Tissues printed with an ink-jet could provide patches for damaged organs, new cell-based materials for drug testing, new ways to probe cellular communication, living sensors, or even fuel cell–type batteries. (p. 56)

Inspired by the quick-shut action of the Venus flytrap, researchers have designed a patterned surface with microscale hills that can rapidly flip to form valleys. (p. 324)

Engineered plants make genetic material that disables critical genes in insects that eat the plants, offering a possible new strategy for agricultural-pest control. (p. 292)

Despite all the hubbub about carbon nanotubes as possible building blocks of superstrong materials or as components of supersmall electronics, few practical applications have yet come to fruition. Integrating nanotubes into functioning electronic devices has proved especially difficult, but researchers have now built a carbon-nanotube component into a simple radio receiver."We're showing a system that works that has a nanotube as one of the key components," says Peter Burke of the University of California, Irvine.Burke and graduate student Chris Rutherglen placed a nanotube—1 nanometer in... (p. 259)

A new adhesive that borrows tricks from the gecko and the mussel can stick and detach repeatedly and works even when wet. (p. 78)