But his father convinced him to focus on a more general chemistry-related career, and once he got into organic chemistry and learned he could change one molecule into another, a new passion was born. Nowadays, his interaction with the criminal justice system consists of visits to local prisons to share his faith with the inmates. One day, during a meditative moment, Tour was watching a group of ants methodically gathering tiny pieces of bread crumbs, signaling to others to come help. A realization struck him. The ants were successful moving around things that were close to their own size.
Tour is in the process of building trucks to ferry other molecules and atoms from place to place.
The finished truck will have a chassis, four independent axles and wheels and a loading bay with tie-downs. Tour has several other research projects in his group, including devising routes to molecules that self-replicate, designing methods to make thousands of precise molecular structures in a few simple steps and developing new flame retardants for plastics.