Is there anything more festive than a spot of nanofabrication? No, we didn’t think so either.
To have a bit of fun, and to perhaps highlight just how spectacularly oversized Christmas has become, London’s Western University has created what is probably the world’s smallest snowman.
This cheery little snowman is just three microns tall, to try and put that into context the average human hair is 75microns thick, not tall, thick.
He was created by London’s Western University nanofabrication facility. His body is made from three silica spheres while his arms and nose are made from platinum.
To cut the eyes and mouth into the sphere the team used a focused ion beam. Considering the margin for error we’d say they’ve done a pretty good job.
The field of miniaturisation has accomplished some truly impressive feats over the last few years.
In 2015 scientists announced they had created the world’s smallest light bulb. At just one atom thick and made out of graphene scientists believe this revolutionary little light bulb could pave the way for a new generation of ultra-thin flexible displays.