Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Rodin's Thinker shrunk to blood-cell size
When researchers figured out to reproduce Rodin's The Thinker on a scale small enough to fit in a human blood-cell, they didn't suspect that they were letting themselves in for the world's tiniest DMCA notice:
Link (Thanks, Spluch!)Using lasers, Korean researchers have crafted a microscopic version of Rodin's famed sculpture "The Thinker" just about twice the size of a red blood cell at 20 millionths of a meter high. Muscles and even toes are visible in the tiny model.
For more than a decade, researchers worldwide have experimented with lasers to fabricate elaborate 3-D creations. They start with a resin that hardens when exposed to certain frequencies of light. Using overlapping beams of lasers, researchers can then solidify a sculpture with details measuring less than a wavelength of visible light in size.
The new technique could help develop novel biosensors and other complicated microscopic devices, the scientists said.
posted by Cory Doctorow at 06:54:09 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
