Scientists invent thinnest spaghetti ever - but you won't find it at any restaurant

The world's thinnest spaghetti has been invented by scientists - but you won't be seeing it on any restaurant menu.

Chemists at the University College London created the pasta strands which are 372 nanometres wide and 200 times thinner than a human hair.

Exactly how did they manage to make such thin strands?

A technique called electrospinning was used where threads of flour and liquid are pulled through the tip of a needle by an electric charge.

“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes. 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," co-author Dr Adam Clancy said.

The hope is for the thin strands of material called nanofibers - otherwise known as "nanopasta" that was used to create a mesh - could be used in bandages.

This is because nanofiber mats can allow water and moisture in while also keeping bacteria out due to its highly porous quality.

So it is thought this would be effective in bandaging dress wounds, as well as as scaffolding for bone regeneration and for drug delivery.

“Nanofibres, such as those made of starch, show potential for use in wound dressings as they are very porous," co-author Professor Gareth Williams explained.

The pasta is not intended to be a new food but was created because these extremely fine strands of material - called nanofibers - could have a number of important medical uses.Beatrice Britton/Adam Clancy/PA Wire

“In addition, nanofibres are being explored for use as a scaffold to regrow tissue as they mimic the extra-cellular matrix – a network of proteins and other molecules that cells build to support themselves.”

The idea of inventing the thinnest pasta came about because experts noted how large amounts of energy and water is used to extract starch directly from plants.

Instead, they looked at making nano strands directly from a starch-rich ingredient like flour - a key ingredient in pasta.

Dr Clancy described starch as a "promising material" since it is "biograbale", "abundant and renewable" as well as being the second largest source of biomass on earth, behind cellulose.

“But purifying starch requires lots of processing. We’ve shown that a simpler way to make nanofibres 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 those intrigued to taste the thinnest pasta in the world, sadly it wouldn't exactly be a tasty meal.

“I don’t think it’s useful as pasta, sadly, as it would overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan," Professor Williams added.

But if you want to try the next thinnest pasta, then it is called su filindeu (“threads of God”), made by hand by a pasta maker in the town of Nuoro, Sardinia.

Su filindeu is around 400 microns wide – 1,000 times thicker than the new electrospun creation and narrower than some wavelengths of light.

However, this is also the rarest pasta as only a handful of people on the planet know how to make it.

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