Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

3D Printed Art Smaller Than an Ant's Forehead

Posted by timothy on from the my-usual-measure-is-a-newt's-nostril dept.

ErnieKey (3766427) writes Artist Jonty Hurwitz has created the world's smallest sculptures: nanosculptures, no wider than a human hair and unable to be seen without an electron microscope, created using a specialized 3D printing process. Hurwitz says this project was 'Art, literally created with Quantum Physics.' While this seems quite a claim, it seems to be very well deserved. Hurwitz enlisted a team of approximately 15 people to help him bring his vision to life. After scanning his models in a 200-camera array, the sculptures were printed — with advice from the Weizmann Institute of Science — using a 3D print technique by the Institute of Microstructure Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, with multiphoton lithography used for the fine detail work.

21 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. If only they can make robots that small ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    The arts are indeed impressive ! However, they are "sculptures" that do not have movable joints

    If only they can make bots that small imagine how many amazing feats that can be achieved !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:If only they can make robots that small ... by AC-x · · Score: 1

      Given the sculptures were made using lithography I can't see why the same technique couldn't be applied to MEMS.

    2. Re:If only they can make robots that small ... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Given the sculptures were made using lithography I can't see why the same technique couldn't be applied to MEMS.

      The material, and techniques, are different. MEMS is done on silicon using a subtractive process. The sculptures in TFA were made with an additive process using a polymer. MEMS uses both the mechanical and electrical properties of silicon, so a polymer would not be a drop in replacement.

    3. Re:If only they can make robots that small ... by AC-x · · Score: 1

      But from what I've read it works with the same photosensitive chemicals that are used for etching silicon, so could both be used instead of a mask (I'm assuming they still have to use masks to etch the silicon?) and maybe add polymer parts to the silicon components.

  2. Wacky units . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    Well, I have heard of Hogsheads as a unit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

    But an ant's forehead . . . how many Libraries of Congress or size of Wales is that . . . ?

    Maybe they meant "aunt" instead of "ant" . . . ? I don't know about youse guys, but if someone tried to print something in 3D on my aunt's forehead, they would be in for more trouble than they expected . . .

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. What is this? by stoolpigeon · · Score: 2

    Art for ants?!

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  4. Can't have that. by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    And make sure you blur out the naught bits. Can't have that.

  5. literally made with quantum physics by Trepidity · · Score: 2

    Fun fast: I am literally posting this post using quantum physics.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
    1. Re:literally made with quantum physics by CaptQuark · · Score: 1

      Your post was submitted before you finished typing using quantum entanglement.

      ~~

    2. Re:literally made with quantum physics by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      How fast were you posting?

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
  6. The two photon effect by umafuckit · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's a nice page on the two photon effect, which explains how the resolution was achieved. Two-photon imaging has been used for some time in the life sciences to achieve super-thin optical sectioning.

    --
    soylentnews.org
  7. They missed a great opportunity by paiute · · Score: 1

    The first statue should have been one of Hendrik Casimir.

    --
    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  8. Sorry, this is bullshit photoshopped "art". by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, I'm sorry, it appears to me that this is all photoshopped fakery. Yes, two-photon lithography is a real thing, but in this case we have some artist claiming to have done things which are not currently possible.

    This kind of thing happens pretty frequently now and it pisses me off, sorry. Real scientists and engineers (and even artists) dream and strive to accomplish great feats of engineering and discovery. But some people like to pretend their dreams are real and by presenting fake accomplishments to the world they damage society by trivializing the actual accomplishments of real innovators. They present their "art" as if it were real, and it gets sent around the internet and people believe that it's true, and that further blurs the public's view of what's real and what's art or pure fantasy. What's the point of trying to actually do something like this when everyone thinks it has already been done?

    So, anyhow, a few minutes googling will expose some of the original pre-photoshop images that these people appropriated to create their "art". For example, the microphotograph of the needle's eye can be found here with no tiny statue in evidence:

    http://www.aber.ac.uk/bioimage...

    In addition, depth-of-field, lighting, and other cues like the fact that there's no actual connection to the substrate make these fakes pretty obvious.

    Ergo, I must presume the whole thing, including the video interview is all just "performance art".

    Here's a tip: amazing and groundbreaking scientific and technological breakthroughs are generally not announced to the world by artists.

    G.

    1. Re:Sorry, this is bullshit photoshopped "art". by amaurea · · Score: 1

      The size of the images also doesn't mesh with the size described in the article text. The figurines in the images are actually quite large, and should be clearly visible even with much less than 400x magnification. For example, the head of a small ant might be 0.5 mm wide. That would make the figurine about 0.1 mm long. With 400x magnification it would be like looking at an object 4 cm long, which would be quite visible. Yet the text claims these were only visible with electron microscopes.

      But of course, none of that is as strong evidence as the parent's damning link to a the pre-photoshopped picture of the needle head, with all the little dust motes and imperfections in exactly the same location, but missing the figurine.

    2. Re:Sorry, this is bullshit photoshopped "art". by asjk · · Score: 1

      Thanks GS, this is why /. is such a valuable resource. There is always someone reading who knows BS and stops the rest of us (me) from spamming bogus information around.

    3. Re:Sorry, this is bullshit photoshopped "art". by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      The point spread function of a 2 photon microscope is about 3 microns in the axial direction for 900 nm light. So it could plausibly be 1/3 here because they're using UV. I suspected they indeed created the blurrier looking figurines toward the bottom of the page with the rest being being representations of what the figurine would look like on other objects. Yes, it would be visible with a light microscope, since it was created with a light microscope.

      --
      soylentnews.org
  9. No wider than a human hair? by jetole · · Score: 1

    That sculpture looks like it's about the width of more then a 100 ant hairs. Is a human hair more then a 100 times as wide as a ant hair? I know everything on ants is smaller but is that sculpture really no wider then a human hair? Honest question.

  10. prior "art"? by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    Doesn't IBM's litho stamp of its own logo (gold on carbon or was it the other way round?) count?

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  11. Prior art by ahto · · Score: 1

    While not 3D-printed, similar things have been done long before by Nikolai Aldunin. A TIME gallery features some pictures, among them perhaps most relevant at the moment a set of seven camels (plus three palm trees) in the eye of a needle and most impressive for me personally a flea fitted with horse shoes, saddle and stirrups. While TIME reported on him in 2008, most of the work is much older. I remember going to an exhibition in late 1980s.

  12. Argh. by antdude · · Score: 1

    Get that off my head!! It is itching me! :(

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  13. Needed: ant forehead decor by DulcetTone · · Score: 1

    I need some adornment for my ant's forehead. Is there anything larger than this available?

    --
    tone