I looked up the word “nanodot” on wikipedia:
Nanodot technology is a form of information storage that could be used in the future. Nanodot technology today can store over one hundred times more data than today’s hard drives. The nanodots are billions of little magnets which can switch polarity to represent a binary unit of data (for example, a single digit — 1 or 0 — of a binary numeral).
Considering the potential of quantum computing to effect life on earth as we know it, anything that involves  binary information storage floats my boat.
Nanodots: Magnetic Micro Constructors
But when I did a search for “nanodots“, it wasn’t just because I am an information geek. It was because someone at Nano Magnetics sent me a review copy of the Nanodots 216 magnetic micro constructors.
The package arrived looking like a small radio-active container held in magnetic suspension.  Two hundred and sixteen magnetic ball-bearings held themselves together in a perfect diamond-shaped matrix.
The mass of 216 nanodots fits nicely into the palm of your hand.
To break the diamond, I lifted one of the nanodots away from the mass. Since these ball-bearings are magnetic, one axis of the tiny globe is negatively charged, while the opposite end is positively charged. The nanodots are naturally arranged through magnetic forces of attraction and repulsion into a tight bond. Pulling one of the nanodots away from the others takes a small effort, but when it does come away, all of the nanodots will follow in a magnetic string.
In this way, what was a diamond-shaped mass of 216 nanodots now becomes a waggling string of nanodots as long as your arm.
Nanodots are powerful magnets milled from the soft and silvery rare earth mineral Neodymium. The finely shaped Neodymium spheres are engineered to exert great magnetic force, and to fit together into perfect and secure shapes.
The Nanodots were a hit at my house. My 5th grader has been sculpting footwear jewelry, bracelets, and geometric patterns out of them for weeks. But nanodots are not just good for their shape-shifting abilities.  I have been using them as a kind of squeeze ball for tension while working at my desk. In recent weeks I have caught myself more than once reaching for a fist wad of nanodots to squeeze during long phone conferences.
Creators of nanodot sculptures are plentiful on youtube. There is even a nanodot fansite, dotpedia.com, where practitioners go to post photos of their proud creations.
Click here to learn more about Nanodots.
