The technology you hear about everyday - artificially intelligent robots, self driving cars - are just the tip of science these days.

From nano-Internet of Things (IoT) microbes that can move around your body and transmit data back to doctors, to creating brand new substances entirely, these futuristic technologies are making the present an exciting place.

What is very interesting is the participation of Middle Eastern startups in these fields.

Battery-maker Energy24 in Lebanon is at the forefront of the ‘next-gen’ battery sector and Jordanian entrepreneur Ola Doudin is a leading light of blockchain technologies in the UAE, and potentially the region.

The World Economic Forum's technologies-to-watch in 2016 report this month highlighted some of the most exciting areas of scientific research right now - areas which like-minded MENA-inhabitants would do well to follow.