Angela Belcher, MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” recipient, is a veritable polymath, whose research expands into the microcosm of living viruses.

Research: Making bacteriophages assemble technologically-useful hard materials, forming non-toxic electronics applications such as semiconductors, batteries, and solar cells.

About Video: Angela Belcher outlines her first research experience studying how the abalone makes its shell, and how she transformed that knowledge into the energy-efficient, virus-assembled batteries she builds in her lab today. Belcher also talks about her two latest projects: electronics that can heal themselves, and a national project to get kids interested in science.

Shriram Ramanathan,entrepreneur of SiEnergy Systems Inc., has developed a new method of producing ultra-thin solid-oxide electrolytes that are 25 nanometers thick - making fuel cells cheaper and more efficient than ever before.

Research: Shriram Ramanathan is solving the decades-long question of how metals oxidize; at the same time, he uses this theoretical base to create new synthesis techniques for thin films.

About Video: Shriram Ramanathan explains how his fuel cells function a thousand degrees lower than conventional ones, what home appliances might soon function with his fuel cells, and why the internet is the answer to America's low science test scores.

Rodney Ruoff has made a name for himself in the carbon-materials world based on his "super-material": he's managed to make graphite - normally, an incredibly stiff and brittle material which breaks easily - into a new substance called graphene - a rearrangement of graphite layers which is incredibly light and essentially unbreakable.

Research:Ruoff's team is working on incorporating graphene into other materials. Most notably, they have combined graphene with thin films, a new material potentially of great importance in solar cells and chemical sensors. He also is working on graphene-based paper for aerospace structures, cars, wind turbines, and batteries.

About Video: Rodney Ruoff explains how graphene is similar to both a diamond and chickenwire, how he is layering graphite to make graphene, and why it is the material of the future.

Terry Wilkins has received international press coverage for his work on "self-healing houses," a project applauded not only for its innovative thinking, but for its success in bringing together interdisciplinary researchers to work on a commercial product. As CEO of the NanoManufacturing Institute at Leeds University, Wilkins hopes to see more such integration of academia and the business world.

Research: Wilkins studies the role of nanotechnology in biomedical applications, toxicology of nanomaterials, and the scale-up and manufacturing of new nanomaterials.

About Video: Wilkins discusses the sensor networks and nanopolymer particles that are used in "self-healing house," how the house can warn its inhabitants of an earthquake, and how to get academics out of their "silos" to work together.