Nature is still the mastermind in synthesizing minute clockwork structures, but there is one field where humans are starting to catch up: microelectronics. Almost all of the electronic devices we rely on daily contain thousands of tiny components. We can manufacture transistors at nanoscale, comparable to the size of proteins, and build structures a few atoms big. By now, tens of billions of transistors fir on a chip the size of a fingernail, and we continuously overshoot our own bets on what else is possible. In sizing down the structures we manufacture, human innovation keeps scaling up, with no end in sight.
Depicted above: Structure within microchip
Size of duck: ca 30nm