Walking Molecule Now Carries Packages

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 22, 2007 @08:11AM from the delivery-in-20-minutes-or-it's-free dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Chemists from the University of California at Riverside designed two years ago a molecule which could move straight on a flat surface — a nano-walker if you wish. Now, they've found a way to force this walking molecule to carry packages. The nano-worker can now carry two CO2 molecules. And like yourself when you carry two heavy bags, this nano-worker is slower when it carries other molecules. The researchers think their discovery will lead to reliable ways of carrying molecules, an equivalent of the conveyor belts in today's factories."

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Those interested in Nanotech... by chris_eineke · 2007-01-22 09:10 · Score: 4, Interesting

should read Nanosystems by K. Eric Drexler. Roughly speaking, Drexler is the father of nanomanufacturing. I bought it on a whim when I read about him in the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (of Cryptonomicon, Baroque Cycle, In the the Beginning was the Command Line, and Snow Crash fame). Interesting times ahead.

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"All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke