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Scientists make world's thinnest spaghetti

Researchers from University College London have created the world's thinnest spaghetti. It is about 200 times thinner than a human hair. The  pasta strands are so thin they cannot be captured in a photo. Nor can they be seen with the naked eye or through a microscope. The nano-spaghetti is just 372 nanometres wide. That's equivalent to millionths of a centimetre. The spaghetti was made using a technique called electro-spinning. In this procedure, an electric charge pushes a mixture of flour and liquid through microscopic holes. Professor Gareth Williams said: "I don't think it's useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan."

The new spaghetti will be largely used for medicinal rather than culinary purposes. However, Dr Adam Clancy said it is edible. He said: "Hypothetically, one might expect it to be chewier than you'd expect". Individual strands of the nanopasta can be spun into a pasta net. This could be used as a scaffold for regrowing tissue. The net could also be used to create bandages that would help wounds heal. The bandages would allow moisture through to the skin, but keep bacteria out. They could also help bone regeneration and deliver drugs to different parts of the body. The scientists say there are also non-medicinal applications, such as its use in filtration systems and batteries.

 

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Chat

Talk about these words from the article.

researchers / spaghetti / human hair / pasta / the naked eye / flour / holes / overcook / medicinal / culinary / edible / chewy / scaffold / tissue / wounds / moisture / batteries

 

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True / False

1) The new spaghetti is the width of 200 human hairs.  T / F

2) The new spaghetti can only be seen through a microscope.  T / F

3) Electricity pushes liquid flour through tiny holes to make the spaghetti.  T / F

4) It takes a long time to boil the nanospaghetti.  T / F

5) The thin spaghetti is inedible.  T / F

6) The spaghetti can be made into a web to help regrow tissue.  T / F

7) The spaghetti can be used to make bacteriaresistant bandages.  T / F

8) The spaghetti can only be used for medicinal purposes.  T / F 

 

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Discussion

1) What do you think about what you read?

2) What's the best way to cook spaghetti?

3) What do you think of using spaghetti for medicinal purposes?

4) Should spaghetti be soft or chewy?

5) What do you think of bandages made from a spaghetti net?

6) What other uses can you think of for spaghetti?

7) What's the best sauce for spaghetti?

8) What questions would you like to ask the researchers?