Titanium dioxide

Although sunscreen does help protect our skin from the sun's harmful UV rays, it isn't designed to keep that skin cool. An experimental new sunscreen does that very thing, however, while maintaining an SPF rating of about 50.

Regardless of what you may think of the practise of teeth-whitening, it appears to not just be a passing fad – and it can harm peoples' teeth. Scientists from China's Nanchang University are out to make it safer, with an experimental new technique.

Panasonic recently unveiled a new technology to purify water using sunlight and photocalysts. The system purifies polluted water at a high reaction rate, to improve access to clean water where it is needed.

A laundry additive created by researchers from the University of Sheffield and the London College of Fashion turns clothing into a photocatalytic material that can help remove nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the air.

Last week that giant multinational of aluminum production Alcoa announced its new "smog-eating" architectural panels: cladding stuck to a building's exterior that can remove pollutants from the surrounding air.

MIT is paving the way for solar cells made from plant waste.

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame is reporting the creation of a "solar paint" that could mark an important milestone on the road to being able to paint building exteriors in solar cells.

Researchers have developed a coating for fabric, that could be used to clean clothing simply by exposing it to sunlight.

A study in Germany is showing that air-purifying paving slabs can significantly reduce automobile-borne pollutants.

Nanoparticles secreted from ivy rootlets could protect skin from UV radiation at least four times better than the metal-based sunblocks found on store shelves today.

Testing has shown that surfacing roads with air purifying concrete could make a big contribution to local air purity by reducing the concentration of nitrogen oxides by 25 to 45 percent.

New technology does away with titanium patches for punctures to the skull, and instead stimulates the growth of natural bone.