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Scientists Capture Detailed Image of Molecule

Technique could help improve electronics, drugs

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 28, 2009 9:32 AM CDT

(Newser) – In a scientific first, IBM researchers have produced a detailed image of a molecule’s structure, the BBC reports. The stunning image, made with an atomic force microscope that vibrates like a tuning fork, is so finely detailed that it shows chemical bonds. Such intricate familiarity with the molecule opens the possibility of creating electronics and drugs on the atomic and molecular scales, which IBM says could lead to smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient computer chips.

The delicate inner structure of a pentacene molecule imaged with an atomic force microscope.
The delicate inner structure of a pentacene molecule imaged with an atomic force microscope.   (Image courtesy of IBM Research – Zurich)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 19 comments
riffran
Aug 29, 2009 11:13 AM CDT
That would be a Pandoras box indeed...lol...Try watching the movie GATTICA....it touches on the realm of ideas...good flick, but a bit sad also
my-name-here
Aug 28, 2009 10:35 AM CDT
I'm with you, more focus would be good! And your question "...what is it going to show?" is a good example of what we clearly agree on. More questions! Be it the limits of God or not God, we again agree, that the limits (unlimited?) will never be reached. Thanks for clarifying that statement, by the way.
newsrmandan
Aug 28, 2009 10:23 AM CDT
I just look at that picture and see that it needs more definition. The more defined that image can get what is it going to show? More and more complexity which will need greater and smaller technologies to unravel. Great for science great for humanity I am all for it. not that I need science to believe in a God or creator being but I just think science as good as it is has been misused to disprove the need or the existence of God. I agree that humankind has an insatiable hunger for what it does not understand but I would posit that is because God is insatiable. We will never reach the limits of God. Science helps to prove that with every new discovery.

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