Nobody likes a mess, even a microscopic one. For one thing, it´s tough to clean what you can´t see. That´s why researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are crafting the world´s smallest brooms. The tiny tools are made by growing bristles of superstrong carbon nanotubes on a silicon-carbide fiber just 16 microns in diameter, or about half as thick as a human hair. Scientists create the “handle” by coating one end of the fiber with gold, which inhibits nanotube growth.

There is an entire subculture of people who derive pleasure from putting strange things in microwave ovens, things that microwave oven manufacturers would most strenuously suggest should not be put there. In the hands of these people, table grapes produce glowing plasmas, soap bars mutate into abominable soap monsters, and compact discs incandesce. As a scientist, I'm enthralled by such phenomena (particularly the grapes), but somehow I've always found the subject a bit unsatisfying: Cool, but what is it really good for?