You know that line careers guidance counsellors often use: “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have”? Well it looks like one bacterium with its eye on a gig in the bowl of a toilet has perhaps taken that advice a bit too literally…
In actual fact, the above image is just one taken from the 49th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication Bizarre/Beautiful Micrograph Contest (phew!), which challenges the world’s nanotechnology experts to shape and arrange microscopic material to produce micrograph images of both artistic and technological merit, at once honing their skills and promoting the advancement of microtechnology.
This especially tiny entry from Hitachi Science’s own Kaito Takahashi won the contest’s “most bizarre” award back in 2005, but has only just been discovered by Japan’s online community and is currently raising smiles all across the land. Titled “Chisai Benjo” (lit. “Little Toilet”), Takahashi used an ion beam to effectively “carve” an integrated circuit fabrication into the shape of a Western-style toilet, complete with lid and seat. The image was taken using an electron microscope, magnified to 15,000x.
And we thought micro art on the end of pencils was impressive!
Source: Livedoor News (Japanese)
Image: Zyvexlabs