Nano-biomechanical whirlygigs made
In what is being called a breakthrough in nanotechnology manufacturing, Cornell Nanofabrication Facility researchers have made engines measuring only hundreds of nanometers, billionths of a meter, that combine submicroscopic metal propellers with organic molecules to make useless engines that look something like a propeller on a fez. The fabrication process involves electron gun evaporation, electron-beam lithography and isotropic etching to produce nickel propellers, each smaller than a virus. An enzyme from genetically engineered Bacillus bacteria, mounted on 200-nanometer-high nickel pedestals. was then manipulated so its surface chemistry matched a coating on the propellers. Mixed together, some self-assembled and began spinning, using the cells own fuel for power, for hours.
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