Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a nanotechnology advance that potentially provides an alternative to drug-releasing stents in some patients with cardiovascular disease.

The Story: The particles, dubbed “nanoburrs” because they are coated with tiny protein fragments that allow them to stick to target proteins, can be designed to release their drug payload over several days. They are one of the first such particles that can precisely home in on damaged vascular tissue, says Omid Farokhzad, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an author of a paper describing the nanoparticles in the Jan. 18 …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s research that bodes favorably on this idea of spraying solar cells onto glass, maintaining the transparency of the glass, but also giving that glass additional and critical productivity.

The Story: “The ability to spray solar coatings directly onto glass follows on the heels of our recent breakthrough which replaced visibility-blocking metal with environmentally-friendly see-thru compounds, and marks an important advance in the development of our see-thru glass windows capable of generating electricity,” announced Mr. Meetesh V. Patel, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: NENE)
“In commercial …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a contact lens that changes colors indicating when a diabetic should make an adjustment to their ever-sensitive glucose levels – rather than drawing blood and monitoring it the old way.
 
 
The Story: It’s not easy being a diabetic. What with the constant monitoring of blood-sugar levels, the ever present needle prick and blood sampling to determine whether an insulin boost is required. Well, the process might just get easier, thanks to a non-invasive breakthrough courtesy of researchers from The University of Western Ontario. They’ve come up with …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a coating that goes both on paper and packaging materials that not only enhances chemical and water resistance, but also contains no solvents, hazardous chemicals and are fully reclaimable.

The Story: The myth is that cats have nine lives. Ecology Coatings, Inc. gives their EcoQuick UV-Cured Coated paper and packaging materials many more lives. And it does so safely and for a lower cost.
Besides creating a coating that offers increased water and chemical resistance, these coated materials provide solutions to important application and environmental issues, such as lower …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a sponge that absorbs 180 times its weight in toxic sludge, yet doesn’t absorb any water making it perfect for oil spills or other disasters that threaten water and sea life.

The Story: This is yet another marvelous application for nanotechnology. Researchers at Beijing’s Peking University and Tsinghua University have figured out a way to adapt carbon nanotubes into a sponge-like material that can absorb materials and separate them from the water in which they’re residing. Then, the sponges can be extracted and can be squeezed dry, or wrung …

NOTE: THE ACCURACY OF THIS ENTRY HAS BEEN CALLED INTO QUESTION DUE TO AN ALLEGATION OF TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT. The following article has been modified to protect a mark and to remove potential confusion between the trademark holder and this breakthrough technology. JUMPINTOTOMORROW.COM does not endorse any of the technologies or breakthrough ideas on these pages, but instead, simply showcases work we believe is doing its part to make the world a better place. JUMPINTOTOMORROW.COM also does its diligence to the best of its ability to provide legitimately, scientifically-proven and legally accurate work. …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a nano-particle coating that can easily be applied to roads, power lines and lots of other solid surfaces that prevents ice buildup.
The Story: Ice collecting on roads, power lines and even on aircraft have been a gigantic concern every single winter since the industrial age. But now, a team of researchers from University of Pittsburgh has unveiled a way to mitigate the danger of ice buildup by developing a nanoparticle-based coating that’s applied to solid surface materials which then blocks ice buildup.
It’s called a superhydrophobic coating and …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a fingernail-sized computer chip that can hold 1 terabyte, 1 trillion bytes of data, or 50 times the capacity of today’s best silicon-based chip technologies.

The Story: Engineers from North Carolina State University have unveiled what they call a nanostructured Ni-MgO system that can store more data than any one chip ever has by far. Plus, with its miniscule size, the implications are impressive. As it is, the chip can hold up to 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, “far exceeding the storage capacities of …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a combination of polymers being used to create a new kind of AIDS-preventing vaginal gel. Initially, it is targeted for by women in Africa, but will also be available to women in other impoverished regions.

The Story: It is estimated that 2 million people, of which 270,000 were children, died of AIDS in 2007. Back then, 33 million more people all over the planet were living with HIV, two thirds of whom reside in sub-Saharan Africa. More accurate recent statistics are difficult to obtain, but researchers around the …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a small implantable device that can be programmed to look for nanometer-sized disease biomarkers in your blood and instantly tell you via your cell phone, or it can be setup to notify other medical professionals with an instant alert if you’re at risk…before things get markedly worse.

The Story: Professor Judith Rishpon of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology has figured out a way to help us be more proactive as it pertains to caring for ourselves, rather than reactive. By marrying biological materials with …