World’s Most Sensitive Scales Weigh a Zeptogram

by Celeste Biever NewScientist.com, 30 Mar 2005 The world’s most sensitive scales can now detect a cluster of xenon atoms a billion, trillion times lighter than a gram. A zeptogram is roughly the mass of a single protein molecule and its detection has set a new record. The feat opens up the prospect of future devices that could identify single molecules by weight, providing a sensor of extreme sensitivity that would be valuable in medical and environmental testing. Read the article