Freeze frame: Scientists capture atomic-scale snapshots of artificial proteins

Protein-like molecules called "polypeptoids" (or "peptoids," for short) have great promise as precision building blocks for creating a variety of designer nanomaterials, like flexible nanosheets—ultrathin, atomic-scale 2-D materials. They could advance a number of applications—such as synthetic, disease-specific antibodies and self-repairing membranes or tissue—at a low cost.