Tiny technology

Laptop shock: The Flybook is among the smallest commercially available laptops, measuring 23cm by 15cm, with an 8.9 inch touchscreen and Wi-Fi. Photograph: PR

Music box: MP3 players like this Mobi-Blu model and Apple's iPod Shuffle are miniaturising all the time as memory gets cheaper and smaller. Photograph: PR

Jet power: Even huge technologies like jet engines are now being reduced in size. This, the world's smallest jet aircraft, was built by Puerto Rican enthusiast Juan Jimenez. Photograph: Juan Jimenez

Mother load: Computers also continue to shrink. Fifty years ago a simple punchcard computer would fill an entire room: today this Pico-ITX motherboard from VIA measures just 10cm by 7.2cm. Photograph: PR

Paper power: But it is at the nanotechnological level that developments are really moving forward. This flexible "paper" battery from researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute contains a series of carbon nanotubes that can bend and flex without breaking - while still storing enough energy to power a light bulb. Photograph: Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteFlexdib

Cool stuff: Researchers from Purdue University build an ionic wind engine. The engine cools computer chips by manipulating atomic behaviours - a development that could pave the way for further reductions in microchip design. Photograph: Purdue University

Radio gaga: Hitachi's latest innovation is this minuscule radio chip, which is so small it can be used as a "powder" and incorporated into other products. The chips carry small pieces of information which can be read over short distances, and measure less than 0.05mm across - here they are shown in comparison with a human hair. Photograph: PR

Mini motors: Scientists have taken things even further by developing this 'car' that is just 4 nanometres across - about the same width as a strand of DNA. Nanovehicles could eventually be used for transportation in molecular-sized factories. Photograph: Y. Shira/Rice University