A Crisp View of Molecules

Molecules are more than fuzzy blobs, but that's all scientists have been able to see... until now.

For a couple of decades, scientists have used tiny needles to poke at single atoms and molecules, displaying the results as fuzzy blob-like structures. This is impressive enough - after all, atoms are a fraction of a nanometer wide. (Your fingernails grow about a nanometer per second.)

But now, a simple new technique has allowed them to see a very crisp view of the electrons that make up the molecule. Click here for the Physical Review Focus story that explains it, and shows how much of a difference the technique makes.

(I don't post pictures because I don't want to worry about copyright. The above link is really worth clicking on.)

Science can get amazingly precise.

Extremely simple techniques can make a huge difference.

Chris Phoenix

Comments

[flashgordon]

So long as you don't make money off posting pictures, who cares?

[Summerspeaker]

That's exciting news. The field of nanotechnology appears to be making consist progress.

[Tom Craver]

Long time no see, Chris! Been busy?

[Chris Phoenix, CRN]

Yes, working on several non-nano things.

If/when I next take a serious technical look at nano-these-days, one of the first questions to ask is: what is the expected performance and controllability of modern DNA-based nanodevices?

The purpose, of course, would be to decide whether DNA is potentially the basis for a general-purpose manufacturing technology. I'm inclined to doubt it, though I haven't run the numbers. I expect DNA to attract a major portion of the available brainpower working on molecular manufacturing... if my guess is right, then recent DNA advances could actually delay general-purpose manufacturing by a few years.

Chris

[flashgordon]

If you try to build a rocket from dna-nanomanufacturing, your a long ways off; if you try to bootstrap yourself to a better nanomanufacturing system, then I think dna-nanotech pathway can be worth doing;

[flashgordon]

Yea, Mr Phoenix, maybe if people would think scientifically, we wouldn't have the problems we have;