A molecule-sized keypad lock

Unlocking secrets will become a bit more difficult from now on, literally. Israeli scientists have created the tiniest of locks, of the size of a molecule, which will come as a wonder to securing things in future. This lock only activates when exposed to the right password, a sequence of chemicals and light.

Researchers suggest their device could in the future lead to a new level of safeguards for secret information, reports LiveScience.com.

This lock might also serve to recognise when certain sequences of chemicals are released in the body for instance, after exposure to Sarin or another deadly chemical or biological weapon.

Organic chemist Abraham Shanzer and his colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovat, Israel, began with a molecule named FLIP. At its core is a component dubbed a "linker" that mimics a bacterial compound that binds to iron. Attached to it are two molecules that respectively can glow either blue or green.

There are essentially three "buttons" that scientists can use with this molecular kedypad lock. These are an acidic molecule, an alkaline compound, and ultraviolet light.