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After more than ten years of strategic investment research and development supported by government policies on science and technology, nanotechnology in Japan is making a transition from the knowledge creation stage of exploratory research to the stage of making the outcomes available for the benefit of society as a whole. Osaka University has been proactive in discussions about the relationship between nanotechnology and society as part of graduate and continuing education programs. These programs are intended to fulfill the social accountability obligation of scientists and corporations involved in R&D, and to deepen their understanding of the relationship between science and society. To meet those aims, the program has covered themes relating to overall public engagement relating to nanotechnology governance, such as risk management of nanomaterials, international standardization for nanotechnology, nanomeasurement, intellectual property management in an open innovation environment, and interactive communication with society. Nanotechnology is an emerging field of science and technology. This paper reports and comments on initiatives for public engagement on nanotechnology at Osaka University's Institute for NanoScience Design, which aims to create new technologies based on nanotechnology that can help realize a sustainable society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstracts of articles appearing in "Science" publications are presented including a human genomics study by Melé et al., an ultralow friction study by Koren et al., and a geophysics study by Yamashita et al., all within the issue.

The article focuses on a research conducted by Azusa Hattori and colleagues from Osaka University and Osaka Dental University in Japan which developed a technique for fabricating luminescent nanoscale boxes.