SOMETIMES the only answer to a problem is to rise above it, and that turns out to be as true in the micro-world as it is in everyday life.
As the microscopic machines known as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) get ever smaller, conventional methods of building them become ineffective. That’s because the forces of friction and adhesion, which have no more than a minor impact on devices on the macro scale, become a major problem at the micro level and can have a devastating effect.
If microscale objects such as tools and scalpels could be held above the work surface using…
