Drexel’s new spray on antennas can connect everything to the internet
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s world will be increasingly connected, and connecting old legacy devices and things has been difficult, but it’s about to get much easier. Engineers are good at making minuscule antennas. Nowadays, we can cram antennas into our smartphones or smartwatches without much trouble. But...
World’s first space elevator hitches a ride to the ISS to begin first trials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of getting astronauts and cargo into space is still astronomical, a space elevator could eliminate the need for costly rocket launches and democratise access to space. Let’s be honest, launching things into space with rockets is a pretty inefficient way to do...
MIT created a nanobot spray that gives dumb objects superpowers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to spray nanobots onto surfaces and objects is a fast way to turn them from dumb objects into smart ones that have new sensing capabilities. You may have sworn off aerosol sprays back in the 1990’s when everyone was talking about the hole...
Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to apply new properties to glass, such as liquid mirrors, could help companies reduce their air conditioning bill and help homeowners improve their privacy. Researchers from Imperial College London in the UK have developed a new material that can turn a transparent surface into a...
Solar panels made from cyborg bacteria promise even cheaper energy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cyborg bacteria could be used to replace today’s silicon solar panels with higher efficiency, lower cost panels that help accelerate the renewable energy revolution. Although most life on Earth relies upon photosynthesis as its sole source of energy, the process has a weak link...
Scientists push the boundaries of nanotech to build the world’s smallest house
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create increasingly small nanoscale structures will help us create more advanced nanobots and nanomachines in the future. Recently we’ve seen a spate of new ways to build houses, whether they’re 3D printed, or built using autonomous drones, robots and vehicles, but...
Japanese team show off their new flexible skin display technology
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Displays will one day be more than just slabs of glass stuck to our devices, and this is another step in that journey. Palm reading could take on a whole new meaning, thanks to a new invention from Japan in the form of a...
Scientists steered nanomachines through living cells and wrote letters in cytoplasm
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we will increasingly rely on tiny machines to help monitor our health, and diagnose and cure disease, and being able to control and direct them will be crucial. It’s probably high time for you to forget your outdated belief that tomorrow’s nanomachines...
Revolutionary Nano-antenna is hundreds times smaller than today’s state of the art
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s not just our devices that are getting smaller and more powerful, the components that make our devices are also going through their own revolutions. Recently I discussed how a new Metalense breakthrough from Harvard University will help us realise atomic sized camera lenses,...
These nanomachines can drill into diseased cells and kill them
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s medical treatments won’t necessarily just include new fancy drugs, nanomachines and nanobots will play an increasingly important role in helping us all stay fit, healthy, and alive… Researchers in the UK and the US recently demonstrated single-molecule nanomachines that can independently target diseased...
Nanoparticles help researchers accurately locate metastasising cancers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Until now it has been hard, almost impossible, to identify how Cancer spreads around the body, and that’s made metastasising cancers harder to treat. Following on from a recent announcement from another team that they’ve managed to use a simple blood test to detect...
New polymer tears up anti-biotic resistant bacteria from the inside out
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the number of superbugs and anti-biotic resistant bugs increase, we need to find new novel ways of fighting them. A research team composed of scientists from the A*Star Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and IBM, have produced a new macromolecule that can target...
New eye drops use nanotech to fix faulty vision and eliminate eye glasses
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Millions of people around the world have eye problems, whether they’re severe, or slight, but now a new nanoparticle solution looks like it could help users bin eye glasses for good. Today there are a number of ways, from using bionic eyes, gene editing...
Molecular programming breakthrough could create better molecular assemblers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we learn how to create and build new, smaller molecular sized machines and robots being able to manipulate matter at the molecular scale will become increasingly important. Over the past couple of months there have been world firsts in the creation of DNA...
Chinese scientists unveil a new material that heals itself like human skin
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Up until now most self-healing materials have either been hard, or soft, and that narrows their number of applications, this new material is the first to have the best of both worlds. Imagine a smartphone, or window, that can heal from cuts and scratches...
Harvard’s Metalense breakthrough could pave the way for real invisibility cloaks
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to manipulate light is improving with every passing month, now a new Metalense breakthrough could help scientists create the first generation of genuine cloaking devices. For as long as human beings have been writing science fiction the dream of being able to...
World’s first DNA robots successfully move and deliver molecule sized cargo
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Robots are getting smaller, and our mastery over biology is increasing, so it’s inevitable that we will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible and create a new breed of smaller, intelligent micro-machines. In the classic 1966 American science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, a...
The world’s first molecular robots go to work on the production line
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to assemble increasingly tiny things using increasingly tiny machinery is advancing all the time, and soon the breakthrough’s we are seeing will make even nanoscale products seem giant by comparison. Not only is the creation of the world’s first molecular robot by...
Harvard revolutionises camera technology, invents Metalense
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Centuries after they were first invented most lenses are still made of plastic or glass and Harvard’s new metalense will revolutionise the industry and let us make cameras and lenses that, eventually, will be just atoms thick. Metalenses, flat surfaces that use nanostructures to...
Nanogenerator breakthrough generates electricity from the blood in your veins
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As researchers continue to develop micro-machines and implanted medical devices that live within our bodies we might need to find new ways to power them. Humanity has been generating electricity from flowing water for millennia using everything from watermills to huge hydro-electric dams, but...
