Online Extra: Q&A with NEC's Sumio Iijima

Nanotechnology, where engineers work with atoms and molecules to create new materials, is expected to revolutionize a host of industries in the future. In Japan, corporate and government labs alike are pushing projects that could result in new types of computer chips, displays, and fuel-cell batteries.

One of the most promising materials in this new field is the carbon nanotube, discovered in 1991 by Sumio Iijima, a senior research fellow at NEC Corp. and a professor of materials science at Meijo University in Nagoya. A new type of carbon, these microscopic tubes are up to 100 times stronger than steel. Since his landmark discovery, Iijima has learned how to manipulate nanotubes and is now developing applications for their use in fuel-cell batteries.