Face-recognition technology, often touted as a promising tool in the fight against terrorism, earned a bad reputation after it failed miserably in some well-publicized tests for picking faces out of crowds. Yet, on simpler challenges, the technology's performance is improving and business has been growing.
Radio frequency identification tags, small tages equipped with microchips and tiny antennas, could revolutionize inventory and supply management if privacy concerns can be worked out.
The NanoBusiness Alliance, a trade group for businesses at work on nanotechnology, plans to announce a new task force today to address health and environmental concerns that could be associated with microscopic nano-scale products.
A new review of research on nanoscale materials suggests that tiny particles are often toxic because of their size and are likely to pose health hazards, especially to workers making them.
The role of nanotechnology and nanoscale materials in military operations is still limited but the U.S. military is ramping up nanotech research and development efforts for the next war.
Society may have to wait 20 years, if not longer, for cars powered by fuel cells to become a familiar sight. But much smaller forms of fuel cell technology may well power electronic devices like laptop computers, video cameras and cellphones by the end of this decade.
Nanotechnology, biotechnology, electronics and brain research are converging into a new field of science, dubbed by some "NBIC", that may be vital to U.S. national security and economic clout.
More and more businesses are moving into the world of nanotechnology, where particles of common materials are shrunk to such a minuscule size that they behave in unexpected ? and often useful ? ways. Entrepreneurs and multinationals alike are building on research from the 1980's and 1990's that led to relatively simple ways to fashion silicon, metals, plastics and even workaday substances like clay into particles of no more than a few molecules apiece.
An overview of the efforts of various environmental and public health groups to urge precaution or advocate regulation for nanotechnology.
The New York Times reports on how common it already is to encounter "products that use nanotechnology ? the manipulation of individual molecules or groups of atoms to create useful materials or devices."