This image might look like a bunch of Lego for the new millennium, but it is in fact a model of a ‘nanocar’.
The clustered molecules can roll around on a glass slide at about nine nanomiles per hour (translated: really slow), and its wheels actually turn.
The nanocar is no more than 4 nanometers (translated: tiny) across, which is slightly wider than a strand of DNA (any clearer? Nope, we thought not).
Nanovehicles like these are designed to study the materials and movements, to make it easier for researchers to build more sophisticated molecular machines. Eventually the researchers want to build tiny trucks that could carry atoms and molecules around in miniature factories. So in the future, we could have tiny ambulances racing through our veins instead of antibiotics.
Click on the pic for the full story.
Sound like sci-fi? You betcha. Watch this space for more on nanocars.
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