Whether you realize it or not, the world is permeated with thousands of tiny vibrations from hundreds of sources all the time. For most, this tends not to matter; these things just fade into the background noise of everyday life. When doing research on the exceptionally small, however, anything and everything can interfere.
IBM has finished its first noise-free laboratories at the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology centers in Zurich, Switzerland. The new labs are shielding the chip manufacturer's microscopes from just about anything -- EMF, stray vibrations and more.
Cnet has the full story, as well some exceptional photos of the lab.