Ion-etching on human hair

While Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets was at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, he was shown this amazing picture of the McMaster school logo Ion-etched onto a human hair:

Dr. LaPierre’s group used a focus ion beam microscope (FIB) to shoot a beam of gallium ions at the surface of a human hair, carving atoms off the of the surface of the hair to etch these McMaster University logos. When not tattooing hair, they’ll use the FIB microscope to fabricate nanoscale devices.

University Logo Carved Onto Human Hair with Focused Ion Beam