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Fullerene
The fullerenes, discovered in 1985 by researchers at Rice University, are a family of carbon allotropes named after Buckminster Fuller. They are molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are sometimes called buckyballs, the C60 variant is often compared to a typical white and black soccer football. Cylindrical fullerenes are called buckytubes. Recently discovered is the "buckyegg", by researchers at UC Davis. Fullerenes are similar in structure to graphite, which is composed of a sheet of linked hexagonal rings, but they contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings that prevent the sheet from being planar.
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Matter & Energy News
July 11, 2026
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July 5, 2026 Quantum mechanics has journeyed from a strange and controversial idea to the foundation of some of humanity’s most advanced technologies. Now researchers are pushing its boundaries even further, with potential breakthroughs in energy, medicine, ...
July 3, 2026 Scientists have uncovered new evidence that fireworks can pollute both the air and water in ways that extend beyond the visible smoke. The findings show that leftover debris, fine particles, and airborne chemicals may affect ecosystems and increase ...
July 3, 2026 Researchers have created quantum control techniques that can make a system appear to run backward in time. By precisely managing quantum measurements, they can reshape the system's arrow of time and even harvest energy from the measurement process ...
July 2, 2026 A major breakthrough in quantum technology has turned magnons, tiny magnetic waves once considered too short-lived for practical use, into promising carriers of quantum information. Researchers extended their lifetime by nearly 100 times, reaching ...
July 1, 2026 A new quantum device can generate precisely controlled bursts of sound-like particles, or phonons, by forcing electrons through an ultra-thin crystal at extremely low temperatures. The surprising behavior pushes beyond the limits predicted by ...
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July 9, 2026 Scientists have rewritten the story of gallium after discovering that its unusual atomic bonds re-form at high temperatures, contradicting decades of accepted theory. The finding changes how ...
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July 6, 2026 Engineers at a deep underground research facility noticed something strange during major rainstorms: airflow underground sometimes reversed direction. Using new sensors and mathematical modeling, ...
July 4, 2026 Researchers have proposed that black holes stop evaporating at the last moment, leaving behind tiny remnants that preserve all the information they contain. The same seven-dimensional geometry behind ...
July 4, 2026 Physicists have developed a new optical centrifuge that can precisely spin molecules inside a superfluid for the first time. The advance could help unravel some of the biggest mysteries of quantum ...
July 2, 2026 An unusual gravitational wave signal has renewed hopes that primordial black holes, long considered purely theoretical, may finally be within reach of discovery. If confirmed, they could solve one of ...
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