The nanorians are amongst us - and everyone knows why

"European Nano2life prize for Münster scientist: the complex world of the nanoparticle simply explained They are all around us, but no-one can see them: no, Torsten Vielhaber is not describing a sci-fi screenplay when he starts talking about nanorians. The Münster chemist has, rather, created a world in order to explain the essence of nanoparticles in a comprehensible way. The 27 year-old has now been awarded the European Nano2life Prize for his clear translation of complex scientific relationships (see also attached interview). Nanorians are tiny beings, invisible to the naked eye. As soon as they are brought to life, they begin helping us to heal diseases or to extend the service life of machines. This has woken the urge to research in the University of Münster scientist. You cannot get hold of, sniff or taste nanobiotechnology, he says. The particles at the heart of everything are much smaller than a hair on your arm. Up to 60,000 times smaller, to be precise. To explain: the 27 year-old compares nanoparticles to apples. “If the earth were an apple, then an apple would be the size of an atom. 3,500 of these atoms in a crate would be a nanoparticle five nanometres (nm) in size: 12,000 times thinner than a hair.”