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Move over, angel hair <keyword id="54935" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pasta" source="Orion">pasta</keyword> — there’s a new contender in town. Researchers have created the <keyword id="24099848" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="thinnest-spaghetti" source="keywords">thinnest spaghetti</keyword> ever, measuring just 372 nanometers across. That’s roughly 200 times thinner than a human hair! But this isn’t a culinary breakthrough — it’s a scientific one. This “nanopasta” holds promise for revolutionary applications in medicine and industry.<br /><h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:4pt;">A spaghetti revolution in the lab</h2>The spaghetti was made using electrospinning, a technique where an electric charge pulls a flour-based mixture through a needle to form nanofibers.:<br /><br />“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes,” explained co-author Dr. Adam Clancy. “In our study, we did the same except we pulled our flour mixture through with an electrical charge. It’s literally spaghetti but much smaller.”<br /><br />The strands are so fine they can’t be seen clearly with visible light and had to be measured using a scanning electron microscope. For comparison, the next thinnest known pasta is <em>su filindeu </em>— the “threads of God” from Sardinia — estimated to be about 400 microns wide. That makes this new creation 1,000 times thinner.<br /><h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:4pt;">Why make nanospaghetti?</h2>This isn’t pasta for your plate — it’s nanofiber science at its finest. Nanofibers are ultra-thin strands of material with many uses, such as wound healing. Nanofiber mats are highly porous, allowing water and moisture in while keeping bacteria out. They can also help with bone regeneration by acting as scaffolding for tissue growth, or for drug delivery, since their microscopic size allows for precise medical applications.<br /><br />“Nanofibers, such as those made of starch, show potential for use in wound dressings as they are very porous,” remarked co-author Professor Gareth Williams. “In addition, nanofibers are being explored for use as a scaffold to regrow tissue, as they mimic the extracellular matrix — a network of proteins and other molecules that cells build to support themselves.”<br /><br />Making nanofibers traditionally involves extracting and purifying starch, a resource-intensive process. The team found a greener solution by starting with flour, which is rich in starch. Dr. Clancy said: “Starch is a promising material to use as it is abundant and renewable — it is the second largest source of biomass on Earth, behind cellulose — and it is biodegradable, meaning it can be broken down in the body.”<br /><br />Using flour, however, wasn’t without its challenges. Impurities like proteins and cellulose made the mixture more viscous and harder to spin into fibers. To tackle this, the researchers used formic acid instead of water, as it breaks down the starch’s tightly packed helical structures. The acid evaporated during the process, leaving behind ultrathin strands of nanospaghetti.<br /><h2 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:4pt;">Not for your dinner table</h2>While this innovation is exciting, don’t expect it to replace your fettuccine anytime soon. Professor Williams points out that the nanospaghetti isn’t really as useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan.<br /><br />Instead, the team is focusing on the practical uses of nanospaghetti in fields like healthcare. Dr. Clancy added: “We’ve shown that a simpler way to make nanofibers using flour is possible. The next step would be to investigate the properties of this product. We would want to know, for instance, how quickly it disintegrates, how it interacts with cells, and if you could produce it at scale.”<br /><br />For now, this world-record-breaking spaghetti is a testament to the possibilities of nanotechnology. Whether it’s revolutionizing medicine or creating <keyword id="22184424" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eco-friendly-materials" source="keywords">eco-friendly materials</keyword>, this tiny pasta proves that big things can come in very small packages<br /><br />The findings of this study have been published in <em>Nanoscale Advances </em>and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D4NA00601A">here</a>.<br />

Scientists have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti 200 times thinner than hair that overcooks in a second! Here’s why

