Dutch researchers have taken the ancient art of origami down to the microscopic level, folding flat sheets of silicon nitride into cubes, pyramids, bowls and long triangular structures with only a drop of water. The shapes can be folded and unfolded multiple times without wear, and these tiny self-assembling forms could be used a tools to deliver drugs to targeted areas of the body, or to perform autonomous microsurgery. "While making 3D structures is natural in everyday life, it has always been extremely difficult to do so in microfabrication, especially if you want to build a large number of structures cheaply," said Antoine Legrain, graduate student at the University of Twente.
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