nano

Small Stuff, Big Trouble

Experts go head to head on the issue of nanotech safety

There’s nothing tiny about the international controversy brewing over the safety of nanomaterials. In April, a German company recalled a tile sealant called Magic Nano after dozens of consumers suffered breathing problems while using it. Never mind that the product contained particles too large to actually count as nanomaterials (which must be smaller than a billionth of a meter)—the scare was on, and European confidence in products labeled “nano” had already sunk.

[ Read Full Story ]

In 2011 You'll Never Have to Clean Your House Again

Nanotechnology could soon allow you to sanitize your bathroom with a flip of a light switch

Launch the slideshow to see how titanium oxide reacts with light to zap dirt at the molecular level

Not so long ago, chemical engineers discovered how to use titanium dioxide to keep buildings free of discoloring pollution.

[ Read Full Story ]

Small Stuff on the Big Screen

A new short film delivers nanotech for the masses

A baseball zooms through clouds, straight through a wall and into the waiting hand of actor Adam Smith, who is tricked out like a magician, complete with wand, tuxedo and top hat. “How do you do it?” Smith asks conspiratorially. “You just need a small enough ball, of course.” But Smith isn’t really explaining a magic trick. He’s talking nanotech, in the new short film When Things Get Small.

[ Read Full Story ]

Big Wheels for Little Cars

Chemists build the world´s smallest auto dealership, molecule by molecule. No toy models, these cars actually drive

The most prolific car manufacturer on the planet resides in a Rice University laboratory in Houston, where chemist James Tour and his colleagues have built one trillion trillion nanoscopic cars. The tiny four-wheeled vehicles are only four billionths of a meter wide-25,000 of them parked side by side would be about as thick as a piece of paper. Not just another nano-gimmick, Tour´s cars could one day carve tiny channels in silicon, creating more-powerful computer chips.

[ Read Full Story ]

PPX: The PopSci Predictions Exchange

RSS Link

New IPO

Hot Stocks

Ready to bet on the future? Start here!

Subscribe for 2 free issues!

may2008_cover.jpg