These are Bucky Balls http://www.3rd1000.com/bucky/bucky.htm the potential applications for them is mind blowing.

No, these are tubes.

Geometry is so hard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene

I would like a bicycle made of carbon nanotubes woven to other carbon nanotubes and held together with some sort of molecular bonding resin... Then make it electric and give it top speed of about 80 MPH...

No... I'm not crazy, but... oh wait... that is pretty insane...

Avro, you need to read, not just attempt at being a smart ass. "Researcher James Gimzewski and his colleagues lined up buckyballs on a multigrooved copper plate, mimicking beads on a string." We are talking sub atomic construction. This entire new technology is derived from Bucky Balls. But, from someone who is sitting in their mom's basement watching reruns of Thundercats I guess I shouldn't expect too much

Eh, I think everyone's been imagining a world with readily available and manipulable CNT for quite a while editor, at least everyone who would come to a site like this. It's like saying imagine a world with flying cars, or imagine a world with a space elevator, or a world w/ fully realized nanobots capable of keeping every single cell in your body in optimal condition for eternity. Thanks for opening our eyes to something we've been fantasizing about for years :P

Way to go Honda for increasing efficiency, and let's keep on pushing those returns up for your sake and ours hehe. I can't wait to see the wafer thin supercomputer I can beat on with a sledgehammer w/o breaking (ok, mebbe that's still a FEW years off ;P)

To TearEmUp and Avro, can't we all just get along and agree we'd like to see buckyballs woven into a tight matrice of CNT?

Super armor that could also be used as a computer :P

Simply put. Are these a derived tech from buckyballs? Yes. Are these buckyballs? No.
But surely they have similar properties? Yes.
So they are the same right? No.
But it's just a bunch of buckyballs lined up? No, they are not, any more than a wire is bunch of ball bearings lined up. Different applications different properties, and if anything the differences are more profound in the bucky ball/bucky tube dichotomy.
But come on, you knew what I meant? Yes I know what you intended, you intended to be a know it all and correct an the author, but you didn't have your facts straight. So your error was pointed out. When talking about a technical subject, "but you knew what I meant" is an absurd statement. We have different terms for different things so we can communicate.

As for the novelty of this research, glad to see their keeping up the good work. But I really with this article had mentioned length. Simply knowing that they can produce them with a higher success rate doesn't tell us what they are producing with the high success rate.

Either way if these go 100% efficient and have a low manufacture cost then the applications are endless. From bulletproof spiderman undies to making it more cost effective for space travel. Man I wish I could live to see where this might go!!!!

This is great, once this stuff breaks down and gets into the water supply we can all have this stuff floating inside us. How are you going to filter nano stuff out of the land and water supply?

@Jasper - Simple: Filters make from carbon nano-fibers. Carbon is already used in water filters. Besides, since we're a carbon-based life forms to start with, I'm not certain if carbon nano-tubes floating around in our bodies would be harmful at all anyhow. They would probably just be absorbed by the body and utilized by it.

Just a layman's view... I'm no expert.

Yes, but ThunderCats was awesome!

So, when do we get our Space Elevator now?-kh

what channel were the Thundercats reruns on?!

Scott,

Unfortunately, no. nanotubes are not good for humans. mostly an inhalation hazard and suspected of being much much worse. Just because it's made of carbon doesn't make it safe, re: benzene, cocaine, etc.

proliferation of these things would perhaps be an interesting health hazard, but probably on the level of asbestos or fiberglass.

-Jason

So if a new car shows up with this technology... and a car crash occurs. (( scary thought )) I'm already thinking that the fiberglass particles will cause the passangers to choke on the air they breathe. ---- nobody will survive the impact. All those hot microscopic particles of dust would as well affect people who get too close to the accident scene too.

