Neitzel’s post earlier this week that he has abandoned the delights of Ann Arbor this summer for those of Sweden (we’re just hoping we get him back before he gets a taste for the good life over there!).  Totally coincidentally as it turns out, he was the vanguard of a [...]

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Pink Slime and ammonia consumption – the numbers

April 4, 2012

I‘ve been following the Lean Finely Textured Beef (aka Pink Slime) story with interest for a few days now, and have been struck by how tough it is to dig up hard facts on what the basis of the concerns are here – beyond an instinctive distaste over finding out what goes into today’s processed [...]

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National Academy publishes new nanomaterials risk research strategy

January 26, 2012

Cross posted from 2020 Science The US National Academy of Science today published its long-awaited Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials. I won’t comment extensively on the report as I was a member of the committee that wrote it. But I did want to highlight a number of aspects of [...]

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