The science of nanotechnology is becoming increasingly applied to business not only in an attempt to produce new goods but also in finding ways of improving efficiency. Nanotechnology involves working at a sub atomic-level; a nanometer is one-billionth of a metre and sub-atomic work is much smaller than this. When working at this incredibly small level, things we understand in our 'normal' world start to break down and work in quite different ways. The fact that this happens is what scientists are so excited about because it means the rules of the game change and new things become possible. One example of such things is the possibility of manufacturing socks that will not smell after being worn.

Another is something that has been announced by the airline easyJet. The company has said that it is trialling a new coating which can be applied to its aircraft. The coating makes use of nanotechnology and has been used by the military. One of its properties is that it reduces drag by around 39 per cent and as a result leads to a reduction in the amount of fuel used. easyJet says that it is expecting its fuel costs could be reduced by up to 2 per cent. With the price of oil continuing to rise in recent months and fuel accounting for around 40 per cent of the airlines costs, the potential saving could be significant.

easyJet's chief executive, Carolyn McCall has been doing the media rounds today (Monday) publicising this new initiative. At one stage she suggested that the company could save up to £1 billion a year although given reports that its fuel bill last year was around £730 million it is hard to see where this £1 billion figure comes from. What Ms McCall did say was that the company would monitor the trials and check whether the benefits of the technology outweigh the costs in the longer term and if it did then it may decide to apply the coating to the whole of its fleet.