Molecular machines are regarded as the next step in miniaturization. Their models can be found in living cells, where molecular motors convert energy and generate movement. Scientists have been working for decades to artificially replicate such systems. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for this research.

Molecular motors powered directly by an electric current have been in existence since 2011. Until now, however, they have only functioned as molecules on a surface, driven by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope.

For their new machine, the researchers drew inspiration from one of humanity’s oldest documented machines: the Archimedes screw, which transports water uphill. The researchers applied the principle of the Archimedes screw at the molecular level. Instead of water, electrons flow through a helical structure, setting it in rotation.