Scientists have created the world’s smallest ‘snowman’, measuring about a fifth of the width of a human hair.
Experts at the National Physical Laboratory in West London made the miniature figure which is just 0.01mm across. However, far from the thrill of rolling balls of snow around a field to build their masterpiece, it was assembled using tools designed for manipulating nanoparticles.
The snowman is made of two tiny tin beads, normally used to calibrate electron microscope lenses, which were welded together with platinum. A focused ion beam was used to carve the snowman’s eyes and smile, and to deposit a tiny blob of platinum for the nose
It was put together by Dr David Cox, a member of the Quantum Detection group at the laboratory, who also took the picture.
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A baby snowman…..how cute!
Oh that is so cool, not just that they can make a snowman but the application of the skills too.
They clearly have an awful lot to do…
Good work science! good to see nanoparticles being used for something productive.
maybe i’m being anti festivewhen i say …. why?
outrageous! no mini carrot for a nose. How do the scientist expect us to take them seriously with such a fundamental flaw in there design?
Good to see they’ve got their priorities straight.
Because?!!
Dr David Cox must have a very small camera… and very nimble hands.
Uh Why not!???! lol How freaking awesome!
@shazinbooots
Because… they could.
That is one more for art over science! GO TEAM ART!!!
Yeah, bored scientists .. no longer knowing what to do with their skills. Ehehe ..
Try do a real snow man! More fun, more visible in real shape (I’m already staring into my hand to see the little snowman that someone gave me as x-mas present .. hey man, it sort of seems to resemble a doll or something .. funny! And then he will give me the picture to proof me that my eyes were quite good … or not ..
Next .. the opponents from the other science labs come u with a picture of the moon on top of the earth … no need to carve the face anymore in the moon .. it\’s already there ..
Am I the only person who objects to the fact that it isn’t actually made of snow?
Erm… shouldn’t a snowman be made from ….snow?
I thought the liitle works of art I saw once inside the eye of a needle was small enough, but this? Blimey, how do they do it? Amazing…..
LC x
Scientist 1: “Should we try and cure cancer today?”
Scientist 2: “Nah, lets make the worlds smallest snowman instead.”
Love it! x
And how much were these scientists paid for this development? Mice everywhere can finally wear festive earrings to xmas dinner parties.. Marie Curie would be proud.
This just goes to show that EVERYBODY sometimes slacks off at work. But while the rest of us are slyly playing Snake on our phones, and flicking a screwed up piece of paper around like a mini football, leading scientists are constructing the world’s smallest snowman under microscopes.
@ Lady Claire Yeah, I’ve seen those. The ones I saw where tiny models of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the eye of a needle, and a little amber ship inside a single human hair!
Kid 1: Shall we study hard and become scientists so we can cure cancer?
Dan: Nah; let’s dick about and get a job in mickey D’s.
Ok…next season i want to see the world smalles easter-Bunny …:-D
WOW – so by doing this they prove that they can in fact create small machines to repair cell walls and heart valves and cure strokes its excellent – no wait they could have done that instead of wasting their investors budget doing this crap. Creditability rating 0 out of 100.
Would you drive a car around the racetrack without taking a few driving lessons first? This probably doubled as a very useful calibration for the NPL, also it probably only took a single hour out of an 80 hour week, these guys work seriously hard!