One of the things nanotechnologists try to do is manipulate nanoparticles to explore and build nanosystems, something that is extremely hard to do. It is almost impossible to hold a single nanoparticle completely still – using optical tweezers is one method scientists use to capture and move individual particles. These 'tweezers' do not hold the nanoparticle in the traditional sense. Instead, an intense optical field, created by a finely focussed high power laser beam, separates electrical charges on the particle, causing it to acquire a pair of opposite electrical charges (or poles – hence the pair is called a dipole). The interaction between the dipole and the optical field traps the particle at the point where the field is most intense, and the particle can then be moved by moving the laser. It's tricky business and if you consider that a pin head may contain millions upon millions of metal nanoparticles building one from scratch with these tweezers could take a very long time... which is why designs for productive nanosystems have to include assembly mechanisms that can replicate themselves.
“In the mating season, the tiny female bugs of the Slippranophus brightly genus increase their airborne velocity to more than ten times their usual speed, creating a high flying challenge for a potential mate. Fortunately, due to a unique symbiotic relationship with the Gnipglowantha plant, the male bugs have evolved a technique to demobilise their chosen female long enough for procreation to take place. The older males produce radioluminescent droppings that are placed near the female; these dazzling droppings temporarily seem to hypnotize the female bugs allowing the male to mount and impregnate them. As the male bug's faeces glow for less than a second, this incredible natural phenomenon has only recently been captured on film. It is believed that this faecal radioluminescence is created by the male Slippranophus brightly because of his mating season diet of Gnipglowantha – a tiny weed that grows only in the Hartlepool region of the UK and releases a curious luminescent chemical at dusk.”