, asked Feynman in a talk that would mark the birth of nanotechnology. In our group, we meet this challenge by connecting novel exotic phenomena emerging at the nanoscale with the corresponding “jigglings and wigglings of atoms”. Remarkably, this quest’s interdisciplinary interest (biology, chemistry, physics, … ) allows tackling issues apparently unrelated as: deciphering a hidden physical code in DNA; up to uncovering the atomic origins of the phenomenon that controls earthquake dynamics i.e. static friction.