Nanotech Videos

Dr. Ben Feringa | 2025 Feynman Prize Winner

Dr. Ben Feringa, 2016 Nobel laureate in chemistry, was honored with the 2025 Feynman Prize and delivered a lecture on the art of building molecular switches and motors. He framed the discussion around dynamic molecular systems that bridge chemistry, physics, engineering, and computer science, emphasizing the need to control motion at the nanoscale rather than merely observe Brownian activity. Feringa highlighted the core challenge of achieving directional rotation and amplifying motion, crediting colleagues Jean‑Pierre Sauvage and Sir Fraser Stoddart for pioneering rotaxane and catenane approaches. His own work focuses on light‑driven overcrowded alkenes that toggle chirality, enabling optical read‑out without destroying the switch. These molecular switches have been embedded in polymers, hydrogels, and protein channels to create reversible optical memories, patterned surfaces, and controllable nanopores. Concrete examples included a prototype optical disc storing megabytes of data via single‑molecule bits, a photo‑responsive antibiotic that activates only under specific wavelengths, and engineered bacterial porins that open on command to release drugs. He also described recent advances in photo‑controlled circadian‑rhythm regulators, illustrating how precise wavelength tuning—from blue to infrared—can achieve therapeutic activation without tissue damage. The implications are profound: nanoscopic motors and switches could redefine data storage density, enable on‑demand drug activation to combat resistance, and usher in a new class of smart therapeutics that operate with cellular precision. As the field matures, interdisciplinary collaboration will be essential to translate these laboratory demonstrations into commercial technologies.