UK scientists study molecular motors in biosystems

An interesting and well-written article in the London-based Independent newspaper ("The tiny engines that power life itself ", 17 November 2001) describes studies into the workings of biological molecular motors by researchers at York University and Oxford. In addition to some good explanations of how these biological motors operate, the article shows how studying biological systems may be useful in the design of artificial nanosystems. As one researchers puts it, "If we want to build machines on this scale out of silicon or DNA we need to know the fundamental principles of how they work, and the obvious place to look is nature, which does it so efficiently and elegantly."
The article was also reprinted on the Small Times website.