The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded today to the discoverers of graphene.
A thin flake of ordinary carbon, just one atom thick, lies behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov have shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics.
Graphene is a form of carbon. As a material it is completely new – not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.
Two unusual things about this prize: first, the discovery is relatively new. The work these guys won for happened about five or six years ago. Second, the recipients are quite young; the older is 52 (pretty young
in itself) and the younger is 36 (which is practically a baby when it comes to Nobel prizes).
It turns out that making graphene is incredibly simple. All you have to do is mechanically exfoliate some graphite until you get layers that are one atom thick. In other words, you get a chunk of carbon and some scotch tape, rub the tape on the carbon, and push the tape down a few times on a clean piece of silicon. Then, you put it under a microscope and go hunting for graphene flakes. You can buy a DIY kit for $225. (The DIY kit is a great bit of middle-man markup; it consists of a block of “premium” graphite – pencil lead – some scotch tape, and a silicon wafer. Total cost of those components taken separately is probably about $10-15.)
As a result, resource-starved scientists have turned to graphene as The Next Great Thing. Everybody and their mother has gotten into graphene research, from young scientists trying to establish themselves to some of the biggest names in nanotechnology. As far as impact goes, it’s a well-deserved Nobel.
Hey wait a sec…Andre Geim…that name sounds familiar…
That’s right Geim previoiusly won the IgNobel prize for his work magnetic levitation of frogs. The IgNobel is the anti-Nobel prize, given for the weirdest and wackiest research. Geim won in 2000 for his pioneering research on frog levitation.
Compassionate Conservatism!
I’d say that Rubicon was already crossed by anyone who supported US policy in Central America in the ’80s, wouldn’t you?
I’m unclear on the practical applications. I assume we’re talking processors/electronic appliances but how much better is this than what we had?
Yes, we’re talking processors/electronics. The electronic properties are unusual and that is what people are trying to exploit. One example is transistors with extremely high on/off switching speeds (I think this goes toward computing speed).
One very unusual property is that they are both transparent and electrically conductive. That’s not a combination you get very often, and transparent conductors are useful for photovoltaics and consumer electronics.
The high surface area combined with the electronic (signal carrying properties) make it a candidate for ultra-sensitive sensors (eg, gas sensors in industrial environments, biosensors for disease detection, a host of defense applications). The high surface are also makes it a candidate for creating ultracapacitors, a type of energy storage device that could replace batteries.
Neat.
So this’ll be in the iPod Brainwave when that comes out?
If you don’t wear your tin hat, the gubmint in conjunction with Steve Jobs will implant graphene directly into your brain.
Can all the tea leaf readers who thought the Wolff quote meant NO SIGNINGS EVAR admit that this means we’ll be signing, at minimum, Beltre, Crawford, and Weurth?
also on the docket for being kicked: the hopes and dreams of A’s fans everywhere; puppies.
I think the Wolff ramblings and this Billy quote tell us the same exact thing: that it’s useless to try to discern the team’s roster intent through public pronouncements from management in October.
That would be my point, yes.
It’s like MoneyButt, but for real.
I’m sorry sir, your home burning down is a pre-existing condition.
My Dad describes a scene he witnessed in Saigon in 1974: a family’s house was burning, fire fighters came roaring up, and then stood and waited around until their captain negotiated their fee with the homeowner. Once acceptable terms were reached, the fire fighters commenced to putting out the flames.
Right metaphor, wrong mechanism: it’s actually precisely analogous to the public mandate.
I am big. It’s the particles that got small.
I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille (get out the electron microscope).
You know, just your standard monkey funeral shot.
excellent
You can snort it?
The Protocols of the Elders of St Petersburg
Isn’t Graphene Grill one of Johnny’s Cash’s stepdaughters?
Oh Green Power Ranger how you’ve fallen. I’ll always remember you as Tommy, though:
This is certainly fascinating/bizarre.
All last week’s work reviewing press releases in case Saul Perlmutter won was for naught.
ooooh cosmology burn
Matt Yglesias is opposed to the cosmology-licensing cartel.
verbal skills, evening gown and peanut knowledge
These guys predict the Nobel prize winners based on “citation impact”.
Their physics predictions illustrate the shortcomings of this approach. There was no way Bennett, Page & Spergel were going to win for WMAP (despite its gazillion citations) since it really only confirmed what we already knew, albeit with greater precision, but is universally cited because it was the last of that generation of experiments and it conflated all its predecessors into its published results.
