IBM make "world's smallest movie" using stop-motion atoms

Ray Harryhausen, eat your heart out! IBM have taken stop-motion video making to the atomic level, making the “world’s smallest movie” with atoms.

Rather than toothpicks, clay and a hell of a lot of patience, the IBM team used a two-ton microscope (still with a lot of patience, naturally) that operates at a super-low negative 268 degrees Celsius. This is used to control a probe that dragged atoms around to create the 242-frame film.

Check it out in the YouTube video above, which also includes a making-of clip at the end.

When you’re finished here, check out the same team’s work on the world’s smallest magnetic bit, and its potential application in storage devices – IBM tease that their research could eventually lead to an iPod that could hold every movie ever made.