Are we asking the right standards questions about advanced materials?

Opening comments to the ANSI Nanotechnology Standards Panel Advanced Materials workshop, August 20, 2020.

Self-assembly of Gold-polymer Nanorods — an example of an advanced material. Chad Merkin, Northwestern University. Original: NSF

I want to start with an anecdote. Back in the 1980’s when I was in high school in the UK, a select number of students each year sat for the entrance exams for Oxford and Cambridge university. These were well-known for their gnarliness, and…