1 nanometer motor (single molecule, 16 atoms) developed...

[Rabblevox]

A breakthrough achievement in Nanoscience was made when Tufts research team used a single molecule to create the smallest electric motor ever, which is to be recognized by Guinness World Records.

The single molecule electric motor measures one nanometer across, which is one billionth of a meter. This means, the microscopic motor is 60,000 times smaller than a single strand of a human hair, excelling far beyond the current world record held by a 200 nanometer motor.

"There has been significant progress in the construction of molecular motors powered by light and by chemical reactions, but this is the first time that electrically-driven molecular motors have been demonstrated, despite a few theoretical proposals," said E. Charles H. Sykes, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry at Tufts who led the team.

More:
http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/208816/20110905/single-molecule-electric-motor-smallest-nano-science.htm

I am both exhilarated and terrified to be living in the era when science fiction becomes science fact.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I wonder if we can use them like the Borg to repair and rebuild people?

[Rabblevox]

2. I'll take the Borg over the neo-cons any day. At least the Borg were efficient and logical. /nt

[1620rock]

3. Great, now bacterium can ride motorcycles. (Just kidding. awesome advance for science).

[qazplm]

8. I think eventually the answer is yes

eventually people will live longer lives as tiny machines clean up cancers, fight diseases, unclog arteries, produce various hormones (or stimulate their production), clean up free radicals or even repair DNA damage. People will still get older, and I don't think folks will be eternally 20, but they might live 300 or 400 years and be more likely eternally 40 or 50.

Unfortunately for someone my age (almost 42) not sure it will happen quickly enough to give me that extra time. But a boy can dream! :P

[DetlefK]

4. I bet, an asymmetric phonon excitation is the reason for the rotation.

Can't wait for the paper to be published.

And in my opinion it only counts as a motor if it can actually DO something. Otherwise a falling, rotating acorn-seed counts as a motor as well.

The first big problem will be manufacturing those nano-cog-wheels mentioned at the end of the article: You will have to drag the molecules to the right positions by yourself, they won't end up there magically within a fitting distance purely by deposition. And if the bonding between the sulfur-atom and the Cu-substrate is indeed that strong, then you maybe can't move the molecule at all. Or you accidentally rip it in two and move just a part of it.

The second problem will be mechanic force: Molecules of that size are not stiff enough to push anything. They could surely push a small molecule or a gas-atom, but the problem in this case is the substrate: Anything small enough to be pushed will automatically stick to the substrate at these low temperatures. (What was it? 4K?) The "spinning blades" will just slide over it. Of course, you could go to room-temperature, for example, but the spinning frequency also depends on temperature.



It could work, but not with this kind of molecule:
My suggestion is to start with the sulfur atoms first, by depositing them on the substrate. Then you have all the time you need to arrange the centers of rotation in a proper way.
Next, I would deposit the "spinning blades" of the molecule and drag them into the right position. (The sidegroups don't stick that hard to the substrate. That means you wouldn't accidentally move the sulfur-atoms around as well.)
Then you glue the spinning blades to the sulfur atom. Bring the STM-tip on top of the desired position and give it a millisecond pulse of a few Milli-Volt. That should establish a molecular bonding between the spinning blade and the center of rotation.
Et voilà: The smallest fan in the world, installed right where you want it. And it only took a few days.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Nope.

Motor implies electrical power. (opposed to Engine)

A falling acorn seed does not generate it's own rotation, it simply turns with external airflow. Drop it in a vaccum, no rotation. Put this nanomotor in a vaccum, and apply electricity, get motion.

[caraher]

7. Under what definition?

I can be a stickler for definitions (for instance, I reacted very negatively to people referring to compressed air systems for energy storage as "batteries" in the E/E forum). But I've never seen "motor" defined so narrowly as to exclude devices that cause motion that are not electric, and have never seen it suggested that "electric motor" contains a redundancy.

Nice example with the seed, though. That nicely captures the relevant difference between this and essentially passive bodies that may undergo motion.

[txlibdem]

6. Programmable matter - aka Claytronics - could make use of this. Amazing

Clay = mold-able, changeable, malleable, can take whatever shape you want to make
Tronics = it's a robot, in this case a tiny, tiny robot that communicates with and works in harmony with many, many other claytronics robots

Claytronics could change the world. It's that kind of a breakthrough.

Here's their website:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/
... check out this video:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~claytronics/movies/carDesign_12_vo_H264.mov - "imagine a technology that lets you create objects on the fly."
... here's a different video from youtube still pretty cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJEMfAg5l2w&feature=player_embedded

Now that we've broken the 1 nanometer barrier it will be just a matter of time till all the other components are small enough to make it workable.

I gotta say, I'm pretty hopeful about the possibilities...

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