Natural, incidental, and engineered nanomaterials and their impacts on the Earth system

Nanomaterials are critical components in the Earth system's past, present, and future characteristics and behavior. They have been present since Earth's origin in great abundance. Life, from the earliest cells to modern humans, has evolved in intimate association with naturally occurring nanomaterials. This synergy began to shift considerably with human industrialization. Particularly since the Industrial Revolution some two-and-a-half centuries ago, incidental nanomaterials (produced unintentionally by human activity) have been continuously produced and distributed worldwide. In some areas, they now rival the amount of naturally occurring nanomaterials. In the past half-century, engineered nanomaterials have…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: NNCI-1542160, 1542210, 1251479, 1558712, EEC-1449500, 1331846, 1558738, 1542100, EF-0830093
• UE
  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

  Award: RD83558001
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Award: NNSFC 41522111
• NS
  National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka

  Award: 1822111
• BE
  Basic Energy Sciences

  Award: 56674