Someday, you might get memory modules that can store data on an electron. That's the promise of nanoparticles. According to EE Times, Researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated a method of producing fluorescent red, blue, green and yellow nanoparticles from plain-vanilla silicon wafers. The new materials could yield microscopic lasers that could eventually lead to optical interconnects replacing wires. Nice read here Silicon nanoparticles enable microscopic lasers