University of Glasgow creates world’s smallest Chinese New Year card

It is so small that it cannot be seen by the naked eye - but a tiny Chinese New Year greetings card created by the University of Glasgow represents the huge potential for China to profit from Scottish innovation. The card was produced by experts from the University's James Watt Nanofabrication Centre to showcase their world-leading expertise in nanotechnology ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations, which begin on Monday 23 January. The card expresses warm wishes for health and prosperity during the Year of the Dragon from Scotland to China, and is also an invitation for collaboration and partnership in cutting-edge technology between the two countries. The card is 300 micro-metres wide by 200 micro-metres tall (a micro-metre is one-millionth of a metre). It is so small that 21,600 of them could fit on an area the size of the China Post's 36mm-by-36mm 2012 Chinese New Year commemorative stamp. The Chinese characters are just 45 micro-metres tall, and the dragon is just 116 micro-metres long. By comparison, the width of a human hair is about 100 micro-metres.