IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#1

Post by jedliu » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:00 PM UTC

IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds
gizmodo.com

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#2

Post by ujjwalg » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:09 PM UTC

WOW! this is a big breakthrough. I have friends working in my collaborators group using STM and AFM at UHV (Ultra High Vacuum) and ULT (Ultra Low Temperatures), and know second hand how difficult/near to impossible it is.

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#3

Post by apotheon » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:11 PM UTC

That is fucking awesome.

It's depressing to consider the fact that it would probably get downvoted on the science subreddit.

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#4

Post by yan » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:27 PM UTC

Are the samples cooled to near zero when scanning like this? As far as I understand, even slight temperatures cause molecules to move at ridiculous speeds.

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#5

Post by ujjwalg » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:31 PM UTC

yan wrote: post #4

Are the samples cooled to near zero when scanning like this? As far as I understand, even slight temperatures cause molecules to move at ridiculous speeds.

Yes, given the resolution of the image, I am guessing it must have been performed at UHV, ULT and vibration free room.

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#6

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:33 PM UTC

apotheon wrote: post #3

That is fucking awesome. It's depressing to consider the fact that it would probably get downvoted on the science subreddit.

Second that. Picture of the year as far as I'm concerned. Simply unbelievable. What a time to be alive.

So, now that we can 'see' the 3D arrangement in a manner of speaking is there any way we could feed known protein structure in to neural networks by imaging them in quantity and take some of the sting out of protein folding by identifying likely candidate ways to do the folding ?

Or is that too big of a leap ?

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#7

Post by TriinT » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:43 PM UTC

Where's the URL to the original IBM press release / article? I would rather read the news from the source, than from those gizmodo subhuman morons any day...

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#8

Post by yread » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:44 PM UTC

How is the picture 3D? Also shouldn't we see electrons in pi clouds above the aromatic rings?

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#9

Post by yread » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:48 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #6

apotheon wrote: post #3

That is fucking awesome. It's depressing to consider the fact that it would probably get downvoted on the science subreddit.

Second that. Picture of the year as far as I'm concerned. Simply unbelievable. What a time to be alive. So, now that we can 'see' the 3D arrangement in a manner of speaking is there any way we could feed known protein structure in to neural networks by imaging them in quantity and take some of the sting out of protein folding by identifying likely candidate ways to do the folding ? Or is that too big of a leap ?

I think there would be major issues getting folded protein to 5K. Plus proteins "live" in 300K and the oscillations are probably very important for the function (perhaps even more than a single arbitrary structure you would get from a picture like this).

Re: IBM takes first 3D image of atomic bonds

#10

Post by wwalker3 » Thu, Aug 27, 2009, 9:56 PM UTC

yan wrote: post #4

Are the samples cooled to near zero when scanning like this? As far as I understand, even slight temperatures cause molecules to move at ridiculous speeds.

They said it was a 20-hour scan, at 5K, with the AFM tip 0.5 nanometers from the pentacene molecule. The molecule itself is 1.4 nm long, so they were only about 30% of its length away from it in the vertical direction.