Page "Scientific instrument" Paragraph 2

Some scientific instruments can be quite large in size, like particle colliders that can be several miles in circumference or radio-telescope antennas and antenna arrays used in astrophysics.

As you might expect, the converse or nanoscale also has been added to the list of the realm of scientific instrument applications and research, with much of the activity centered around the use of miniaturization in the field of medicine, particularly as non-invasive imaging has exploded on the diagnostic arts and minimally invasive tools and robotics have extended the reach of surgeons of every stripe.

In fact, instruments on the scale of a single molecule may soon interact with our bodies at the cellular and biochemical level to collect diagnostic information and provide highly precise medication delivery mechanisms.