Nanotechnology is not as far off as you may think...

As many of us know, companies have been playing with the idea of using nanotech for quite a while. Molecular-scale machines have been talked about for decades, but there have been a few recent concepts and proof-of-concepts that will change the way we look at the world.

Back in 2005, there were designs for an ultra-tiny, cost effective nano-sized gas turbine. Though nothing really came of it, it's certainly ground-breaking. And then there's the development of nanowire lithium ion batteries that increase efficiency ten fold or more. Oh, and we can't forget the ultra-light, ultra-thin, ultra-smooth, ultra-cheap, ultra-durable, and ultra-ultra carbon nanotubes that will revolutionize the medical world as well as everything else! But I didn't write this to inform you on past events, so I won't go on prattling on about this old stuff.

Thanks to Leonardo Fioravanti, there's buzz going in the realm of car-tech, screen-tech, and every other tech that envolves glass. Fioravanti, engineer for the famed car desing firm Pininfarina, had created a prototype for a wiperless windshield using the limitless capabilities of nanotechnology to make dirt and water slide off quickly with no marks. It uses four simple yet sophisticated treatments to the glass in order to make the water slide off virtually frictionlessly. The first treatment protects from UV rays, and helps repell water. The second treatment uses nano-dust to force dirt off the windshield. Next up, a third layer is used to sense the dirt and activates the nano-dust when duty calls for it. Lastly, a treatment is placed to conduct electricity, completing the system by, well, making it work.

Continuing the trend of complex and unimaginable nanotech usage is Nokia with their far-out Morph concept. The idea of the Morph is to be able to, well, morph into whatever you want it to be. It'll curve, collapse, convex, concave, and contour to almost anything your mind can imagine. It uses a paper-thin translucent screen that, as you saw with the concept from Leo-Fio up there, has an auto-clean feature. All this sounds very cool, but I don't think this will come into motion within the next 20 years. Here's a video demonstrating what Nokia wants it to do: [YouTube]