National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Serving Nanoscale Science, Engineering & Technology

What's the smallest thing you know?

The book What’s Smaller Than A Pygmy Shrew? by Robert E. Wells helps students see that a pygmy shrew is among the tiniest of  mammals and that a ladybug is even smaller.  But in the book, they will also find even smaller things that they ordinarily do not see.  This is the beginning of understanding students must have to be able to conceptualize the behavior of matter at the nanoscale and the tools used to explore this world.