Those wacky IBM scientists are at it again.
Researchers at the IT giant’s Almaden Lab in San Jose, Calif. worked for ten days moving 10,000 individual atoms around on a microscopic surface to build the images of a boy and his interactions. It takes some massive gear to move 10,000 tiny atoms around and IBM’s lab had just the thing, a 2-ton scanning tunnelling microscope (STM).
One goal, according IBM, is to inspire kids to study and pursue careers in science and technology. And, the work could lead to breakthroughs in storage and other technology fields.
According to an IBM blog post on the project:
“The ability to move single atoms, one of the smallest particles of any element in the universe, is crucial to IBM’s research in the field of atomic-scale memory. In 2012, IBM scientists announced the creation of the world’s smallest magnetic memory bit, made of just 12 atoms. This breakthrough could transform computing by providing the world with devices that have access to unprecedented levels of data storage. But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, the scientists moved atoms by using their scanning tunneling microscope to make … a movie, which has been verified by Guinness World Records™ as The World’s Smallest Stop-Motion Film.”
Enough chit chat though, check out the film for yourself.
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