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Anyone who has had a caramel macchiato or overdosed on Halloween candy knows sugar well. But sugar, a carbohydrate, can do more than simply satisfy your sweet tooth. The molecule’s stable, dissolvable structure can also serve as scaffolding to build structures one-billionth of a meter in size.
Researchers used spun sugar--hardened sugar syrup drawn out into long strands as seen in cotton candy and cake decorations--to build bundles of hollow, synthetic tubes. Pictured here: false-colored image of sugar strands (yellow) with a polymer coating (blue) taken with a scanning electron microscope.Image credit: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Basic Medical Sciences; Center for Paralysis Research, Purdue University
