Technology to reduce objects to nano level, is like a guarantee of Doraemon

In the technology industry, things that show off the outside - like a giant supercomputer, a huge display - the bigger will be impressive. But inside those big things, the smaller the parts, the more sophisticated and more sophisticated the technology will become.

In the last month of this year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT published new achievements: they invented a way to use lasers to shrink the object back to nano levels - the level at which the microscope is Can not see. They can reduce the size of an object with a simple structure to 1000 times.

Scientists can reduce the size of an object with a simple structure to 1,000 times.

Miniature technology like stepping out of the official movie "implosion fabrication", can be applied to the production of microscopic microscopes, smartphone cameras, or the creation of micro-robots, helping life. daily human.

"For years, humanity has been trying to create increasingly advanced devices to create nanomaterials," said Professor Edward Boyden, head of miniature technology research. "This technology can be applied to countless things."

Even if Doraemon's "miniature flashlight" is still a distant dream, the practical applications of miniature technology already exist right before your eyes. We can bring the micro robot with anticancer drugs, when entering the bloodstream, micro-robots will lead to drugs to reach the right cancer cells. And when we have nanomaterials? I will have nanochip, electronics will exceed the limit it has.

This is a 3-dimensional structure before being scaled down.

Shrinking materials requires surprisingly simple tools: MIT only needs a laser and absorbent gel or is in baby diapers. These materials are available in any laboratory.

Using lasers, the researchers created a new structure from the absorbent gel - the same way you hold a pen, drawing on 3D air shapes. When that structure is in place, they attach the material to it, be it metal, DNA or tiny quantum dots. After that, they will shrink the entire structure to the smallest possible level.

"It's like film and photography," said Daniel Oran, one of the researchers from MIT. "A hidden image is formed by the sensitive gel materials to light. After that, we can develop hidden images into real images by adding other materials." It is the process of making a frame with absorbent gel, then attaching the material.

It is possible to create almost every imaginable imagery.

That comparison of Daniel Oran is easy to understand: Oran himself is a professional photographer, this project started in 2014, when he collaborated with another graduate student, Mr. Samuel Rodriques with experience in animal industry. physical.

The small research team discovered how to shrink the object by reversing a simple technique developed by Professor Boyden to increase the size of the brain tissue image. The process included adding materials to the gel, making it larger and easier to observe.

By reversing the process, researchers can create nanoscale objects. Before this time, techniques using lasers only produced two-dimensional structures, besides reducing the size of the object was very slow and difficult to perform in most laboratories.

"Normally, nanotechnology uses very expensive tools, requires to be placed in a sterile room . but we do not need that kind of stuff, because the equipment we built is enough to protect protect the inside , " said Rodriques

Researchers are optimistic about the bright future: the technology will soon be available everywhere, even at home or at school experiments. All materials used in the new miniature technology are non-toxic, easy to find.

"Pretty hard to imagine what we can do with this great technology," Rodriques said.