Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Graphene, the wonder material


In a recent post on herd mentality in science, this is what Ponderer had to say about graphene, the latest 'hot' material that's attracting herds of condensed matter physicists:

... I think it's a rather unique and interesting system worth studying. What I am against is (and I am merely using graphene as a perfect example of this phenomena) that recent reactions from physics community by far exceeds any rational response. It's almost as if graphene is going to cure cancer and turn lead into gold. [...] Any day now I expect Entertainment Tonight to interrupt their Sanjaya's hair or Anna Nicole coverage to update us on recent graphene developments. [...]

This must be one of those rare cases when the NYTimes beats Entertainment Tonight in covering a hot, new thing.

Something needs to be done to take the knowledge of graphene to the masses in India. May be Mandira Bedi could feature this wonder material in one of the remaining episodes of Extraaaa Innings. I'm sure there's a cricketing angle to this material (not that Mandira needs this angle, but still ...): stronger bats, bouncier balls, more protective gloves or head gear ...

3 Comments:

  1. Rahul Siddharthan said...

    Well, if Britney Spears can explain semiconductor physics...

  2. Rahul Siddharthan said...

    Or, for that matter, if Dubya can correct Fermilab physicists... then why not Mandira and graphene.

  3. Niket said...

    rahul: lol :-)

    Speaking of taking science to the masses: http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/