Specula-tacular

NANOHORSES: A SMALL PROBLEM? (Reuters3)

(Cambridge, MA) What sounds like a sheet of cellophane being shaken, floods across any surface and itches like crazy? The newest outbreak in nanoviral lifeforms, the nanohorse.

These tiny nuisances have cropped up seemingly everywhere from Boston to Los Angeles, slowly galloping across the country, occasionally even into homes, the nanohorse is the newest link in a chain of self adapting tiny lifeforms loosely based upon the physics of familiar animals.

The origin of the nanohorse adaptation, believed to be a virus, is as of yet unknown. It is suspected however that the diminutive beast was built from a platform in beta testing at the Massachussets school that was leaked to the public over the internets in fall 2044. Fletcher Dodge, department head of nanotechnology at MIT has been working on culling the almost microscopic bother.

"We have worked extremely hard to prevent exactly this type of thing from occurring, recursive inhibitors, patents, terminator 'chine technology. You just can't stop it. There will always be a few bad apples out there."

The nanohorse, like the familiar bioeng horse, is an athletic quadroped with a long face and brushy mane and tail. It's movement if observed with a powerful microscope is very similar to the trotting motion of it's namesake. "The thing is, the physics are so different on that scale that these creatures can adhere to even vertical surfaces." says Parker Lexus, an industry spokesperson for leading nanotech firm Smallworld. "The havoc these things can create has proved to be absolutely unbelievable, these critters can destroy delicate machinery. For instance, a team of nanohorses can take out a legtop superbox sitting on an endtable in less than a minute if left unattended. I just hope one of them doesn't get into somewhere like a hospital."

The nanohorse has also proven itself to be a destructive factor even to other nanomachines, grazing on strings of the simpler devices as if they were pasture. However, it is not entirely a lost cause according to Stetson Blanco, represesntative for Deleted Disintrustries A.I.C. : "So far our experimental model involving nanotech rendering modules staffed by simple robot 'nanoranchers' is the only chance of stopping this phenomenon currently in development."

When asked about the possibility of actually supressing the nanohorse for good he was less enthusiastic, "Well, I mean, shit, we'll give it a shot. Why you got any better ideas?"