Ron Huber sends in an article from the University of Florida News on a newer light driven nano motor. These incredibly tiny engines (closed 2-5 nanometers and open 10-12 with a nano-meter being 1 billionth of a meter) can convert sunlight directly into motion.
These motors are the very first of their type to be built directly from a strand of DNA, which makes them simple and reliable and more important, much easier to develop.
The first issue that researchers have to address is unified movement. Because the motors are so small, to get any usable work a high percentage of the motors must move all at the same time. Also the motor's efficiency needs to improve. Right now they are far less efficient than solar cells but the amount of work that the engines can produce are in proportion to their size.
Uses could be: repair of single cells, anti viral or bacterial. Even on a macro scale it's not hard imagining billions or trillions of them powering a car or even a factory! Plus since they are DNA they would produce no waste.
Read the complete article here
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