WEIRD SCIENCE

Scientists create magnetic carbon 'nanofoam'

Researchers have created a new form of carbon: a spongy solid that is extremely lightweight and, unusually, attracted to magnets.
The new structure was created when physicists at the Australian National University in Canberra bombarded a carbon target with a laser capable of firing 10,000 pulses a second. As the carbon reached temperatures of around 10,000 ºC, it formed an intersecting web of carbon tubes, each just a few billionths of a metre long. The researchers have called the solid a 'nanofoam'.
It is the fifth form of carbon known after graphite, diamond and two recently discovered types: hollow spheres, known as buckminsterfullerenes or buckyballs, and nanotubes.