...let's start with a little fun we had in the lab last week, making microscopic faces of Barack Obama - Nanobamas - just in time for Tuesday's election. The structures are made of carbon nanotubes, and we're doing lots of research with nanotubes for applications including electronics, energy devices, and structural composites. We fit the nanobamas on the edge of a silicon wafer pattern we were making for another research project. See more at http://www.nanobama.com.
But most of all, we did it for fun ...it was a quick demonstration of technology we're developing for a number of serious applications, convolved with a timely topic of popular interest. It only took the extra effort to make the drawings and take the pictures like the one you see below, and it took nothing away from our real work. That said, the images have been seen online by fifty thousand people (and counting) who likely would not have otherwise read about carbon nanotubes. I feel demonstrations like this have great value in communicating science and technology to broader audiences. This is especially important for nanotechnology; awareness and understanding of its widespread benefits, implications, and potential risks is needed to responsibly achieve progress and commercial success.
