ice-9, meet carbon-5

It isn’t as scary as Kurt Vonnegut’s imaginary ice-9, a form of solid water stable at ambient temperatures, but it’s just as wierd. According the the recent edition of Nature Science Updates, a fifth form of carbon has been created. Unlike the known forms – graphite, diamond, buckminsterfullerenes, and nanotubes – the new form is described as a nanofoam. The really interesting thing is that it’s magnetic.

About Peg.

Peg has a PhD in neuroscience and has a mind like a cocker spaniel. New scientific questions are like squeaky toys. She makes her living consulting with university faculty members on the fine art of grantsmanship, writes fiction for fun, and considers herself a wetware hacker.

One Comment

  1. I was thinking of Ice-9 when I named the bio-active nanomachines (in Acts of the Apostles) “Feynman Nine”. Also, it’s odd that the magnetism wears off over a short amount of time. Why is that? Does the structure change?

    In other http://www.eurekalert.org/p… news it has been recently reported that buckyballs cause brain damage in fish. Ooops!

Comments are closed