Even the technicians and scientists gathered at the base of Titan, as the microscope is known, talk in hushed, respectful tones.
But their silence is not just for the benefit of their fellow academics, it is an operational requirement of the machine.
"If the sample drifts, it kills the experiment," said Dr David McComb of Imperial College London, where the microscope is housed.
With a machine that is able to image individual atoms, even the vibrations caused by talking too loudly are enough to shunt a sample. When scientists are operating at such small scales, tiny shifts can appear huge. more
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