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 Seems
like every week or so these days, the Dowbrigade reads about some epochal,
paradigm altering invention or experiment
or innovation that is sure to change the world. Many of these items
seem straight out of the science fiction novels we grew up on back in
the fabulous 60’s. Wasn’t just
a few years
later that we were whining that the inventing business wasn’t what it
once was because all thee good stuff had already been invented?
Solar
sails, mining
comets, robot
camel jockeys and
now, this week’s paradigm shifting invention, sure to be an industrial
underpinning to the infrastructure of the future: making one molecule-thick
materials look positively obese, British and Russian scientists (a formidable
and fiendish combination) have introduced an entire class of one-atom thick
materials with a variety of enticing
properties.
Handle with care.
Scientists at The
University of Manchester have discovered
a new class of materials which have previously only existed in science
fiction films and books.
A team of British and Russian scientists led by Professor Geim have discovered
a whole family of previously unknown materials, which are one atom thick
and exhibit properties which scientists had never thought possible.
Not only are they ultra-thin, but depending on circumstances they can
also be ultra-strong, highly-insulating or highly-conductive, offering
a wide range of unique properties for space-age engineers and designers
to choose from.
Professor Andre Geim said: "This discovery opens up practically
infinite possibilities for applications which people have never even
thought of yet. These materials are lightweight, strong and flexible,
and there is a huge choice of them. This is not only about smart gadgets.
Like polymers whose pervasiveness changed our everyday life forever,
one-atom-thick materials could be used in a myriad of routine applications
from clothing to computers."
The materials have been created by extracting individual atomic planes
from conventional bulk crystals by using a technique called ‘micromechanical
cleavage’. Depending on a parent crystal, their one-atom-thick counterparts
can be metals, semiconductors, insulators, magnets, etc. Previously,
it was thought that such thin materials could not exist in principle,
but the research team have, for the first time, demonstrated that they
are not only possible but fairly easy to make.
The lesson here seems to be that anything that can be
imagined by the human mind will inevitably, eventually be created
by human hand.We anxiously await force fields, gravity nullification
fields and the Peace Drug.
from the University of Manchester
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