Arizona ice tea contributes to physics discovery

One of last week's big stories in science was the measurement of how much force it takes to move a single atom - it's one 1,600 millionth of an ounce of force to move a single cobalt atom across a copper surface, in case you were wondering. Researchers at an IBM center and and the University of Regensburg in Germany published the results in the journal Science.

What didn't get as much attention is Arizona's role in this breakthrough discovery. We supplied the Arizona Ice Tea aluminum can (right - New York Times). The Times reports that the physicists "needed a shield around a high-voltage component, and the can was the right size."