Researchers at Cornell University have used a LEGO toy to help them understand what happens on a nanoscale when different materials come into contact. The team led by mechanical engineering professor Vivek Shenoy used a LEGO brick to represent the surface of a material, and then placed a nanoscale object on the brick and applied a force to it. Using optical microscopy and computer simulations, the team were able to observe the interactions between the nanoscale object and the LEGO brick on the atomic scale. The team found that when the nanoscale object was placed on the LEGO brick, it exerted an electrostatic force on the surface of the brick, causing it to vibrate. The amplitude and frequency of the vibrations depended on the properties of the nanoscale object and the surface of the brick, such as their stiffness, mass and surface roughness. The results of this study could provide new insights into the behaviour of materials on a nanoscale, and could lead to the development of new technologies such as nanoscale sensors and actuators.