STS

• Conservation efforts on biodiversity are necessary as biodiversity is being lost at alarming rates.
• The rates of biodiversity loss are between 1,000 and 10,000 times faster as compared to the natural extinction rate.
• The absence of full scientific certainty shall not serve as a reason to postpone measures where there is a risk of irreversible or serious harm to public health or the environment.
• Another application of nanotechnology in electronics involves the use of nanoparticles to enhance the performance of electronic devices.
• Nanoparticles can be used to enhance the performance of electronic devices.
• Drivers of biodiversity loss include climate change, habitat destruction, and overexploitation.
• Biodiversity conservation aims to manage and protect biodiversity to obtain resources for sustainable development.
• The three main objectives of biodiversity conservation are to preserve the diversity of species, sustainable utilization of species and ecosystem, and maintain life-supporting systems and essential ecological processes.
• Biodiversity can be conserved through in-situ conservation, which involves the conservation of species within their natural habitat, and ex-situ conservation, which involves the breeding and maintenance of endangered species in artificial ecosystems like zoos, botanical gardens, nurseries, gene banks, etc.
• In-situ conservation is a cost-effective method of conserving biodiversity as it can conserve a large number of living organisms simultaneously.
• Wildlife sanctuaries are regions wherein only wild animals are found and human activities like collection of woods, cultivation, timber harvesting, and other forest products are allowed as long as the conservation project will not be interfered by them.
• Biosphere reserves are multi-purpose and protected areas wherein the wildlife, traditional lifestyle of the inhabitants, and domesticated animals and plants are protected.
• Ex-situ conservation involves the breeding and maintenance of endangered species in artificial ecosystems like zoos, botanical gardens, nurseries, gene banks, etc.
• The advantages of ex-situ conservation include providing the animals with a longer time and breeding activity, enabling the species that are bred in captivity to be reintroduced in the wild, and using genetic techniques for the preservation of endangered species.
• Strategies for biodiversity conservation include conserving all varieties of food, livestock, timber plants, agricultural animals, and microbes, identifying and conserving all economically important organisms, preserving unique ecosystems first, efficiently utilizing resources, preventing poaching and hunting of wild animals, developing protected areas and reserves carefully, reducing environmental levels of pollutants, and strictly prohibiting deforestation.
• Nanoparticles can be nanoscale species of elements, simple compounds, or complex compounds, wherein a particular element’s nanoparticle is coated with another substance.
• The immediate concern is with free nanoparticles, which interact with cells and subcellular components, causing toxicological significance due to their high numbers per given mass and increased surface area per unit mass.
• Nanoparticles' adverse effects cannot be derived from the known toxicity of the macro-sized material, posing significant issues in addressing the health and environmental impact of free nanoparticles.
• A liquid or powder that contains nanoparticles is almost never monodisperse but will contain a range of particle sizes, complicating the experimental analysis because larger nanoparticles might have different properties than the smaller ones.
• Nanoparticles are highly mobile once they are within the body, often crossing the blood-brain barrier.
• Nanoparticles' behavior is a function of their size, shape, and surface reactivity with the surrounding tissue.
• Nanoparticles could cause "overload" on phagocytes, triggering stress reactions that would lead to inflammation and weakening of the body's defense against other pathogens.
• Nanoparticles exposed to tissue and fluids will immediately absorb onto their surface, including some of the macromolecules that they encounter.
• There are ongoing studies investigating whether the amount of free radicals formed on the surface of nanoparticles is sufficient to induce cellular effects.
• Nanoparticles can be released in the air or water during production or as waste byproduct of production, ultimately accumulating in the water, soil, or plant life.
• In fixed form, wherein they are part of a manufactured product or substance, they will have to be recycled or disposed of as waste.
• The whole life cycle of these particles needs to be evaluated in order to properly assess the health hazards of engineered nano-particles, including their fabrication, disposal, storage and distribution, and application and potential abuse.
• Precautionary principles states that if a policy or action may cause irreversible or severe harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that there will be no harm that would ensue, the burden of proof will fall on those who would advocate taking the action.
• Nanoelectronics holds some answers on expanding the capabilities of electronics devices.
• Through nanotechnology, these devices can be expanded while reducing their weight and as well as their power consumption.
• Nanotechnology can improve the display screens on electronic devices and increase the density of memory chips.
• Nanotechnology can reduce the size of transistors that are used in integrated circuits.
• One researcher believes that it may be possible to put the power of all of the present computers today right in the palm of your hand.
• Nanotechnology is being used in several applications to improve the environment.
• Nanotechnology can make alternative energy sources more cost effective, clean up existing pollution, and improve manufacturing methods to reduce the generation of new pollution.
• Researchers have shown that iron nanoparticles can be effective in cleaning up organic solvents that are polluting groundwater.
• Silver nanoclusters can significantly reduce the polluting byproducts generated in the process used to manufacture propylene oxide.
• Researchers have demonstrated that when an array of silicon nanowires is embedded in a polymer, low-cost but high-efficiency solar cells are the results.
• Silver nanoparticles in fabric kill bacteria making clothing odor-resistant.
• Skin care products use nanoparticles to deliver vitamins deeper into the skin.