Friday, August 30, 2013

The real nano-emoticon


Yesterday, Arunn posted a schematic diagram that used emoticons to explain something in the paper.

But a real nano-emoticon was made and imaged way back in 20006 2006 by Paul W. K. Rothemund; here's the the paper [pdf]. It was featured on the cover of Nature:

As gimmicks go, it was way more cool than the corporate logo produced in 1990 by lining up individual atoms ("Artists have almost always needed the support of patrons (scientists too!)."). Twenty-two years later, researchers from the same firm produced this gem: A Boy and His Atom:

2 Comments:

  1. Anonymous said...

    Abi, you have an extra zero in the middle---it should be 2006, not 20006.

    As to the physical "experiment" concerning the boy and his atom: Such a pity that despite all their $s, they _still_ can't explain the mechanics of it---can't supply a mechanism (in totality) for it. ... A neat "experiment," though!

    --Ajit
    [E&OE]

  2. Abi said...

    Thanks, Ajit, for catching that error. I've fixed it now.