 Are engineered nanoparticles dangerous? Unfortunately, the answer depends on the type of particles and how they are used. We'll be tackling nanoparticles when Risk Bites launches fully in November, but until then, here are five things that you probably want to ask when thinking about how safe any type of particle is, nano or not. One, what are the particles like? Are they large or small? What shape are they? Are they loners or do they clump together? Are they intimately attached to something else? What are they made of, both inside and outside? Do they dissolve easily? Two, can the particles get into your body? If so, how? Once there, where do they go? Do they concentrate in specific organs? Can they get into cells? Or can they interfere with your DNA? And how long once they're there, do they stick around? Three, can the particles cause harm once they're there inside your body? If so, how? And how many of them are needed before they cause serious harm? Four, can our bodies handle small quantities of the particles? We did have to all evolve in a world chock full of small particles. And five, how do any health benefits associated with the particles compare to the potential risks? Just like people, particles are complex, which unfortunately means there's never an easy answer to the question are nanoparticles dangerous? To find out more about the risks of particles, nano or otherwise, subscribe to Risk Bites, launching officially November 2012.