title: Racing with nature: artificial nanomachines that keep running on light, both left and right.
abstract: Nature's molecular motors and nanomachines perform marvelous tasks, especially on the level of single cells. Can artificial ones compete? In this issue, You et al. demonstrate a photon-driven molecular machine where switching the color of the light switches the direction of motion of the molecular motor. While having inferior performance characteristics, this novel motor may become the forerunner of a new generation of sophisticated and practical competitors with Nature's ancient, but highly important, nanomachines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1055, United States. kopelman@umich.edu
authors.forename: Raoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kopelman
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D004735:Energy Transfer; D004867:Equipment Design; D008027:Light; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins