No small matter: science on the nanoscale

Introduction

[pt. 1]. Small. Santa Maria

Feeling is seeing

Quantum cascades

Water

Single molecules

Cracks

Nanotubes

[pt. 2]. Alice in wonderland. Vibrating viola string

Prism and diffraction

Duality

Interference

Quantum apple

Molecular dominoes

The cell in silhouette

Laminar flow

The wet fantastic

Fingers

[pt. 3]. Life. Soap bubbles

The cell as circus

Ribosome

Bacterial flagella

Life as a jigsaw puzzle

As the wheel turns

Quantum dots and the cell

Sequencing DNA

Molecular recognition

Harvesting light

The elegance of simple animals

Antibodies

Virus

[pt. 4]. Why care? Writing with light

Eleanor Rigby

Abacus

Counting on two fingers

Babbage's computing engine

Computers as waterworks

Microreactor

Templating

Catalyst particles

Christmas-tree mixer

Self-assembly

Synthetic nose

Millipede

e-paper and the book

Lateral-flow assay as crystal ball

Testing drugs in cells

Cooling the fevered brain

[pt. 5]. A cheetah in the underbrush? Phantoms

Privacy and the nest

Soot and health

Robots

Fog

In sickness and in health

[pt. 6]. Whale or herring? The internet

Reverse osmosis membrane

Nuclear reactions

Flame

Fuel cell

Solar cell

Plants and photosynthesis

Coda. Five not-so-easy pieces : notes from the photographer.