This talk, “Digital Matters: Video Games and the Cultural Transcoding of Nanotechnology,” explored the cross-traffic between nanotechnologies and video games and how gamers’ perceptions and knowledge of nanotechnologies may be influenced by the games’ narratives and images.

Prof. Milburn’s research focuses on the cultural relations between literature, science, and technology.  His interests include science fiction; Gothic horror, the history of biology; the history of physics; comic books; film and new media; critical theory; and posthumanism.

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at UCSB is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as a national research and education center, a network hub among researchers and educators concerned with nanotechnologies’ societal impacts, and a resource base for studying these impacts in the U.S. and abroad.This talk is co-sponsored by the UC Santa Barbara Department of Film and Media Studies.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of materials on a very small scale and offers possibilities in the fields of medicine, energy and the environment, and electronics.  A relatively new science, there is still a great deal unknown about its potential benefits and risks.

The event flier is available for download here.

Professor Milburn discusses his research with UC Santa Barbara faculty 

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