Caltech Researchers Weigh Individual Molecules

karvind writes "PhysOrg reports that physicists at the California Institute of Technology have created the first nanodevices capable of weighing individual biological molecules. This technology may lead to new forms of molecular identification that are cheaper and faster than existing methods, as well as revolutionary new instruments for proteomics. The Caltech devices are 'nanoelectromechanical resonators' -- essentially tiny tuning forks about a micron in length and a hundred or so nanometers wide that have a very specific frequency at which they vibrate when excited. Slashdot covered earlier the effort by Cornell for measuring attogram objects which also employs NEMS cantilevers."

Cool tech. Some issues

[Dancin_Santa]

I was under the impression that at the atomic and molecular level there were quantum phenomena that caused particles to gain and lose mass depending on how they are arranged within the atom/molecule. For example, (just making something up) a molecular bond would result in the total mass of a molecule being less than the sum of the masses of its atoms.

If working with isotopes, it seems feasible to measure the mass of any particular molecule. What were the issues that were blocking this sort of measurement before?

Here we go again....!

[Le_Batleur]

You know, I'm not going to believe one darned word posted today on Slashdot. If anybody has any news they want people to believe, post it tomorrow. Imagine what would happen if the BBC or CNN sprinkled six or seven fake stories into their broadcasts like Slashdot do every year....

Amazing...

[RobertKozak]

Its just amazing how colored our perception can be of a story.

When I first read it I assumed it was an infamous April 1 slashdot story so each comment I read was biased based on that perception.

I either thought you were an idiot for replying intelligently to this story or that you were extremely witty and sly in your reply and that demonstrated that you got the joke.

But I did something we rarely do and went to read the story and found it was written 2 days ago.

I guess the joke is on me....oh well at least I can read all about it again tomorrow. -- Robert