Scientists have created the world’s thinnest spaghetti 200 times thinner than hair that overcooks in a second! Here’s why

Move over, angel hair pasta — there’s a new contender in town. Researchers have created the thinnest spaghetti ever, measuring just 372 nanometers across. That’s roughly 200 times thinner than a human hair! But this isn’t a culinary breakthrough — it’s a scientific one. This “nanopasta” holds promise for revolutionary applications in medicine and industry.

A spaghetti revolution in the lab

The spaghetti was made using electrospinning, a technique where an electric charge pulls a flour-based mixture through a needle to form nanofibers.:

“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes,” explained co-author Dr. Adam Clancy. “In our study, we did the same except we pulled our flour mixture through with an electrical charge. It’s literally spaghetti but much smaller.”

The strands are so fine they can’t be seen clearly with visible light and had to be measured using a scanning electron microscope. For comparison, the next thinnest known pasta is su filindeu — the “threads of God” from Sardinia — estimated to be about 400 microns wide. That makes this new creation 1,000 times thinner.

Why make nanospaghetti?

This isn’t pasta for your plate — it’s nanofiber science at its finest. Nanofibers are ultra-thin strands of material with many uses, such as wound healing. Nanofiber mats are highly porous, allowing water and moisture in while keeping bacteria out. They can also help with bone regeneration by acting as scaffolding for tissue growth, or for drug delivery, since their microscopic size allows for precise medical applications.

“Nanofibers, such as those made of starch, show potential for use in wound dressings as they are very porous,” remarked co-author Professor Gareth Williams. “In addition, nanofibers are being explored for use as a scaffold to regrow tissue, as they mimic the extracellular matrix — a network of proteins and other molecules that cells build to support themselves.”

Making nanofibers traditionally involves extracting and purifying starch, a resource-intensive process. The team found a greener solution by starting with flour, which is rich in starch. Dr. Clancy said: “Starch is a promising material to use as it is abundant and renewable — it is the second largest source of biomass on Earth, behind cellulose — and it is biodegradable, meaning it can be broken down in the body.”

Using flour, however, wasn’t without its challenges. Impurities like proteins and cellulose made the mixture more viscous and harder to spin into fibers. To tackle this, the researchers used formic acid instead of water, as it breaks down the starch’s tightly packed helical structures. The acid evaporated during the process, leaving behind ultrathin strands of nanospaghetti.

Not for your dinner table

While this innovation is exciting, don’t expect it to replace your fettuccine anytime soon. Professor Williams points out that the nanospaghetti isn’t really as useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan.

Instead, the team is focusing on the practical uses of nanospaghetti in fields like healthcare. Dr. Clancy added: “We’ve shown that a simpler way to make nanofibers using flour is possible. The next step would be to investigate the properties of this product. We would want to know, for instance, how quickly it disintegrates, how it interacts with cells, and if you could produce it at scale.”

For now, this world-record-breaking spaghetti is a testament to the possibilities of nanotechnology. Whether it’s revolutionizing medicine or creating eco-friendly materials, this tiny pasta proves that big things can come in very small packages

The findings of this study have been published in Nanoscale Advances and can be accessed here.