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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The winners will share a prize of 8 million kronor, or about $930,000.
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