Good gravy. The thing that got me was the new form of battery that they are developing:
One of the most compelling examples of such materials... is a new breed of thin-film lithium-ion batteries... Because these novel batteries are nanotech based, they can absorb and discharge more electricity more frequently and with greater efficiency.
To get a handle on this idea, think, for example, about the relative efficiency of using one large sponge to sop up water versus that of employing thousands of mini-sponges. The water may never get to the center of the large sponge, the outer layer of which quickly becomes saturated. The smaller sponges, on the other hand, can soak up and discharge water more efficiently.
In the case of batteries, this approach translates into a thin, flexible film that can be recharged up to an astonishing 60,000 times. ...use the batteries to power new implantable medical devices... that they can be recharged by radio waves that pass harmlessly through body tissues.
This means that when a patient's pacemaker (or any other implantable device) is running low on juice, all the person will need to do is stand near a recharging device for a little while, instead of undergoing a surgical procedure to replace the battery... The first nano-batteries, which are also under development at several other firms, are expected to be commercially available before the end of this year.
Other applications of nanotech are light bulbs that near %100 efficiency through the use of nanophosphors, compared with the 5% efficiency of the average incandescent bulb.
