Shapeshifting Nano-Devices Slide Into Place

The world’s smallest conventional electronics—devices only nanometers in scale—are typically like any other solid object large or small. When they’re manufactured, they’re molded into a shape, and the item retains that same shape over the course of its functional lifetime. Yet what if nanoscale electronic components and devices could shapeshift? What if they could assume multiple configurations depending on the electric and magnetic signals going into them? Scientists have now provided initial answers to these questions by creating the first nanoscale electronic devices that can physically transform their shape, a feat that may one day lead to more robust microscopic electromechanical gadgets, the researchers find.