Nanotechnology
"Nanotechnology" refers to the ability to manipulate matter at the nanometer (one billionth of a meter) scale. This ability makes it possible to obtain materials with properties that would otherwise not be possible. Nanotechnology thus affects every science, technology, and engineering discipline.
Biotechnology and Life Sciences 
Nature uses low-cost, environmentally friendly processes to generate sophisticated materials that have a high degree of function and are self-healing and adaptive. Materials scientists are working to understand these materials and to use biomimetic approaches to making everything from inexpensive plastics for consumer products to artificial tissues for use in the body.
Information and Communications Technology A simple materials science discovery, the silicon transistor, made computers and the information age possible. Materials scientists are working to make computers even smaller, memory bigger, and communications faster by using completely new approaches that replace electricity with light and use individual molecules as functional devices and components.
Energy and Environmental Technology 
Finding alternative sources of energy and ways to produce the goods and services that we need without damaging the environment are the most pressing needs of our time.
The key problems in these areas are all materials problems, and materials scientists are working to find solutions. From organic solar cells to efficient fuel cell catalysts and using bacteria to convert grass into fuel or plastics, the future of technology is the future of materials. 
