Scientists have figured out how to make wires 60,000x smaller than a human hair

Microbiologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have found a way to make electrical wires that are thousands of times thinner than a human hair. 

The secret? The "microbial nanowires," or little hair-like protein filaments, or pili, produced by genetically modified soil bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens. Researchers manipulated the bacteria to spin out very fine but highly conductive wires composed of natural amino acids. 

They replaced two naturally occurring amino acids in the Geobacter bacteria with tryptophan, (yes, the tryptophan that makes you sleepy on Thanksgiving), and found that it was 2,000 times more conductive. They also became smaller and more durable, with a diameter of 1.5 nanometers (rough 60,000 times thinner than a human hair).  Read more...