Chemists have developed a way to rapidly map the surfaces of tiny particles that possess two chemically distinct faces. Potential applications range from drug delivery to video displays, say researchers. These particles are named after the two-faced Roman god Janus and their twin chemical faces allow them to form novel structures and new materials. As scientists have reduced the size of Janus particles down to a few nanometers in diameter—that’s about the size of individual proteins, which has the greatest potential for drug therapy—their efforts have been hampered because they haven’t had a way to accurately map the surfaces of the particles they produce.
