NANO-SCALE MODEL OF THE USS ENTERPRISE FROM STAR TREK

This nano-scale model of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise measures just 8.8 nanometres long, a nanometre being a 'rather small' size - just one-billionth of a metre. It was made by Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology, one of three campuses at Japan’s University of Hyogo.

Hoshino and Matsui used a 30 kV (kilovolt) Ga+ (Gallium arsenide) focused ion-beam that works with individual atoms to etch patterns and models on a submicroscopic scale. Equipment like this is widely used in the semiconductor industry - for example, your computer would not be possible without similar machines in computer chip production.

As for the model’s scale, there are various estimates for the size of the movie Enterprise, but one we found quoted several times is around the 760 m (2494 ft) mark. So that makes this invisible-small ion-carved replica somewhere in the region of 1:684 billionth scale! Yikes!

View USS Enterprise models and collectibles here.

FUTURISTIC BERTONE CONCEPT CAR AT THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW 2010

Our friends from the Yellow Wheels automotive site came back today from the 2010 Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, positively bubbling with the amazingness of the concept vehicles on display there. Top among the YW raves was the Pandion flip-up-door car, from the revered Italian design house Bertone. In the words of the Yellow Wheels pit crew:

“Bertone Pandion Concept docks in Geneva Show space-station. 100 years of Alfa Romeos would be good cause for celebration, so Italian design house Bertone decided to mark the occasion by taking the mechanicals of an Alfa Romeo 8C and plonking a body from the planet Zorg onto its chassis. Zorg is a place where strange creatures fused from old-tech and future-bio wander fearfully. Plant-like skeletal structures weave a protective internal cage while external clamshells protect space warriors from the rain of carbon shard, mini-meteorites in the scorching acid atmosphere. A white organic mesh encapsulates the Avatar-style seating and contrasts with the sharp menacing detailing of the wheels and rear thrusters...”

Yes, well...! Of course you sci-fi movie-buffs may remember that Zorg was the character Gary Oldman played in the classic 1997 movie The Fifth Element and here’s another dose of Zorgness - we reckon Oldman would have looked just perfect greasing down a highway in this Bertone design. It’s a great looker, but of course five-metre long flip-up doors are not so practical for garage parking. In 100 years time, maybe the wheels will be superfluous, with anti-gravity units taking their place, so the Pandion could park in mid-air with no roof space needed.

Visit YellowWheels here.

View some available diecast models of other concept cars here.