Nanomachines

Implants and tiny machines could eventually help treat disease or monitor activity, but communication is tricky. Now scientists at EPFL have developed a system whereby devices can communicate by releasing molecules into a patient’s bloodstream.

Researchers at Empa and EPFL have created one of the smallest motors ever made. It’s composed of just 16 atoms, and at that tiny size it seems to function right on the boundary between classical physics and the spooky quantum realm.

Particularly promising against superbugs are mechanical solutions like Rice University’s “nanodrills,” which bore into cell walls. Now, the team has shown that the devices work against larger organisms like worms and water fleas.

DNA is the building material of life, but recent work shows it can also be used to make art or even store data. Now, a team at Caltech has used DNA to make the world’s smallest game of tic-tac-toe, and the technique could have applications in designing reconfigurable nanomachines.

​In what they are calling a world first, nanoengineers have delivered tiny drug-bearing motors into the stomachs of mice where the devices moved around via bubble propulsion, which changed the pH of the stomach to allow the successful dispatch of bug-clobbering antibiotics.