It is a bit like learning the safety instructions on a plane before take-off: you hope you will never need them, but you know it would be unwise to miss the lesson.

ECONOMIST: Idea

But it's still early days and Feringa says he feels a bit like the Wright Brothers, likening the nano car to their "fairly awkward-looking primitive plane" when compared to the passenger jets of today.

CNN: World's smallest car fuels nanotech advance