November 6, 2000

1 min read

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The Tiniest Carbon Nanotubes

By Kate Wong

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Carbon nanotubes--those minute cylinders of carbon poised to revolutionize the fields of materials science and electronics--just got even smaller. According to two reports published in the November 2 issue of the journal Nature, scientists have discovered the smallest stable carbon nanotubes known. Teams led by Lu-Chang Qin of the NEC Corporation in Tsukuba, Japan, and Z. K. Tang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology observed these tiny tubes, which, at 0.4 nanometer in width, represent the theoretical limit in smallness. Smaller than strands of DNA, carbon nanotubes were first described in the early 1990s. Since then they have captured the attention of scientists around the world who envision using them to build better televisions, batteries, wireless communications systems and to strengthen materials, among other things. In addition to great strength for their low weight, these tiny variations on ordinary graphite also offer good heat conductance and intriguing electronic properties. Still, researchers are just beginning to understand and exploit nanotubes, so exactly how useful they might be remains to be seen.

Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

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