Fabric Coating Takes the Ouch Out of Speeding Bullets

When a heavy bullet slams into soft body armor, it can cause
a lot of damage even without penetrating the fabric. If that
armor is coated with Nanorepel, the force will spread out
over a much wider area, in effect cushioning the blow. At the
moment of impact, a thin layer of organic molecules on the
surface of each fiber freezes up, locking the sturdy strands in
place. A company called First Choice Armor is using that
technology in its N-Force line of vests, which hit the market
in the summer of '08.

Nanoparticles Give Power Tools More Juice

As an everyday rechargeable battery releases energy,
lithium ions wiggle out from a cobalt oxide cathode and race
through a membrane to a carbon anode. Those devices are
low in power, wear out quickly, and run the risk of catching
fire or exploding.
MIT researcher Yet-Ming Chiang solved all of those
problems by replacing the positive electrode with
nanoparticles of a new material, lithium iron phosphate,
which allows the ions to swiftly slip out and return just as
quickly during a recharge cycle. Black and Decker and
DeWalt have started using the batteries in high-end power
tools, and they may appear in the Chevy Volt electric car by
2010.