When the state of U.S. science and technology came under attack last year, the National Nanotechnology Initiative stood out as a program that forged ahead in tight fiscal circumstances and a declining labor pool. A new report from the National Research Council finds that the U.S. is nonetheless losing ground to Japan and Europe in nanotechnology spending, publications and patents.

Nanotechnology, to the extent it exists, also came under fire for the health and safety uncertainties it poses. "Insufficient Attention Paid to Potential Dangers," reads a Washington Post sub-head this morning, a phrase that seemingly appears every day in the post-9/11 world. The FDA is certainly in desperate need of reform, but Philoneist does not understand why anything qualifying as "nanotechnology," should get more special treatment than, say, Vioxx.

So, there are two lessons from the report: Nanotech materials are potentially harmful, and we're not developing them nearly fast enough.

Also, will someone please outlaw the use of the words, "big," "little," "small world," "tiny," "small business," and anything similar in nanotechology headlines and titles? A Matter of Size, the report, is incrementally better for its play on the word "matter."