Published 3 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1519
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1519

Views & Reviews

Outside the Box

The nano state

Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary health care, University College London

p.greenhalgh@pcps.ucl.ac

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The Society for Social Studies of Science—4S—is a group of sociologists who study scientists and the social effects of their research. Last week I was lost in their vast international conference, which this year focused on the themes of medicine, health care, and technology.

I tried to get into a presentation entitled "My internet penis: male panics and the queering of penis enlargement emails," but the punters had been queuing since dawn, and there was standing room only. Apparently some 6000 men every month hit the reply button and say, yes please, two more inches. Could someone in this thriving research community please find out why nobody sends me emails offering to deepen my vagina by the same amount?

The big theme for 4S is nanotechnology. Focus group research has, apparently, proved that most of us have no idea what the word means. "Nanotechnologies" are materials that have been designed . . . [Full text of this article]


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