Who needs rain dances in this day and age? Scientists have come up with a way to induce electrical activity in thunderclouds by using lasers. Needless to say, it's an electrifying discovery. More details in the full article.

A new technology being developed by IBM can potentially expand your favorite media storage device to over 500,000 songs or around 3,500 movies. Using a special "racetrack" memory technology, the new storage device will have the capability to store more data in the same amount of space possible with lightning fast boot times and lower production costs. For more details regarding this new technology, read more about it in our full article.

Longer-lasting, cheaper Blu-Ray discs? Possible, at least of you're following Sabic Innovative Plastic' current research into using Noryl as a material for the aforementioned disc format. More details on this matter are available in the full article.

As unlikely an idea as it sounds, mechanized insects seem to be the next wave of military technology. According to the current research conducted by DARPA, the Hybrid Insect MEMS project aims to transform "insects into unmanned air-vehicles" for various purposes. In other words, they're developing something that you could call pseudo-cyborg insects. Find out the rest of the details of this interesting study by reading our full article.

How would you like to use your Wiimote to defuse bombs? Well, it won't exactly be you doing the defusing - a robot by the name of Packbot will be doing the actual work. All you need to do is control it, as the US Army is doing. This innovative idea actually came from a couple of engineers who modified the Wiimote for the US Army's use.

For more motion-sensing bomb disposal news, turn to the full article after the jump.

It seems that more and more start-up companies are being innovative in their efforts to be environment friendly. Last time, Konarka Technologies revealed how it makes cheap solar film cells using an inkjet printer. Now 1366 Technologies aims to have multi-crystalline silicon solar cells edge out coal-based electricity.

More "green" innovation follows in the full article after the jump.

It's always a wonder how the future will look like even if we have centuries of history as reference on how technology moves forward. Some experts say a responsive household is what we'll see a few years from now, and we couldn't agree more. Definitely not after seeing the electroluminescent rug that glows with every footstep. Learn all about it at the full article.

Point and click - the very term seems to refer to games that make use of this simple interface. If you ask Charlie Kemp and his associates, however, it may mean something entirely different.

You see, Kemp and co. have developed a new type of robot that can fetch objects. The robot uses a simple interface called...you guessed it: point and click. For more info, point your cursor on the "read more" link below and click on it.

If you have no qualms about wearing a mobile phone made out of tapioca on your wrist, then you might want to try out Nokia's new Morph phone. A video featuring this innovative concept phone is currently running at New York's Museum of Modern art and shows off the Morph's unique features. You can read more about the science behind this new mobile phone by checking out our full article after the jump.

If you're thinking of replacing that old inkjet printer of yours, you may wish to consider giving it to  Konarka Technologies instead. The reason? Konarka has found a way to make affordable solar film cells using...you guessed it: an inkjet printer. More on this innovative process in the full article, right after the jump.