Another New Form of Carbon

A bit of a tangent, I think the following part is gold and really captures the moment:

> ... It comes over you when you’re suddenly faced with a new result that shows you just how strange and unexpected the physical universe can be. At first, all you can do is just stand there and wonder what the hell just happened (and whether you can do it again!) The feeling is an intense version of the amazement you feel at watching a particularly good magic trick, intense because it’s not a trick.

I like this writer, recognized his headshot from Things I Won't Work with [1]. He's able to write about dead serious chemistry and make you laugh your ass off.

EDIT: If you like that sort of stuff he has a whole category of TIWWW: [2]

[1] https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/th... [2] https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/category/thin...

This is actually interesting, if true. The headline should be something like "semimetallic, reflective form of carbon discovered" though, for the HN audience. "It's a weird one" just doesn't catch here.

There is a better article at DOI 10.1126/science.366.6467.782, if you know where to find such things.

When Chemical Vapor Deposition is used to produce simple structures like diamond or graphene, the carbon source is typically methane, with one carbon atom.

These scientists instead used molecules with 6 carbon atoms in a † shape, which deposit to form a more complex structure. Their unofficial name is "U-carbon" (for "unusual"). They suspect that variations of the process could produce hundreds of new allotropes.

Edit: The article from the DOI is also at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/next-graphene-shiny-...

"The group has not yet settled on a name for the mystery material. Jena calls it U-carbon—U for unusual. But Therrien, inspired by medieval alchemists who sought in vain for “adamant,” an unbreakable lodestone, is calling it adamantia."

Is adamantium trademarked?

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/next-graphene-shiny-...