"The new possibilities that will open up when we can routinely tailor material at the atomic level is something we can only speculate about for the moment..."  Read more

"My gut feeling is that this will be a decisive step towards being able to use molecules that 'build themselves' in practical applications. This would open up whole new possibilities."  Read more

Nanotechnology is sometimes called atomic carpentry. As if it were just as easy to assemble a new molecule as it is to nail together a box with a few pieces of wood. When these pieces of wood are only millionths of a millimetre in size you realise that it can't be that easy!  Read more

Jumpers that never smell of sweat, windows that never get dirty, transparent concrete, carpets that change colour and act as indoor air cleaners, scratchproof car paint – with nanotechnology we'll soon be able to manufacture the most spectacular materials. But what materials are we actually going to need in the years to come?  Read more

Trees have always been immensely important to humans. They've given us fire, they've given us shelter. Maybe in our high-tech age it's been tempting to believe that their importance has waned. Far from it! Exciting new insights into what makes trees grow are opening a whole new future for forestry.  Read more

Scientists have a new box of toys. With new 'spectacles' and precision instruments they can not only see into the smallest of things but can also alter what they see. They can build molecules that didn't exist before, change ones that need improving. What does design at molecular level – nanotechnology – actually imply?  Read more

For a long time people thought that graphite and diamond were the only stable forms in which pure carbon could occur. Then fullerenes, carbon balls, rolled into the arena, and nothing's been quite the same since. Absolutely nothing comes stronger than a carbon nanotube!  Read more

The nano clock – sounds like science fiction? In fact, both you and I have always been controlled by nano clocks. The world's smallest clock is actually also the world's oldest. All organisms that depend on sunlight also need something to measure time...  Read more

Which jumper would you prefer today – one treated with nano particles so it never gets dirty or smelly, so it glows in the dark, changes colour according to your mood – or a traditional woollen one like grandma used to knit?  Read more

Botany was Carl Linnaeus's most important source of inspiration and knowledge as a physician. In sharp contrast, the pharmaceuticals industry of our own age relies more on the laboratory than on the field trip. However, a growing interest in natural products has led to something of a renaissance for the subject of pharmacognosy, the study of medicines from natural sources.  Read more

Building an elevator to space has long been a dream among science-fiction authors. If this becomes possible one day it will be thanks to the incredibly strong and incredibly small nanotube – a structure that nano scientists foresee a revolutionising future for.  Read more