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Will You Ride This Nano-Elevator?
Roland Piquepaille writes "Chemists from Italy and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have built the world's smallest elevator. It is a molecular elevator, about 2.5 nanometers high and 3.5 nanometers wide. The molecular platform sits on three legs which can move up and down by one nanometer. The New Scientist and the New York Times (free registration needed) are both reporting about this nano-elevator. The researchers think this system might be used as a drug delivery system. Even if they're right, it will not happen before at least ten years. This overview contains some excerpts from the two articles mentioned above. It also includes a schematical representation of the chemical equilibrium between the two co-conformations of the molecular elevator."
I find it highly unlikely that moving something 1 nanometer will be usful for delivering drugs. It is a shame researchers have to pretend that their research does something it doesn't just to get funding. I know there are many other people here who would agree with me that more funding is needed for the general pursuit of knowledge that has nothing to do with the bottom line of a company.