To me, the introduction of the USB stick (flash drive) was the point where the boundaries between technology and magic started to blur. How on Earth do you squeeze a 2 Gbyte memory into that ?

Now, scientists in Korea have developed a way of multiplying the capacity of flash memory devices, using stacked layers of nanoparticles. Read my story here:

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/December/03120701.asp

The story also gave me a chance to catch up with the fast-moving technology/magic boundary and to understand (for a fleeting moment) what a flash memory is and how it works. Don't ask me now, though, the moment has passed and I have a new story to write up.