WOW! this is a big breakthrough. I have friends working in my collaborators group using STM and AFM at UHV (Ultra High Vacuum) and ULT (Ultra Low Temperatures), and know second hand how difficult/near to impossible it is.
Are the samples cooled to near zero when scanning like this? As far as I understand, even slight temperatures cause molecules to move at ridiculous speeds.
great comment on the page:
"trivia: molecules have no color"
They don't? Then where does color come from?
Why wouldn't gold atoms be golden?<p>i'm hoping the guy was being sarcastic but...
Judging by how big of a feat this is to image a molecule, how on earth do we know how things like cellular respiration work? How do we know cells use ATP, etc without being able to watch?<p>(I may make this question a separate post to HN, it's been bothering me for a while.)
Where's the URL to the original IBM press release / article? I would rather read the news from the source, than from those gizmodo subhuman morons any day...