IBM Creates the World’s Smallest Magazine Cover

National Geographic Kids claimed Friday its ninth Guinness World Records title for the Smallest Magazine Cover, using patented technology from IBM (NYSE: IBM), at the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C.

To create the record-setting cover, IBM scientists invented a tiny “chisel” with a heatable silicon tip 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil point.

Using this nano-sized tip, which creates patterns and structures on a microscopic scale, it took scientists just 10 minutes and 40 seconds to etch the magazine cover onto a polymer, the same substance of which plastics are made.

The resulting magazine cover measures 11 × 14 micrometers, which is so small that 2,000 could fit on a grain of salt.

To select which cover to shrink, National Geographic Kids turned to its readers to vote online for their favorite design.

The March 2014 cover that earned the most votes as well as a microscopic version, visible through a ZEISS Axio Imager 2 microscope, was unveiled at the USA Science & Engineering Festival.

It will be on display at the National Geographic Kids and IBM booth on April 26 and 27.

“National Geographic Kids magazine subscribers loved this cover, so it makes sense that a broader audience would vote it as their favorite of 2014 as well. And by helping to set this Guinness World Records title, they’re learning about science while having fun, which is what Kids is all about,” said Rachel Buchholz, vice president and editor of National Geographic Kids.

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National Geographic Kids’ eight previous Guinness World Records titles are: Longest Line of Footprints (10,932 prints measuring two miles, set in 2004); Largest Collection of Plush Toys (2,304 stuffed animals, set in 2006); Longest Chain of Shoes (10,512 shoes, set in 2008); Most Items of Clothing Collected for Recycling (33,088 items of denim clothing, set in 2009); Most People Doing Jumping Jacks in 24 Hours (300,265, set in 2011), Largest Collection of Shoes to Recycle (16,407, set in 2013); Most People Running 100 Meters in 24 hours (30,914, set in 2013); and Largest Online Photo Album (104,022 pictures, set in 2013).

Photo courtesy: IBM / National Geographic Kids