geekosystem

Here's a fun fact about IBM's research on storing data atom by atom -- sometimes, it gets really boring. Our latest evidence for this phenomenon is that the folks working on the project feel like making the world's tiniest stop-motion film is a better use of their time, and I'm not going to say that they're wrong. The result of their efforts at atomic animation is this short, A Boy and His Atom.

Just in time for the holidays, Michael Rosenblatt, the lead designer of the first iPod Touch, has a new toy -- Atoms Express. Atoms Express is a modular building toy that claims to let kids "make things that do things." We've always wanted to let kids make things do things! That's the best. It's currently making its way through Kickstarter right now, but maybe we can have it in time for the holidays next year? Please?

Researchers from Ohio State University have captured the first-ever images of atoms moving within a molecule. The technique used to capture used the energy in the molecule's own electron to act as something similar to a camera's flash in order to illuminate the movements, while a laser that shot 50 femtosecond pulses were used to actually take the pictures. A femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second, so, you know, science.