New teeny tiny motors can fit inside the strand of a piece of hair

A gear in microscale with a metastructure that reacts to light. (Gan Wang via SWNS) By Talker

By Dean Murray

A mind-bogglingly small new motor can fit inside a strand of hair.

Its cell-sized gears are powered by light and could be used as pumps inside the human body.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg say making the gears on a micrometer scale paves the way for the smallest on-chip motors in history.

(Gan Wang via SWNS)

A University of Gothenburg statement said: "Gears are everywhere – from clocks and cars to robots and wind turbines. For more than 30 years, researchers have been trying to create even smaller gears in order to construct micro-engines. But progress stalled at 0.1 millimeters, as it was not possible to build the drive trains needed to make them move any