In this edition of Under the Microscope: the future of nanotechnology ... and political maneuvers mess with Missouri's efforts for a state health insurance exchange. Featuring reporting by St. Louis Public Radio's Veronique LaCapra and KCUR's Elana Gordon.
As of last spring, Missouri was considered on track – ahead, even - in developing a state health insurance exchange. It’s basically a centralized online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can compare and purchase health plans. Under the federal health law, exchanges are supposed to be up and running in each state by 2014. But as ELANA GORDON reports from KCUR in Kansas City, politics appear to have put the brakes on efforts to set up one up in Missouri.
And ... Nanotechnology is the science of the very small.
Nanoscientists manipulate matter at the scale of atoms and molecules – often ending up with materials that behave very differently than their macroscale counterparts. University of Missouri-St. Louis chemist George Gokel was recently named director of UMSL’s Center for Nanoscience. St. Louis Public Radio’s Veronique LaCapra spoke with Gokel about some of the research going on at the Center, and the future of nanotechnology. In this edition of UTM, an excerpt from their conversation.