In a rare seasonal treat, snow has hit many parts of the world just at the right time to create a real winter wonderland over Christmas. Which makes this video very timely.
But what does a snowflake look like under a powerful microscope? And is it possible to actually write a message on a tiny portion of one?
The answer to that question is categorically yes. As proved by the Sixty Symbols group at The University of Nottingham, using an electron microscope and a very thin bean of ions.
These are fired at the snowflake at a level of finiteness most of us probably can’t even comprehend, and the result is a ‘Merry Christmas’ message engraved on a snowflake. Amazing stuff, and very Christmassy.
