IBM are making more progress in the ongoing shrinkage of all things electronic. They have just announced finding a way to selectively arrange transistors made from carbon nanotubes, overcoming one of the major obstacles in the way of Moore’s Law and making possible a new generation of fast and power-economic computer chips.

Might as well hammer a buzz-phrase while you can, eh? But that’s what Gerald Hoegl, CEO of Metcomb Nanostructures, likes to call his company’s new product. It’s a type of honeycombed aluminium that weighs less than a fifth of the normal brand, so light in fact that it floats on water. Metcomb are planning to start selling the stuff to the aerospace and automotive industries, a sign that nanotech start-ups are making noises outside of the US.

The Cold War is a distant memory…but what to do with all those submarine ICBMs you have lying around? Why not make like the Russians, and use them for launching satellites.

It’s still ‘all go’ down at the nanoscale. Not only are scientists making glowing nanowires to shed visible light on their tiny world, they’ve also found a way to use carbon nanotubes as a sort of materials jig or extruder for nanoscale construction projects. Still no word on miniature pollution-munching egalitarian robots, though.

Not many details available on this little nugget, but apparently researchers at the Dubna Nuclear Institute, near Moscow, have made a ‘new substance’ that allows the creation of batteries that run on solar power from our Sun…and all the other stars too, 24 hours a day, regardless of weather. We need corroboration on this one, and quickly.