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Scientists Build World's Most Sensitive Scale

Posted by samzenpus on from the weighing-air dept.

Adrian Bachtold at the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology in Barcelona has created the world's most sensitive scale. The new subatomic weight scale can measure masses as tiny as one yoctogram, less than the mass of a proton. From the article: "Bachtold hopes the scales could be used to distinguish different elements in chemical samples, which might differ only by a few protons. They might also diagnose health conditions by identifying proton-scale differences in molecular mass that are markers of disease."

5 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Misread title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I first read it as massive, so I thought it was about your mom. Then I re read it as smaller and realized they were making a scale for your penis.

  2. Will this sensitive scale cry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you put this sensitive scale in front of a chick-flick, will it start crying when the lead character breaks up with her boyfriend or when she nurses a lost kitten back to health?

  3. I'll have the salad :( by AbRASiON · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hold the dressing, I've gained three yoctograms this week!

  4. I was like 0mg! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Had to...

  5. Re:USPS by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Funny

    The airlines are probably placing pre-orders as we speak.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel