This week researchers announced they'd used a microscopic "carbon cage" to hold a single water molecule. How did they do it?
Nature blog The Great Beyond sums up:
Many researchers have used the carbon spheres called fullerenes to surround molecules. An international team has now taken the crucial next step and designed a ‘stopper' that can plug an open fullerene but can also be removed to allow a molecule of water in and out. In the future such 'molecular vials' could be used to transport radioactive atoms or small molecules for medical purposes such as imaging, they suggest.
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via The Great Beyond