Unusually long nanotubes are developed

BOULDER, Colo., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists say they've created polymer nanotubes that are unusually long and stable enough to maintain their shapes indefinitely.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., say the nanotubes are smaller than 1 centimeter long and may have biotechnology applications as channels for tiny volumes of chemicals in nanofluidic reactor devices, or as the world's smallest hypodermic needles for injecting molecules one at a time.

The nanotubes are described in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.