Moisture of any kind is the bane of all electronics. Whether you spill a cup of coffee onto the pocket your phone is in (we’ve done it), get caught in the rain with your tablet (yup, been there too), or jump into a pool with your MP3 player in your pocket (we have really bad luck with electronics), any kind of moisture damage is almost sure to render the whole device useless. Liquipel can change all of that by magically making your devices entirely waterproof.

Of course, it isn’t exactly magic – but it’s close. The patented proprietary process involves adhering nanoparticles to electronic devices via a vacuum chamber. The nanoparticles bond with the devices on a molecular level, making sure that every part of the device – inside and out – is covered in liquid-proof Liquipel.

The process is far more secure than just slapping a waterproof case onto your tablet – and it lets you retain the device’s intended form factor. The application could eventually be done as part of manufacturing, in-store as a pre-sale inventory add-on, or after purchase. It can be applied to a wide selection of devices, from mobile phones and tablets to MP3 players and headphones.

Currently, the only way to Liquipel your devices is to send them to the company. The product and process is available for licensing, however. In the near future we’ll hopefully be able to drop off a mobile device at an electronics store and come back a few hours later for a newly-waterproofed, life-proofed gadget.

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If there’s one thing that can ruin a nice summer evening, it’s the stinging bite of a billion mosquitoes. We’re babies about bug spray; if it’s poisonous enough to keep the bugs away, it can’t be good for our skin. That’s why it’s good to see inventions like the silicon nanoparticle clothing being developed by Portuguese tech company Nanolabel. The clothing is imbued with particles of silicon dioxide which are, in turn, impregnated with a top-secret mosquito-repelling substance.

The anti-mosquito substance is not permeable to human skin and was classified in the lowest degree of toxicity by the FDA. But the mosquitoes stay away: in tests, 81 percent of mosquitoes were repelled and 89 percent were kept from feeding. The repellent only stays in the fabric for up to 90 washes, so the treated clothing wouldn’t be a permanent solution. But items like lightweight jackets that don’t have to be washed after every use might be the ideal application for Nanolabel’s technique.

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Despite moving toward a paper-free society, we still use paper fairly often in our daily lives. And to be honest, paper isn’t that great. It’s easily ruined by something as simple as a coffee spill and can spread disease by virtue of its tendency to transmit bacteria and other nasty things. But if we could apply new technology to the very old material, perhaps it could be revitalized. The Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy has created a nanoparticle coating that could be applied to individual paper molecules to make paper antibacterial, waterproof, magnetic and even fluorescent.

The process works by creating an itty-bitty “shell” around each fiber of the paper. The new properties of the paper depend on which nanoparticles are used: silver for antibacterial and iron oxide for magnetic, for example. After the polymer is applied to the paper fibers, the paper continues to act like normal paper. You can write and print on it, fold it up, even recycle it just like always. The antibacterial paper could be an incredible advancement for food packaging, and other enhancements could help create more secure currency or protect important documents.

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