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Nanoelectromechanical systems begin to flex their muscles.
Ultrasmall machines are everywhere these days. Tiny mechanical devices, so minute that a hundred thousand could sit on a pencil eraser, are responsible for triggering your airbags during an accident, spitting colors out in precise detail on your inkjet printer and projecting light in the newest digital theaters. If the researchers succeed, their work could lead to ultrasensitive sensors that can detect even the most subtle genetic alterations responsible for a disease, or to ultrastrong artificial muscles that might replace damaged human tissue or power tiny robots. But with NEMS, the whole interaction of matter with light is different. You get completely new physical properties, and that's a big opportunity for new devices.