From: Alex Michael Bonnici (albonnici_at_vol.net.mt)
Date: Wed Sep 07 2005 - 21:08:41 UTC
Also reported here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4223660.stm
http://news.com.com/Nanotech+researchers+build+brawny+molecules/2100-7337_3-5852461.html
--------------
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20050907115934514
Nano Machines Take Giant Leap
Wednesday, September 07 2005 @ 12:10 PM CDT
Contributed by: Tommy
General NewsUK - A key technological breakthrough led by
the University of Edinburgh suggests that a futuristic world where
people
can move objects about "remotely" with laser pointers could be closer
than we
think. Chemists working on the nanoscale (80,000 times
smaller than a hair's breadth) have managed to move a tiny droplet of
liquid across a surface - and even up a slope - by transporting it along
a
layer of light-sensitive molecules.
Scientists at Edinburgh, Groningen and Bologna are the
first to manipulate tiny nanoscale machines (two millionths of a
millimetre high) so that they can move an object that is visible to the
naked eye. The team has shifted microlitre drops of diiodomethane not
just
across a flat surface, but also up a one millimetre, 12 degree slope
against the force of gravity. It may be the tiniest of movements, but,
in the emerging discipline of nanotechnology, it represents a
giant technological leap forward.
Although many scientists are working with so-called "molecular
machines"- a process which involves making the parts of molecules move
in a controlled fashion - the Edinburgh-led team is the first to make
these machines interact with 'real world' objects. Until now,
molecularmachines have operated in isolation within the laboratory, but
this
latest piece of research brings them into contact with the
everyday world around us.
The research team has developed a Teflon-like surface that is covered
with synthetic molecular 'shuttles', the components of which move up and
down by a millionth of a millimetre when exposed to light. The movement
of droplets results from the change in surface properties after most of
the shuttle molecules change position. The phenomenon is so efficient
that it generates enough energy to move the droplet. In
terms of scale, the process is mind-boggling: it is the equivalent of a
conventional mechanical machine using a millimetre displacement of
pistons to lift an object twice the height of the world's tallest
building.
Molecular machines are ubiquitous throughout biology (they make muscles
move, for example), but making tiny artificial machines is
not easy because the physics that govern how things behave at the
molecular level is very different from conventional physics. That means
the
prospect of large objects being moved around remotely by lasers is still
some way
off, but this new study, reported in the current issue of Nature
Materials journal, may prove useful for some'lab-on-a-chip' diagnostic
techniques, or for performing chemical reactions on a tiny scale without
test tubes.
Principal researcher David Leigh, Forbes Professor of Organic Chemistry
at the University of Edinburgh, said: "Nature uses molecular machines in
virtually every biological process and, when we learn how to build and
control such structures, we will surely find they have the potential to
revolutionise molecular-based technologies, from health care to 'smart'
materials. Molecular machines could be used to make
artificial muscles, surfaces that change their properties in response to
electricity or light or even - one day in the future - to move objects
about a room using a laser pointer. These are not the self-replicating
'grey goo' nanorobots of science fiction, but rather the life
enhancing technologies of tomorrow."
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