MIT Invents Shrink Ray

[cubby]

The brilliant folks at MIT have invented a shrink ray, no joke. I thought I could paraphrase the article, so I read it, but not so much. Not that I don't understand what they are saying, but I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Because this seems fantastic.

Also - anyone better at me than science - are they indicating they can bring the object back up to original size? Does this include items of mass? Help!

Some say bigger is better, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will tell you that when it comes to tech, smaller things are far more impressive.

This month, MIT researchers announced they invented a way to shrink objects to nanoscale -- smaller than what you can see with a microscope -- using a laser. That means they can take any simple structure and reduce it to one 1,000th of its original size.

The miniaturizing technology, called "implosion fabrication," could be applied to anything from developing smaller microscope and cell phone lenses to creating tiny robots that improve everyday life.

"People have been trying to invent better equipment to make smaller nanomaterials for years," said Neurotechnology Professor Edward Boyden, the lead researcher, in a statement. "There are all kinds of things you can do with this."

It's a far cry from "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," but the new method has plenty of cool real-world uses. For example, scientists are exploring ways to add tiny robotic particles to cancer drugs that can seek out only the cancerous cells. And forget microchips -- MIT says this technology could be used to develop even smaller "nanochip" electronics.

The best part? MIT's cutting-edge technique simply requires a laser and an absorbent gel (commonly used in baby diapers) -- materials that most biology and engineering labs already have.

Here's how it works: Using a laser, researchers make a structure with absorbent gel -- akin to writing with a pen in 3D. Then, they can attach any material -- metal, DNA, or tiny "quantum dot" particles -- to the structure. Finally, they shrink the structure to a miniscule size.

"It's a bit like film photography," explained graduate student researcher Daniel Oran. "A latent image is formed by exposing a sensitive material in a gel to light. Then, you can develop that latent image into a real image by attaching another material, silver, afterwards."

In fact, Oran is a trained photographer, and the project began in 2014 when he and graduate student Samuel Rodriques, who has a background in physics, decided to collaborate.

The team discovered the method by reversing a common technique, originally developed by Boyden to enlarge images of brain tissue. Called "expansion microscopy," that process involves injecting a material into a gel and then making it larger and therefore easier to see.

By doing the reverse, the researchers were able to make nanosized objects. Previously, similar laser techniques could only make two dimensional structures, and other methods for shrinking 3D objects were much slower and more difficult to perform in most labs.

"Normally, nanotechnology uses very expensive technology and requires sterile rooms ... but we didn't have to do that because of this scaffold that we used which protects the materials," Rodriques said.

The researchers say this technology could become easily accessible in the future; it's even something you could use at home or in a school because all the materials are nontoxic.

"It's pretty hard to imagine right now all the things we can make with this," Rodriques said.

Source

p.s. @Skroe - if they can shrink and the "grow" the item back up to "original" size, wouldn't this be just about super fucking awesome for space? Reduce mass?

[Independent voter]

Might be useful for making the parts for nano machines.

[Canpinter]

Listen im not saying this is how we get supper villains......

[LedZeppelin]

what if it doesnt make anything smaller, it just makes everything else bigger

[Cerilis]

Listen im not saying this is how we get supper villains......

Super tiny villains maybe.

[Ryme]

Very interesting! I think calling it a shrink ray is a bit sensationalist, it's applications could be astounding but you can't just shrink things at will.

[Celista]

Lots of potential uses for this.

Listen im not saying this is how we get supper villains......

Supper villains? Like killer pizza?

[luc54]

The brilliant folks at MIT have invented a shrink ray, no joke. I thought I could paraphrase the article, so I read it, but not so much. Not that I don't understand what they are saying, but I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Because this seems fantastic.

Also - anyone better at me than science - are they indicating they can bring the object back up to original size? Does this include items of mass? Help!




Source

p.s. @Skroe - if they can shrink and the "grow" the item back up to "original" size, wouldn't this be just about super fucking awesome for space? Reduce mass?

I mean you can shrink items to a smaller size in this case means there's less mass in it. So if you start to grow it to original size, it's still going to have the same mass as when it was shrunk. So either you need to add mass to make structure as solid as when it was small or make it less dense. In either case it's not good for applicaton you visioned for. However there are many cases where having nano scale objects are useful both in space and down on the earth.

[Goldielocks]

This just sounds like they invented a cheaper alternative to making nano sized structures, which doesn't need clickbait. It's amazing in itself. But yeah, this isn't anything like the shrink rays in fiction lmao

[Ryme]

Also - anyone better at me than science - are they indicating they can bring the object back up to original size? Does this include items of mass? Help!

From what I can gather from here, the process works by plotting out what you want to create on a "large" scale in a special gel using lasers, once you're happy with your creation, you bathe the gel in an acid that blocks the negative charged carboxyls which shrinks the whole structure.

It seems possible that re-enlarging the object might be possible by bathing in positively charged solutions, but I'm not sure the resolution would remain. I would guess it would be like shrinking and enlarging an image in MS Paint.

[PC2]

Here's how it works: Using a laser, researchers make a structure with absorbent gel -- akin to writing with a pen in 3D. Then, they can attach any material -- metal, DNA, or tiny "quantum dot" particles -- to the structure. Finally, they shrink the structure to a miniscule size.

They are only shrinking the gel structure that houses the main object. Because the idea of shrinking the DNA molecule doesn't make any sense. For that to be true the volume of say Adenine, Nitrogen, protons, etc would all have to shrink together. Which doesn't seem consistent with physics.

[Alteiry]

what if it doesnt make anything smaller, it just makes everything else bigger

Thinking like a gnome there, buddy.

[Miyagie]

Mini Atombombs awesome the USA can finaly take over the world!
USA USA USA

[Kryctos]

Can we shrink hhds so i can have my have 1 exabyte of porn stored in a single device?

[Alvito]

Listen im not saying this is how we get supper villains......

So more Hamburglars?

[Felya]

Listen im not saying this is how we get supper villains......

No, this is how you get rid of your pesky kids, until they start riding bees and getting the neighbors involved.

[Shadowferal]

what if it doesnt make anything smaller, it just makes everything else bigger

hmmm...a dirty mind is a terrible thing to waste.

[Felya]

So more Hamburglars?

Hamburglar did that stupid ancestory DNA thing and has chosen to rediscover his roots. He is now a Knishburglar...

[prwraith]

Like I just read the title so far, and I know that it's a wild exaggeration.

[ravenswood]

Let’s hope they dont have it set to Wumbo