Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Quantum Dot discovery

 Three scientists are sharing the Nobel in Chemistry for their discovery and applications of quantum dots. 

Moungi Bawendi (MIT), Louis Brus (Columbia U), and Alexei Ekimov (industry, NY), discovered these tiny bits of matter in their nanotechnology work. When materials shrink in size, at some point the laws and weirdness of quantum mechanics take over. Quantum dots are nanomaterials that are so small, this happens - effectively they are the smallest particles in nanoscience. 

Researchers and doctors use these for everything from television images on flat screens to LED lighting to surgeons using them to help remove tumors.