In October, the National Cancer Institute made its first nanotechnology research awards worth $33.3 million to 12 research groups and seven hubs. A month later, at the Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics meeting in Philadelphia, a press conference devoted exclusively to nanotechnology highlighted several experimental studies using nanoparticles, including a liposome–nanoparticle gene therapy designed to home in on and kill cancer cells wherever they are throughout the body. Nanotechnology's potential application to cancer seems to be in the news almost weekly, with new uses of the technology for diagnosis and treatment moving rapidly from the lab toward clinical trials. But along with several promising discoveries have come unanswered questions about nanotechnology's safety for human health and the environment.