Nanotechnology rules, OK!

More than 30 years ago, Richard Feynman amazed physicists with his vision of the future. ‘Consider the final question as to whether, ultimately - in the great future - we can arrange atoms the way we want; the very atoms, all the way down! What would happen if we could arrange atoms one by one the way we want them?’ Feynman was speaking at a meeting of the American Physical Society on 29 December 1959.

What has happened is that scientists have started indulging in microscopic graffiti. The instrument that makes this possible is the scanning tunnelling microscope - invented 11 years ago to produce images of surfaces showing the arrangement of individual atoms. In the past few years scientists have been using the extremely fine tip of the microscope to modify surfaces as well. The temptation to leave their mark in messages only a few atoms high is irresistible. …