March 12, 2008 — The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) and National Science Foundation (NSF) will host the Washington, DC, premiere event for the television series “Nanotechnology: The Power of Small,” on Wednesday evening, April 2. The event&#8212by invitation only&#8212will include remarks by US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a co-chair of the Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus.

The series’ three programs explore critical questions about nanotechnology’s potential impact on privacy, the environment, and human health: Will nanotechnology make you safer, or will it be used to track your every move? Will nanotechnology keep you young, and what happens if you live to be 150? Will nanotechnology help clean up the earth, or will it be the next asbestos?

“Nanotechnology: The Power of Small” is the first major television series to look at the implications of advances in nanotechnology&#8212the ability to measure, see, manipulate, and manufacture materials that are usually between one and 100nm in size. More than $60 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology were sold globally in 2007. By 2014, Lux Research estimates this figure will grow to $2.6 trillion.

The series is funded by NSF and the presenting station and grantee for the series is Oregon Public Broadcasting. The series is a “Fred Friendly Seminars” presentation with award-winning National Public Radio correspondent John Hockenberry as host.