Nanotechnology

Wood pulp-derived nanocellulose is turning out to be pretty useful stuff. Most recently, researchers from Sweden and the US have used the material to build soft-bodied batteries that are more shock- and stress-resistant than their traditional hard counterparts.

Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain claim to have created a graphene-based photodetector that converts light into electricity in under 50 quadrillionths of a second. This may give rise to a new range of super-efficient, ultrafast electronic components.

If nanotechnology scientists led by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are on the right track, cars may one day be powered not by batteries, but their body panels – inside which are sandwiched a new breed of supercapacitors.

For residents living in the north, where sunlight can be a rare commodity during the winter, a psychological condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder is a very real problem. The CoeLux skylight aims to bring a realistic sunlight experience to those in the dark.

Researchers have developed flexible "nanowhisker" supercapacitors in electric wires, making them both conductors and energy storage devices. Such technology may eventually be woven into fabric as batteries or incorporated throughout devices to replace the batteries altogether.

Scientists at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas have built and tested what appears to be the world's smallest, fastest, and longest-running nanomotor yet – so small that it could fit inside a single living cell.

Advances in technology have enabled an abundance of ways to share our stories. Created for the Exceptional Hardware Software Meeting in Germany next month, "Juanita Knits the Planet" is the world's smallest comic strip, detailing a day in the life of a ten micron-tall girl-turned-robot.

In an effort to demonstrate the potential of a new nano-scale manufacturing technology, as well to encourage young people’s interest in science and technology, IBM has unveiled the world’s smallest magazine cover at the USA Science and Engineering Festival.

Today at Microsoft’s Think Next symposium in Tel Aviv, Israeli startup StoreDot has demonstrated the prototype of a nanodot-based smartphone battery it claims can fully charge in just under 30 seconds.

SaveOneLife is a wearable mine detector that fits in a shoe and warns the wearer if and where a potentially deadly landmine might lurk nearby.

Imagine how helpful it might be if sperm-like machines could be used for applications such as delivering medication to targeted areas of the body. Well, that's what scientists are in the process of making possible, with the creation of their heart cell-powered "bio-bots."

A young entrepreneur named Aamir Patel has developed the Silic shirt, which is made from a hydrophobic fabric that repels liquids away from it like a force field to keep it from getting wet.