New Atlas

Electronics Audio available

Smallest pixels ever created have a heart of gold

Michael Irving May 12, 2019

Researchers at Cambridge University have managed to create the smallest pixels in the world, about a million times tinier than those in a phone. These new pixels could be used in huge, flexible displays that are relatively easy to manufacture and cheaper to run.

The smallest pixels ever created are made with a gold grain coated in an active polymer ...

Bicycles

Tiny cycling power meter mounts on a bike's valve stem

Ben Coxworth July 12, 2018

Ordinarily, cycling power meters are mounted on the crank, pedal, or sometimes even the rider's shoe. The AroFly, however, takes a different approach – it threads onto the rear tire's Schrader or Presta valve stem. It's also claimed to be the world's smallest power meter.

The AroFly, with its included Presta valve adapter

Electronics

"World's smallest computer" is a sensor smaller than a grain of sand

Michael Irving June 24, 2018

"World’s smallest computer” is a contentious title, not just because scientists are racing to shrink devices, but because the very definition of a computer could be up for debate. The latest claim to the title is a tiny device that communicates through light and makes a grain of rice look gigantic.

The so-called "world's smallest computer" sitting next to a grain of rice

Science

World's tiniest house built to demo game-changing tech

Ben Coxworth May 18, 2018

OK, we know that tiny houses are becoming increasingly popular, but this is really taking things to an extreme. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of a new nanorobotic system, French scientists have built a "microhouse" that sits on the cleaved end of an optical fiber.

The house is so small that "even a mite doesn't fit through the door"

Games

PocketSprite is tiny on size, big on game selection

Ben Coxworth February 13, 2018

According to its creators, the currently-crowdfunding PocketSprite is the world’s smallest playable emulation device. It isn't just tiny, though – it plays all Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega Master System, and Game Gear games, plus users can upload other games via Wi-Fi.

PocketSprite is preloaded with every game included in the GNUBoy and SMS Plus emulators

Health & Wellbeing

Battery-less UV sensor claimed to be "world's smallest wearable"

Ben Coxworth January 8, 2018

We've already seen bracelets that monitor the wearer's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Now, L’Oréal has teamed up with Northwestern University to create a thumbnail-mounted gadget that does the same job. According to the university, it is the world's smallest wearable device.

UV Sense – the blue disc on the thumb – can be worn for up to ...

Electronics

myFC readies for launch of world's smallest fuel cell charger

Ben Coxworth December 29, 2015

While myFC's PowerTrekk fuel cell/battery is a handy device for off-grid device-charging, it's not exactly the type of thing that you'd just slip into a purse or pocket. The company’s new JAQ, however, is exactly that. It's being billed as the world's smallest fuel cell charger.

3D Printing

Hobbyist creates world's smallest functional circular saw

Lakshmi Sandhana August 7, 2015

Lance Abernethy, a maintenance engineer from Auckland, New Zealand has 3D-printed a working circular saw that fits in a briefcase slightly bigger than a thumbnail. It took him less than an hour to print the entire thing.

Lance Abernethy has 3D-printed a tiny circular saw that works

Bicycles

A-Bike Electric is claimed to be smaller and lighter than any other e-bike

Ben Coxworth July 15, 2015

According to its manufacturers, the human-powered A-Bike is the world's smallest, lightest folding bicycle. It's certainly also one of the strangest-looking. Now, a group of entrepreneurs are hoping to extend its claims to the world of e-bikes, with the A-Bike Electric.

The A-Bike Electric in action – look at those li'l wheels go!

Drones

Phase One launches 80 MP medium format drone camera

Paul Ridden April 1, 2015

Phase One Industrial has revealed an 80 megapixel medium format drone camera called the iXU 180 that's aimed at gyro-copter and ultralight enterprise users such as aerial mappers and arctic researchers and features a block body that's not much wider than the lens it accommodates.

Phase One Industrial's new iXU 180 medium format drone camera with an 80 mm Schneider-Kreuznach lens