Miniaturizing Manipulation: The Chip-Based Tractor Beam Revolution

Today, you’ll learn about the tiny tractor beam that could change how certain diseases are diagnosed, how a screw allowed an iconic historical building to go up faster than anyone thought possible, and why scientists are worried about the 33 dark spots with thousands of unknown plants. 

Tractor Beam 

• “MIT engineers create a chip-based tractor beam for biological particles.” by Adam Zewe. 2024.  
• “Optical tweezing of microparticles and cells using silicon-photonics-based optical phased arrays.” by Tal Sneh, et al. 2024.  

Crystal Palace 

• “How London’s Crystal Palace was built so quickly.” by Jennifer Ouellette. 2024.  
• “The Great Exhibition of 1851.” Christopher Marsden. N.d.  
• “Thread form at the Crystal Palace.” by John Gardner & Ken Kiss. 2024.  

Botany Dark Spots 

• “Botanists identify 33 global ‘dark spots’ with thousands of unknown plants.” by Patrick Greenfield. 2024.  
• “‘Uncharted territory’: more than 2m fungi species yet to be discovered, scientists say.” by Patrick Greenfield. 2023.  

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