Because they are riddled with defects, bulk crystalline materials never achieve their ideal strength; nanocrystals, on the other hand, are so small there’s no room for defects. (“Nano” is short for nanometer, a billionth of a meter.)

Layers of plastic, much thinner than a strand of hair—this type of ultrathin polymer film is of great interest to scientists and engineers. Applications include protective coatings, for example. A research team led by Stefan Mecking at the University of Konstanz has now developed a new method to produce wafer-thin layers. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, the scientists made their films from individual prefabricated nanocrystal building blocks.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a substance far stronger and harder than conventional iron, and which retains these properties under extremely high temperatures – opening the door to a wide variety of potential applications, such as engine components that are exposed to high stress and high temperatures.

In the hands of jewelers, gold can be fashioned into rings and pendants of long-lasting beauty. But, when reduced in size to nanocrystals containing a few thousand atoms, this noble metal is a surprisingly good catalyst.

Quantum dots—tiny, intense, tunable sources of colorful light—are illuminating new opportunities in biomedical research, cryptography and other fields. But these semiconductor nanocrystals also have a secret problem, a kind of nervous tic. They mysteriously tend to “blink” on and off like Christmas tree lights, which can reduce their usefulness.