Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Smallest Periodic Table in Nottingham

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My pal Jeffrey Ford sent me the link for the following YouTube video.

For his birthday, chemist Martyn Poliakoff received a periodical table of the elements 88 microns wide and 46 microns high engraved into one of his hairs.  It was a gift from his buddies at the University of Nottigham's Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Center.  They used a beam of gallium ions to carve the table on the hair in just seconds.

Oh, brave new world that has such tech in it.

Thanks, Jeff!  It's not my birthday, but I feel that you've just given a present.




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4 comments:

  1. Eileen GunnJanuary 18, 2011 at 11:54 PM

    A story, Michael? Isn't there a story in that object? A very small story?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael SwanwickJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    You see your duty quickly, Citizen! I await your completed fiction with glad anticipation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Eileen GunnJanuary 19, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I was thinking of it as a coda to your "Periodic Table of Science Fiction" chapbook. Hint, hint.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael SwanwickJanuary 23, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    All it would do is dilute my accomplishment. YOUR writing it, however, would add ancestral luster to me, while demonstrating that you can duplicate my accomplishment in 500 words or less.

    I believe that was too overt to be aq hint.

    ReplyDelete