Whoa!

EDMONTON - A team from the University of Alberta has proven for the first time that a single molecule can switch electrical currents off and on, a puzzle that scientists worldwide have been trying to crack for decades.

The finding could revolutionize the field of electronics, providing a leap ahead for everything from computers to batteries to medical equipment.

"We've made a tiny, tiny, maybe the ultimate tiniest transistor," said Robert Wolkow, a physics professor and the principal investigator who headed the research team from the National Institute for Nanotechnology at the U of A.

"This has been a key goal of researchers in this field for nearly 20 years and we have done it. ... Molecular electronics are indeed possible, no longer just a futuristic theory."

Edmonton Journal