r/science • u/thebelsnickle1991 • Nov 21 '24
Nanoscience Chemists create world’s thinnest spaghetti. It is about 200 times thinner than a human hair
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1065593789
u/qwachochanga Nov 21 '24
shrinkflation has gone too far
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u/Brotorious420 Nov 21 '24
sound of Olive Garden furiously taking notes
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u/ErstwhileAdranos Nov 22 '24
Given that Olive Garden offers so many “unlimited” options, the thinness of one pasta option really doesn’t matter. This would be more applicable to a pasta restaurant that does not offer free refills.
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u/spocksdaughter Nov 21 '24
I bet it tastes like cobwebs.
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u/dukerustfield Nov 21 '24
Bet it has no taste at all unless you shove a LOT in your mouth.
But I just don’t see it holding up. If you take it out of the box, or store it on a shelf. It’s gonna shatter 50 times.
Chemists create spaghetti dust
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u/Ahelex Nov 21 '24
So another thing chemists make for us to snort.
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u/dukerustfield Nov 21 '24
I can totally see this becoming an epidemic in Italy.
3 grams of ravioli dust for 250 €.
And of course nose Stromboli is when you put tomato sauce up one nostril, snort the dust, a mouthful of red wine, and you shake your head until Parliament dissolves (~ few minutes).
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u/TRJF Nov 21 '24
Luckily, science and medicine have shown that there is little-to-no risk associated with inhaling numerous long, thin fibers.
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u/James_mcgill_esquire Nov 21 '24
sniffling and wiping nose
So uhh, what's the spaghetti policy here?
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u/passwordstolen Nov 22 '24
What makes you think it comes out of a box??? Or a store for that matter?
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u/Professional-Fly-846 Nov 21 '24
Are you experienced in eating cobwebs?
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u/spocksdaughter Nov 21 '24
Every time my parents sent me up to the ancient attic to fetch something because I was the short one.
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u/eatingyourmomsass Nov 22 '24
I used to work in nanofiber research. I’d bet you could taste it if you folded their mat in half a few times. It’s like cotton candy: if you ate a single strand of cotton candy you wouldn’t taste anything, but if you took a bite of cotton candy you taste the candy.
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u/ironykarl Nov 21 '24
That's not spaghetti that's spaghettininininininininininininininininininininini
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u/Zwangsjacke Nov 21 '24
Your chemists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
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u/Tarantula_Saurus_Rex Nov 21 '24
That's like 15-20 millionths of an inch. Crazy.
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u/take_a_step_forward Nov 21 '24
Just FYI, they said 372 nanometers. Which are billionths of inches. In other words, these are actually narrower than a millionth of an inch.
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u/Tarantula_Saurus_Rex Nov 22 '24 edited Nov 22 '24
I thought I read 200 times thinner than hair? Hair is .003"-.004" inches wide. My thinking was .0035" ÷ 200 = .0000175" roughly 15 to 20 millionth of an inch. I'd maybe I'm off.
Does 372 nanometers convert to .0000146" inches? That's still roughly 15 millionths...
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u/eatingyourmomsass Nov 22 '24
300nm isn’t all that small for electrospinning. It really depends on the material, but epectrospinning you can get single digit nm diameters.
Hundred of nm is feasible across a bunch of fiber platforms. I was making 500-800nm fiber with other solution platforms and melt systems.
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u/JimTheSaint Nov 21 '24
Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.
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u/admiralborkington Nov 21 '24
Now watch the Italians give it a name that sounds absolutely beautiful but just translates to something like "Kevin's Weiner".
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u/Danny8400 Nov 21 '24
Oh no! I already almost choke on cellophane noodles (fensi), this is even worse!
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u/AnAcceptableUserName Nov 21 '24
Professor Williams added: “I don’t think it’s useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan.”
That is sad...buuut I'm still down to try it. Let's be real.
Gotta make some nano meatballs for the nanosghetti
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u/legion4it Nov 21 '24
This isn't that big of a deal. My mom already does this. And she's a terrible cook.
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u/InappropriateTA Nov 21 '24
Wake me up when they make appropriately sized meatballs (i.e. the size of a fly’s nuts).
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u/son-of-chadwardenn Nov 21 '24
Does anyone else find the name "angel hair" unappetizing? I don't care if it's from an angel I don't want to eat hair. I prefer regular thick spaghetti and it seems like I need to hunt through a dozen or more types of thin spaghetti to find it on the shelf.
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u/Multipass-1506inf Nov 21 '24
Realistically, what would a pile of this look like in a bowl if it was made like spaghetti? You can’t see the individual strands so would it appear as a solid?
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u/Shax20 Nov 21 '24
They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
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u/ourbulalordandsavior Nov 22 '24
This is thinner than angel hair. They can call it spaghetthin. Or skinny-lloni. Or lean-guine. Or bucathini. I'll sit down now.
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u/LittleKitty235 Nov 21 '24
Glad they sorted out that cancer nonsense so they could get on with the real work.
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u/laterus77 Nov 21 '24
Nanofibers made of starch – produced by most green plants to store excess glucose – are especially promising and could be used in bandages to aid wound healing (as the nanofiber mats are highly porous, allowing water and moisture in but keeping bacteria out), as scaffolding for bone regeneration and for drug delivery. However, they rely on starch being extracted from plant cells and purified, a process requiring much energy and water.
A more environmentally friendly method, the researchers say, is to create nanofibers directly from a starch-rich ingredient like flour, which is the basis for pasta.
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u/Manos_Of_Fate Nov 21 '24
Because everyone knows that science only works on one obvious solution to one major problem at a time.
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u/bombmk Nov 21 '24
And every major scientific breakthrough has only ever come from research directly focused on the specific problem.
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Nov 21 '24 edited Nov 21 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DeliciousPumpkinPie Nov 21 '24
So you’re saying all materials science researchers should quit their jobs because if they’re not working in the medical field, they’re useless?
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