You may hear references to playing the world's smallest violin when someone is being overly whiny or wallowing in self-pity, and now scientists have turned the joke into an actual microscopic object.

This might seem like a bit of fun, but this creation marks the beginning of a whole new world of nanolithographic research. The violin demonstrates the capabilities of the Loughborough University’s ...

Credit: Loughborough University/Cover Images Physicists at a UK university have created what they believe could be “the world’s smallest violin” - a microscopic replica so tiny it fits within the ...

The phrase "can you hear the world's smallest violin playing just for you?" is thought to have first appeared on an episode of TV show M*A*S*H in 1978, and usually mocks overly dramatic complaints.