NANOCAR RACE!

Ok so here we have the Japanese team. While Rice 'invented' the nanocar, Yasuhiro Shirai was the man behind it(or at least he got first author on the first nanocar paper I can find).

Their car is interesting, it's supposed to act like a caterpillar and crawl. They have confirmed this mechanism an air-water interface, but have yet to do so on a gold surface like in microscope used for the race. So it may not work. But hey, even if it doesn't it tells us a shit load about the dynamics of these sorts of molecules on metal surfaces. This sort of stuff is useful for making organic solar cells and what not.

Really you have to understand that it's not everyday that researchers get to use a microscope like this, even if they lose the race they still win.

Oh and another cool thing about their car, they purify it by SUBLIMATING it out of solution on to the STM surface. They get it so hot it flies through the air and CRASHES into the surface! Interestingly it is capable of surviving the crash!

Pic related is Ohio's car, which they call the Bobcat Nanowagon.

The wheels are huge, so it sort of looks like a nano monster truck! Now crazy thing about this one is that unlike the other cars, the wheels are seperate molecules and are on axles. So they have nano-bearings! That's some drexlerian shit right there!

If you are in the know, these are Cucurbituril rotaxanes. IE Cucurbituril is a macrocycle that is free to slide and rotate on a molecular rod. It also sort of looks like a pumpkin if you squint at it, which is how it got it's name

OP here was supposed to collaborate with a person in this group until our PI really fucked things up. Fuck you for forgetting to pay people Chad.

IT'S ON MOTHERFUCKERS! And it's in French....

they speak both English and French.

DUDE

Germans lost a blade!

well 30 hours to go for the race! It's a really long distance!

What a waste of effort

>windmill

japanese team had a crash, looked like a computer crash