Zoom into the Nanoscale at Epcot's Nanotech Exhibit

A long-term exhibition at the Walt Disney World Resort allows visitors to understand the tiny wor...  More »

A long-term exhibition at the Walt Disney World Resort allows visitors to understand the tiny world of nanotechnology through hands-on experiments that use microscopes to reveal exciting images invisible to the naked eye. Housed at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot, the exhibit Take a Nanooze Break features a series of interactive, continually updated displays that allow visitors to manipulate models of molecules, study everyday items at the nanoscale, and interact with scientists and engineers who conduct the latest nanotechnology research. In the interactive Zoom experience shown in our video, you can see deep inside a butterfly wing; when you zoom in and out, you can see the butterfly's wing magnified more than one million times, showing its underlying structure at the nanoscale. 'The experience is immersive and gives visitors a number of ways to view a world that is too small to see,' says Carl Batt of Cornell University, the lead researcher for the exhibit. 'It also gives visitors the chance to see the same view of nanotechnology as real scientists.' The exhibit is based on the children's magazine and Web site Nanooze (www.nanooze.org), all of which were developed by researchers at Cornell University and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), a member agency of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The NNI is a program established in 2001 to coordinate research and development among 25 participating Federal agencies. 'Nanotechnology will bring multiple, fundamental changes to the way we work to create goods, develop sustainable approaches, advance medicine and improve quality of life,' says Mike Roco, senior advisor for nanotechnology at NSF. 'About $80 billion worth of products incorporated nanoscale components in the United States in 2010, and one can envision mass use of nanotechnology by 2020. The Nanooze exhibition informs and inspires the public about this fast-arriving future society.'  « Less