New look for nanomotors (Mar 22)
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/9/3/14
Physicists in the US have built the first nanoelectromechanical device
that exploits the effects of surface tension. The "relaxation
oscillator" consists of two droplets of liquid metal on a substrate made
of carbon nanotubes and can be controlled with a small applied electric
field. Alex Zettl and colleagues at the University of California at
Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say the device
could find use in various nanomechanical applications, including
actuators and motors (B C Regan et al. 2005 Appl. Phys. Lett. 86
123119).