Ascending a 25-foot sheet of glass using nothing more than a pair of hand-held, gecko-inspired paddles might not appear the most impressive use of nanotechnology but this real-world advance aptly demonstrates how quickly the field of nanotechnology is climbing into our lives. Below are ten additional examples of how nanotechnology is already transforming the world…

It’s been a decade since I wrote, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business, but the field is really coming into its own. A few months ago, I shared a video of Samsung’s self-healing smartphone which uses advanced nanomaterials to eliminate scratches. Now, I’d like to…

In 2003, I authored a book on nanotechnology, The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. In it, I speculated that self-healing materials would soon become commonplace and, to be honest, I was a overly optimistic in the timing of my projections. Nevertheless, LG has just released…

From the outside, the utility industry may appear to slow, cumbersome and resistant to change. These characterizations may or may not be fair, but I do know the industry is poised for extraordinary change in the years ahead and that what has served the industry well in the past won’t be sufficient for remaining competitive…

#1. First Heart A-Hack Victim. In January, an Arizona socialite will be charged with murder after it was uncovered she hired a former disgruntled employee of a leading medical device firm to hack into her cheating husband’s pacemaker and deliver a lethal shock to his heart. Shares of the company’s stock will plummet on the…

I speak frequently to officials in the building and construction trades and I’ve telling them about aerogels and “frozen smoke” (or “solid smoke”) for some time. Alas, it’s true that a picture (or in this case a video) is worth a thousand words. Please observe the scene with the blow torch. It’s impressive stuff. In…

“In recent years, advances in computer processing power have allowed geologists to make sense of seismic data 15,000 feet or more below the ocean floor. Three-dimensional imaging and seismic mapping are now possible even below thick layers of salt, which used to blur views of untapped reservoirs. Superstrong alloys allow drill bits to go into…

1. Genes That Fit—Finally! (Genomics): The price of sequencing a gene has plummeted 100 million-fold since 1998 and, amid continued exponential progress in sequencing technology, the field shows no sign of abating. This suggests that the cost of sequencing the 3 billion genes in an individual’s genome will drop from $10,000 today to less than…

As someone who has written two books on the topic of nanotechnology, including The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business, I’m well aware of the field’s immense potential. As a professional futurist, however, I am always cautioning my clients to be aware of “black swans”–or large…

#1: A student educated solely through free online university courses will take the LSAT or MCAD and receive a test score high enough to be accepted by a major law school or medical program. The student will, however, be denied entrance because she doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year institution. The student…