Dr Strano, however, has exploited a new manufacturing process based on a polymer gel that has an affinity for semiconducting nanotubes, but not metallic ones.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

Dr Greenhalgh's solution was to use a polymer gel-based resin that combines two networks of cross-linking structures, one that holds the material together and the other providing a conduit for charged particles.

ECONOMIST: Carbon-composite batteries

Instead of slabs of gel, it uses capillaries filled with a liquid polymer, so that continuous flow is possible without the need to change slabs.

ECONOMIST: Genetic warfare