To be honest, they’re not really wedding rings. But! The interlocking rings are ridiculously small. These two circular rings of DNA, measuring only 18 nanometres in size, were made by a guy who got married while working on this experiment (thus the name).
The men behind the rings, Professor Alexander Heckel and his doctoral student Thorsten Schmidt (the one who got married), believe the rings could prove useful in nano-machines or molecular motors:
From a scientific perspective, the structure is a milestone in the field of DNA nanotechnology, since the two rings of the catenan are, as opposed to the majority of the DNA nanoarchitechtures that have already been realised, not fixed formations, but – depending on the environmental conditions – freely pivotable.
Whatever the real world use, it’s a super slick move by Schmidt for being a romantic and associating his work with his wedding. Wifey must’ve been pleased. [EurekAlert via MSNBC Cosmic Log]