Geargall,

yes, scary thought. but, the production of carbon nano-tubes is most likely where they could get into the air to be inhaled, and disposal is probably the site of water introduction. Nanotubes in use are likely imbedded in some other material, like steel or plastic, which would likely trap them in place in the case of an accident. In fact, they'd probably make the steel or plastic or whatever much harder and lighter, thus protecting the person in the car far more than if they hadn't been there in the first place.

-Jason

This is something that NEEDS to be perfected. The possibilities are literally endless.

If the facts about this material are true (and I hope they are)....shouldn't this be the news of the decade by now? Why haven't I heard of this anywhere other than dvice...I mean this should be big news people so i'm wondering what the catch is....

FANTASTIC! Now we can get on with the hover-cars and space elevators! Took long enough, Geez!

Nano technology will play a big part in our future, these nano tubes must have great potential for medical usage.

http://www.tshirt-choice.com

If commercialized I'd love to see them make their way into industrial cranes and their counterparts.

So speaking of space elevators... can any one explain to me how you connect the cable (nanotube or otherwise) between the ground station and the satellite? How do you get the cable UP THERE?? or conversely, DOWN TO THE GROUND??

"Why haven't I heard of this anywhere other than dvice..."

Because the general public is MUCH more concerned with John-n-Kate+8, who's bonking who in Hollywood, and where the next season of Survivor is being held. The general populace is a vapid crowd of cattle more upset that Honda might make a buck off this than what can be done with it.

Call me a skeptic if you'd like but that's why it's not in the news -- the mass yawn and glazed stares would sink the network news services' ratings.

One other use for this which Honda may have in mind is supermagnetics -- the kind of thing from which 10,000 mile/charge electric cars are made.

Carbon fiber makes possible the architectural wonder of the 21st Century: the space elevator. Within 100 years of the first on-line space elevator, 300 million people will populate the solar system beyond Earth's sky.

Carbon nano-tubes have been talked about for at least a decade now. It's good that Dvice helps spread the word. However, graphite composites have been used in airplanes for more than 4 decades. How much stuff does anyone have in their own home that's graphite? Maybe some golf clubs or a tennis racket. Still pretty pricey stuff. Also, imagine a fiber so strong it could cut you to ribbons if you tried to walk through it, yet so fine you couldn't see it coming. I was told that about carbon nano tubes a decade ago. Mighty sobering thought.

At the moment, no one on Earth has been able to construct a carbon nanotube longer than about 4 inches due to the volatile nature of construction. You can actually create some at home, although they would be fairly flawed. However, production on a large scale will have to wait until they can construct large ones. Researchers have yet to determine a way to connect multiple nanotubes together. Practical application is still several years away, and, as someone pointed out, it will not be used for mainstream public applications for at least 50 years.
LectricActMan pointed out one of the major biological concerns for CNTs. If you ingest even a small amount, your body is unable to filter these out. The molecular structure that makes it so strong also makes it nearly impossible for your body to break it down. Anyone who ingests nanotubes would have micro-abrasions and cuts all throughout their body. However, since they are incredibly strong, it is unlikely that someone would ever ingest a broken carbon nanotube.

CNTs are still $80 to $100 a gram, making them incredibly cost-prohibitive for large-scale construction. I'm not sure what method Honda is using, but until cost can be reduced, I doubt we see any major constructions outside of defense contracts and government projects.
Carbon nanotubes have been used in the medical field for a couple years now as super-fine needles, for which they are perfectly suited. They easily pierce the skin, maintain their shape, and reduce broken needles, decreasing health concerns about broken needles entering the bloodstream. Further applications are endless. Aircraft are generally constructed using an aluminum skin. However, supersonic aircraft cannot use aluminum because the intense heat and pressure break down aluminum, literally ripping the aircraft apart. Carbon fiber composites are currently used, but they are expensive and are still susceptible to to heat and pressure for hypersonic flight (mach 8+). CNTs could be used for a super-light, super-strong aircraft skin that would be able to withstand the forces of hypersonic flight. There are other applications but this comment is WAY too long as it is. Y'all have a good evening.