We're taking you inside MIT.nano, a clean laboratory facility that is critical to nanoscale research, from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology.
Rachel Feltman: Hey, it's Rachel, and I am here in a bunny suit at MIT.nano with Professor Vladimir Bulović , who is going to show us around. Vladimir Bulović: Well, it's a pleasure to have you here. Thanks for coming. [The] goal of this space is to enable anyone to build anything they wish. Feltman: Hey, it's still Rachel, but now I'm here at the Scientific American recording studio. As you just heard, today's episode is a little different than our standard format. We went all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to explore M.I.T.'s cutting-edge nanotechnology lab. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. You'll notice that our sound quality is a little lower than our usual standards, but that's just because we were surrounded by actual scientists doing actual science, along with their exhaust fans and fume hoods, of course. If you want to see all of the cool stuff we're talking about in today's episode, including, of course, me in a full bunny suit, you can check out a video version over on our YouTube channel. You'll find a link to that in our show notes. Okay, let's dive back into our surrounded by big science machines immersion pod. Feltman: You were joking earlier that if you have allergies, this is the place to be, and I'm very allergic to dust mites, and I have noticed that I am breathing easier [laughs] than normal. Bulović: [Laughs] Well, I'm glad, I'm glad you say that 'cause you're then a true proof of our numerical counting. 'Cause we do control that—for the dust particle count continually. We do speed up and slow down our purifying fans in order to make sure we are at a Class 100 or better, and what that means is that in a cubic foot of air, there are 100 particles bigger than half a micron. Your hair is [about]…