World’s Smallest

It’s been a while since Neatorama’s last co-blogging post, so it was a pleasant surprise when Hanan of the always neat grow-a-brain blog suggested that we do another one, with the topic of: the world’s smallest.

Also check out the very first co-blogging Neatorama ever did (also with grow-a-brain): Crime and Punishment. Thanks Hanan!

World’s Smallest Teddy Bears
The world’s smallest teddy bears, 3.5-mm tall Micro Ted and 5-mm tall Mini-the-Pooh, were made by German sculptor Bettina Kaminski.

To make these tiny beauties, she had to weave the thread, stitch the bears’ bodies, arms, and legs, turn them inside out, stuff them, and then stitch them all together before embroidering the details!

World’s Smallest Man

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Meet the world’s smallest man: Nelson de la Rosa [wiki]. He’s just 54 centimeters (about 1 3/4 feet) tall!

World’s Smallest & Most Wondrous Works of Art
Willard Wigan’s sculptures are so small they can rest on the head of a pin or in the eye of a needle, like his Statue of Liberty sculpture to the left.

Wigan [wiki] uses rice and grains of sand and sugar for his sculptures. His artwork are so small that he has to work between heartbeats to avoid hand tremors!

World’s Smallest Pancake
Andrea Harner, who dedicated herself to finding the world’s smallest everything, found this to be the world’s smallest pancake (tee hee!)

You can also make your very own teeny tiny pancake (with a dubious method, no less!)

World’s Smallest Fish
Scientists discovered this Paedocypris progenetica fish in forest swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatera. The fish is only 7.9 mm long (about 1/3 inch long)!

The title, however, is contested: two other fish, the 7 mm long male stout infantfish (Schindleria brevipinguis) and the 6.2 mm long male anglerfish (Photocorynus spiniceps) said that they should’ve been the world’s smallest fish.

World’s Smallest Brewery
The Bragdy Gwynant brewery is less than 5 square feet and was once an outhouse. It is now the world’s smallest commercial brewery: it brews beer for its one and only customer, the Tynllidiart Arms next door!

World’s Smallest Living Organism
Biologists Jill Banfield and Brett Baker discovered what could be the world’s smallest living thing, the enigmatic Archaea microbes found in a slime pool in a deep underground mine:

Once Baker had found gene segments (ribosomal RNA) from three Archaea, he was able to fish the microbes out of the slime soup and found that they were extremely small, around 200 nanometers in diameter, the size of large viruses. Bacteria average about five times this diameter.

World’s Smallest Cat
Meet Mr. Peebles, who at 6.1 (15.5 cm) in high and 19.2 in (49 cm) long, is the world’s smallest cat.

The cute cat fits perfectly in a regular 8 oz glass!

World’s Smallest Dog

Photo: Dominic Chavez / The Boston Globe

OK, so how about the world’s smallest dog? Meet Ducky from Charlton, Massachusetts, the who holds the current title of the world’s smallest dog. He’s just 1.4 pound and 4.9 inches tall!

World’s Smallest Cattle

The world’s smallest cattle is a rare breed of an Indian zebu called the Vechur cow. The average height of this breed of cattle is 31 to 35 inches (81 to 91 cm). The photo above shows a 16 year old Vechur cattle as compared to a 6 year old HF cross-breed cow.

World’s Smallest Flowering Plant and Seed
It makes sense that the world’s smallest flowering plant also produces the world’s smallest seeds: both records belong to Wolffia or the flowering duckweed.

The fruit of Wolffia augusta is about 0.2 mm (1/100th on an inch) long and weighs about 70 microgram - it is smaller than a single grain of salt!

World’s Smallest Distance Unit
At 0.000000000000000000000000000000000016 m, (1.6x 10^-35 m), Planck length is the smallest distance unit in physics.

But why is it important? Turns out, it is a physical unit of measurement that can be defined exclusively in terms of five universal physical constants (often referred to by physicists as "God’s units").

At this scale, it is thought that gravity and space-time cease to exist and quantum effects dominate.

World’s Smallest Horse
At just 60 lb and 17-inch tall, the five-year-old Thumbelina is the world’s smallest horse!

The little horse was born to Paul and Kay Goessling, who specialize in breeding miniature horses, but even for the breed Thumbelina is particularly small: she is thought to be a dwarf-version of the breed!

But apparently her small size didn’t hamper her attitude:

But despite this massive difference in size, it is feisty Thumbelina who rules the roost over the stallions and racehorses on her 150-acre farm. (Source: Daily Mail)

World’s Smallest Car
The world’s smallest car, a true "nano" vehicle, is just 4 nanometers across - that’s less than 1/10,000 the width of a strand of human hair!

The wheels are made from buckyballs at 60 atoms apiece. The "car" has a chassis, axles, and even a pivoting suspension!

World’s Smallest Church
Roadside America found the world’s smallest church: the Cross Island chapel, which has this interesting story:

Cross Island Chapel, "The World’s Smallest Church," sits on a wooden platform in the center of a pond. A billboard near the road details everything you need to know: "Built in 1989. Floor area 51 inches by 81 inches (28.68 square feet). Seats two people. Non-denominational. Dedicated as a witness to God." Years ago we read a newspaper account of a wedding held at Cross Island Chapel, with only room to accommodate the minister, bride and groom. The rest of the wedding partyanchored nearby in small boats. Guests on shore imagined how the vows went.

It’s open to the public on request, and accessible only by boat.

World’s Smallest Toilet

Chisai Benjo by Takahashi Kaito (SII Nanotechnology Inc.)

And finally, world’s smallest toilet, winner of Most Bizarre (how appropriate) micrograph contest.