Oh, have I got something cool today!
For many a year, since graphite took over as the lead in our pencils, we authors have unknowing been using a piece of what’s becoming a revolutionary material in the world. It’s Vegeta-level awesome, in my humble opinion. And oh, the things we can do with it! I’m talking about the superhero brother to friendly neighborhood graphite. Graphene.
No, seriously, the stuff graphene can do reads like some sorcerer thought this up and made it. Graphene temporary tattoos are being tested for medical monitoring. Scientists are feeding it to spiders, which in turn produce web that would make Spiderman envious. It is capable of superballistic conduction, and we found that out recently. It’s also 200 times stronger than steel.
This material is ridiculous. The applications possible are unbelievable. I’m talking advanced body armor, or unbreakable bone and joint replacement, a whole upgrade of the power grid on a planetary scale. From spaceships and habitats on foreign planets to glasses and 3D printed metal models, this stuff can probably do it. And if it can’t yet, a little tweak in any story can make graphene into the material you need. Hell, use graphene as the material to build nanobots and you’ve got the perfect start for the world-ending Grey Goo scenario!
If you’re looking for that impossible piece of material for your fiction, look no further. This is it.
-T.A. Creech
Science in the pursuit of Fiction.