So how could they improve the algorithm? I’m trying to think of other metrics they could include (other prizes perhaps) that incorporate the importance of the work, not just its citability.
Fleischmann and Pons have ex-citability.
The Charlie Lieber and George Whitesides picks in chemistry are pretty good – I’m not familiar with all the names – but you could have easily shortlisted them without this metric.
I think if you polled the practitioners in any field you could come up with a decent shortlist, but the interesting thing in their approach is trying to use a metric that removes the element of insider knowledge. The citation impact has obvious limitations, and I can’t think of obvious ways around them.
Right; I think this is a classic area where crowdsourcing/polling would be superior to metric-based analyses.
They should add extra points for scientists who play in major East Coast media markets, and thus get plenty of airplay on the Everything Science Programming Network.
Matt Murton breaks Ichiro’s Japanese single-season hits record.
AJ Burnett out of Yankees playoff rotation
Just waiting for the Giants to do the same to Zito …
Yup. Combined $200 MM out of pasture when it counts.
The Giants have several expensive contracts they’ll likely deactivate (Rowand, for one) — and a few more they should (Guillen).
And there we go.
Grant took a page out of Arnold’s book.
And Zito’s probably useless as a reliever, creature of warm-up habit that he is. Might come down to him vs Rowand for the 25th roster spot…which bad-case scenario do you want to plan for, a long reliever after the starter gets shelled, or an extra OF/PH after your bench is depleted?
Can’t they put him on the playoff roster, have him come down with some mysterious ailment, and replace him with their hottest prospect fire-baller from AAA – like the Angels did with Francisco Rodriguez?
extra OF, easily. If you have 11/12 pitchers and you only carry four starters, that gives you 7/8 relievers. You don’t want the 7/8 guy in the bullpen anywhere near the mound in a short series anyway, so let the back of the bullpen soak up innings after a shelling. Or, leave the starter in there to take his beating until he’s thrown a 120 pitches.
I don’t think that last approach works in the playoffs, especially when you’re considering running your #1/#2 on short rest for the next start.
Huddy: NL comeback player of the year
How to measure the speed of light using a microwave oven, a ruler, and some marshmallows.
That’s great! I’ve forwarded it to Lily’s school for their science camp.
Yeah, someone posed the question to me and I couldn’t figure out how to do it; I had to google it. Epic Fail on my part.
TWHS
FSU bait: 10% ROI for betting against Pirates every game this year.
The annotated spreadsheet is pretty funny.
The fuck you aren’t.
Clever, creepy ad for home security service:
Apparently the tag line has the ADT logo and reads “Breaking into your apartment is easier than you think.”
First, terrorism, and now this? Now I gotta worry about people slipping empty boxes under my front door?
That’s it. They’ve won.
{poops in … well, a whole lotta people’s pants}
I guess Rajai Davis was present at those events.
Well, looks like FK stayed strong ’til the end of the regular season. Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come.
Kids.
FKids
That’s what happens when you FK around.
that computer is FK’d up.
Anyone heard of any of these authors? I’ve always wanted to do one of the litquake events, but never enough to make the barge into the city. This is an east bay thing at Lake Chalet, tomorrow at 6:00, and I’m trying to decide if it’s interesting enough to go to. Any insights? Anyone else been/going to a litquake event?
I’m thinking about subscribing to the MLB postseason video package. Anything I should be aware of? What’s the quality like?
“I was a wanderer, dude. I was like Gandhi”
{protests statue of Dykstra}
Taking JP and Meesus Moonkeyball on the L out to the Zoo to take advantage of their free-for-SF-residents Wednesday.
LB8: Fla. man denies cocaine found in buttocks is his.
That’s just awesome
The crack crack crack is just too obvious.
sad fact? I almost certainly know him.
But was the phone up that person’s ass at the time?
As a Liverpool fan having the club taken over by John Henry sucks, but seeing Hicks and Gillett left on the hook for $144M helps a little.
I was too busy to connect the dots here yesterday. Dude, your team got bought by the Red Sox. Harsh.
This year’s Nobel prizes are brought to you by the letter C.
But baseball. Jesus Christ, what was I thinking?
I love that he updated this
Now featuring Ezra Klein!
And the roll-over observation is pretty funny. But I don’t see FK anywhere …
I don’t see sports blogs at all.
Fandom? Miscellaneous?