Fast, Low-Cost Human Genomes Will Tra...
Nowhere has the impact of digitization been more profound than in the field of genomics. In roughly a dozen years,...
The Hard Facts About Metallic Glass
Imagine a material that's stronger than steel or titanium and just as tough. Imagine that this material is inexpensive...
Engineered Cells Changing Our Lives
While creating new species using “synthetic biology” is a lot more glamorous, the big biotech payoff, in the...
Johannes Gutenberg Meets Andy Grove: ...
Suddenly, it has become commercially viable to literally print electronic devices right onto paper, plastics, and...
Don't Forget Your Invisibility Cloak
published on: Dec 15, 2010
At least since H.G. Wells wrote The Invisible Man, laymen and scientists alike have dreamed of making things invisible. Perhaps the most memorable...
The Huge Potential of Micro-Sensors
published on: Sep 15, 2010
Microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS, represent a midway point between the macroscopic world in which engineers have worked for centuries and the...
The Dawn of the Bio-Entrepreneur Era
published on: Aug 15, 2010
Synthetic biology is the technology that allows scientists to create "artificial life forms" tailored to perform otherwise impossible feats. For our...
How Trickle-Up Innovation Will Change the Wor...
published on: May 15, 2009
Traditionally, the developed world has innovated and the developing world has benefited from mature versions of those innovations. However,...
The Great 21st Century Water Opportunity
published on: May 15, 2009
Throughout history, water has been one of man's most important economic resources. Now, trends in population growth, urbanization, and...
Instant Disease Diagnosis
published on: Feb 15, 2009
Nanotech is making huge strides in many areas. However, few of these areas are likely to deliver the benefits promised by a new generation of fast,...
Micro-Robots Work Inside the Human Body
published on: Jan 15, 2009
A whole new generation of robots is coming. These revolutionary, autonomous swimming and crawling machines are tiny and exploit electromagnetic...
DNA Computing
published on: Dec 15, 2008
For more than a decade, scientists have been discovering ways in which the molecules of DNA could be used to solve computational problems....
The "Lab on a Chip" Revolution
published on: Aug 15, 2008
Micro-electronics is merging with a new technology called micro-fluidics to make possible the construction of entire chemical laboratories that can...
Graphene Promises to Revolutionize Nanotech
published on: Jun 15, 2008
Graphene is a newly recognized form of carbon comprised of single sheets of atoms. It is likely to transform infotech and nanotech in the coming...
Big Opportunities in Nanomedicine
published on: Mar 15, 2008
Nowhere else does nanotech offer such enormous potential than it does in healthcare. Cancer, infections, and birth defects all originate at the...
Good Bacteria Goes Mainstream
published on: Feb 15, 2008
For centuries, microorganisms have played an important role in the production of products ranging from yogurt to wine. But in the past decade or...
Manufacturing Nanotech Wonders
published on: Feb 15, 2008
More than 20 years ago, when the Trends editors began to follow the work of nanotech visionaries like Eric Drexler, most mainstream analysts...
The Next Big Thing in Outer Space May Be Quit...
published on: Oct 15, 2007
Commercial companies, universities, and space research agencies such as NASA are developing a new spacecraft generation weighing less than 100kg...
Moore's Law Just Keeps Rolling Along
published on: Jun 15, 2007
For a dramatic example of innovation snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, consider the continuing advance of semiconductor performance...
Nanotechnology Marches On
published on: Jan 15, 2007
Nanotech is moving beyond science fiction and university labs as we gear up for a major technology revolution. The U.S. government has begun...