Nanotechnology

Using light and tiny nanoparticles of rhodium​, scientists have found a way to turn carbon dioxide into a building block of many fuels. The newly discovered chemical reaction could use sunlight to reduce growing levels of CO2 and lead to the development of new alternative energy technologies.

Since 2005, IBM has been releasing an annual list of five technological trends that it thinks will take off in the next five years. Given the emergence of AI and the Internet of Things, this year’s predictions are focused on these two areas.​​

​Engineers at Stanford have developed a new component to help stretch the potential of wearable electronics.

Researchers at MIT have invented a printing process that could turn a lot of potential breakthroughs, such as electricity-generating clothing and smart sutures, into an inexpensive reality.

​The strength of spinach isn't only in its nutrients, but also in its ability to be hacked to function as a sensor able to detect things like explosives, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

​​As any good metallurgist will tell you, you can't just take any two types of metal and weld them together. You may instead be able to just join them together with glue, however, thanks to an electro-chemical etching process being developed at Germany's Kiel University.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have come up with a new, flexible, smart-window material that uses a low-temperature polymer film to selectively keep out light or heat.

​Is that a real Rolex, or a fake? Thanks to research currently being carried out at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research institute, an ultraviolet lamp may soon be all that you need to tell the difference between luxury watches and knock-offs.

​A microscopic coating lets shampoo, soap, and other heavy liquids slide right out of the bottle – so you're no longer left battling to get the dregs out at the end. The coating has been successfully applied to both polypropylene and polycarbonate plastics.

A new material combines high transparency with high electrical conductivity for the first time, holding promise for more efficient solar panels, self-heating smart windows, high-performance cooling surfaces, and even flexible displays.

Chemists at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) have just engineered a substance that thickens when stretched. It could lead to better bullet-proof materials or improved running shoes.

​Sometimes, if you want something made right, you've just got to make it yourself. It was with this in mind that scientists from ETH Zurich and IBM recently developed a process for building custom molecules from mix-n-match components.​