Heightened Resistance: Sharper shaft points to smaller bits

The data capacity of a computer’s magnetic hard drive depends largely on the sensitivity of a detector, or read head, that’s used to decipher its contents. Scientists have now exploited a method for detecting the orientations of magnetic fields to achieve a remarkable leap in sensitivity.

ATOM-SCALE BRIDGE. A blob of nickel atoms (inset) sitting where these nickel wires meet yields a structure supersensitive to flips of magnetic fields.