3 scientists win chemistry Nobel for creating 'world's smallest machines'

The winners of the 2016 Nobel Prize in chemistry
(Image credit: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

If you can, take a strand of your hair and examine it up close. Now, try to imagine something 1,000 times thinner than that strand of hair. That's the size of "the world's smallest machines," which were created by three scientists who, on Wednesday, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their innovation.

France's Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Northwestern University's Sir Fraser Stoddart, and the Netherlands' Bernard L. Feringa "have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences explained in a statement. These molecular machines could be used "in the development of things such as new materials, sensors, and energy storage systems," but could also help doctors control, with incredible accuracy, how drugs are dispersed in the body.

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Jessica Hullinger

Jessica Hullinger is a writer and former deputy editor of The Week Digital. Originally from the American Midwest, she completed a degree in journalism at Indiana University Bloomington before relocating to New York City, where she pursued a career in media. After joining The Week as an intern in 2010, she served as the title’s audience development manager, senior editor and deputy editor, as well as a regular guest on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. Her writing has featured in other publications including Popular Science, Fast Company, Fortune, and Self magazine, and she loves covering science and climate-related issues.