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>A team of researchers at the University of Akron is developing a device that can harvest <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cape-town-day-zero-photos-inequality-2018-2">drinking water</a> from thin air.</strong></li><li><strong>The device uses nanoscale polymers to capture condensation and it could be battery-powered, according to the researchers.</strong></li><li><strong>The team is now looking for funding to develop a working prototype of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/device-can-harvest-clean-water-from-the-air-2018-6">water harvester</a>.&#xa0;</strong></li><li><strong>"Every human should be entitled to fresh water," Dr. Josh Wong, the lead researcher on the project said.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>A team of scientists at the University of Akron in Ohio is working to solve one of the most pressing issues humanity <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cape-town-day-zero-photos-inequality-2018-2">will face</a> in the future: access to fresh, clean drinking water.</p><p>To do that, the team is developing a prototype water harvester that can essentially produce up to 10 gallons&#xa0;per hour of drinking water from thin air.&#xa0;</p><p>"Every human should be entitled to fresh water," Dr. Josh Wong, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Akron, told Business Insider. "Not just the 0.1%"</p><p>That notion spurred Wong - an expert in polymers - to work on a water harvester prototype that can be cheaply and effectively used in regions where water is scarce.</p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float-right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>The amount of water vapor present in the atmosphere is referred to as humidity. In tropical regions with high relative humidity -<span>&#xa0;the percentage of water vapor in the air as a function of the temperature - it's pretty easy to use devices called fog catchers to turn that water vapor into drinkable water.</span></p><p><span>But in drier places like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drought-is-ruining-air-quality-2015-12">California</a> or the Andes, fog catchers are rendered "ineffective," according to Wong. And, though countries like Israel have been experimenting with desalination, Wong said the process is too expensive to be deployed at scale, particularly as water shortages become more acute in poorer regions as the world warms as a result of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-fires-season-maps-charts-2018-8">climate change</a>.&#xa0;</span></p><p>To develop a water harvester, the team took inspiration from both biology and history.</p><p>"The atmosphere is one of the most abundant sources of water we have. Just look at your local weather forecast or the hurricane <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-lane-hawaii-emergency-warning-2018-8">bearing down</a> on Hawaii," Wong said. "We haven't fully explored it."</p><p>Wong pointed out that indigenous communities in the Andes mountains - high altitude deserts where it rains infrequently - have used techniques to capture atmospheric water for centuries. Historically, these communities would collect dew inside pits located in the desert. In the morning, they'd collect the dew and channel it into large cisterns, providing them with fresh drinking water.&#xa0;</p><p>The Namib Desert Beetle also served as an inspiration. These beetles, which live in some of the driest deserts on Earth, have bodies that are adapted for water collection. To drink, they simply climb up to the highest point - say, a sand dune - and point their abdomens towards the wind.</p><p>The wind, which blows off the ocean and carries water particles, condenses on their bodies. They have special grooves to channel the condensation into their mouths.&#xa0;</p><p>Wong and his team set out to "miniaturize," the process of harvesting atmospheric water using electrospun polymers.&#xa0;</p><p>Electrospinning can produce polymers as small as a few tens of nanometers across, which means that a huge surface area can be packed into a really small space. That makes the nanoscale-polymers super-efficient at collecting water, even in arid environments. The device, which could be powered by a lithium-ion battery, would also be able to filter water because the surface of the material would slough off any microbes or bacteria present in the water vapor.&#xa0;</p><p>While that may seem complicated, Wong said it's not much different than how people in the Andes, and Namib beetles collect water - it's just at a much smaller scale.</p><p>To illustrate the example, Wong said it's similar to wearing eyeglasses in the summer heat. When you step into an air-conditioned room from outside on a hot, humid summer day, your glasses will likely fog up. That fog can be collected at a nano-scale.</p><p>While other researchers have worked on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/device-can-harvest-clean-water-from-the-air-2018-6">developing water harvesters</a>, Wong said his concept would be smaller and cheaper, and therefore the easiest to scale than other research-stage water harvester prototypes. It could take the form of a backpack, or even be placed onto a rolling train where the water could be collected and delivered to communities.</p><p>He presented his findings at a meeting of the <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2018/august/portable-freshwater-harvester-could-draw-up-to-10-gallons-per-hour-from-the-air.html">American Chemical Society</a>&#xa0;earlier this week, and his team is seeking funding to develop a working prototype for the project.</p><p>"Many people will suffer from water shortages around the world in the coming years," Wong said. "We're hoping we can address this problem."</p><div><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:54%"></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fearsome-predators-never-expect-2018-8">5 animals you wouldn't suspect are actually fearsome predators</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

Scientists are working on a device that could one day harvest up to 10 gallons of drinking water per hour from thin air

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Scientists have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti 200 times thinner than hair that overcooks in a second! Here’s why

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Scientists are working on a device that could one day harvest up to 10 gallons of drinking water per hour from thin air

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