The Tiniest Snowman…Ever.
Who said scientists lacked a sense of humor? Keeping in tune with the holiday spirit, one decided to partake in a long-standing winter tradition, nano style. David Cox, a scientist in the Quantum Detection Group at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, has built the world’s smallest snowman.
Cox did not use snow and carrots and coal; rather, he used two tiny beads and welded them together with a speck of platinum. To give the “snowman” a happy face, he utilized a beam of ions to carve out eyes and a smile. Finishing off the look is a tiny blob of platinum for the little guy’s nose.
Cox uses these techniques to fabricate nanoscale devices in his lab, but this goes to show that even the most progressive minds need a little fun every now and then.
To learn more about how this tiny snowman was created, see the video!
www.discovery.com
