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Nanotubes Form The Darkest Material Yet Created

Posted by samzenpus on from the none-more-black dept.

toxcspdrmn writes "Bad news for Spinal Tap fans. The BBC reports that researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have produced the darkest known material by manufacturing "forests" of carbon nanotubes. This forms a surface that absorbs or scatters 99.9% of all incidental light."

31 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Don't tell John Carmack! by Zymergy · · Score: 5, Funny

    He will incorporate this new 'blackest' black into Doom 4.
    (and you just thought you saw all possible shades of black and brown in Doom 3!)

    1. Re:Don't tell John Carmack! by nospam007 · · Score: 2, Funny

      They could only produce them dark nanotubes because their nanogenerator goes to 11.

  2. Paint by milsoRgen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't wait to paint my nerd den with this stuff... light be damned!

    --
    I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
    1. Re:Paint by Millennium · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'd settle for just being able to paint doors. Especially red ones.

    2. Re:Paint by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Funny

      Somehow I am skeptical that something which absorbs 99.99% of all visible light would make a good projection surface.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  3. Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by h4rm0ny · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... can we get a screenshot?

    --

    Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
    1. Re:Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by Thanshin · · Score: 2, Funny

      ... can we get a screenshot?
      Why of course we you can. Close your eyes and count to ten.
    2. Re:Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by minginqunt · · Score: 2, Funny

      What material could be darker?

      None. None more dark.

    3. Re:Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by kitzkar · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's just a hole in the table...

    4. Re:Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by Dr_SimonCPU · · Score: 5, Funny

      Isn't that an ACME portable hole?

    5. Re:Oh wow - an darker shade of black... by clem · · Score: 4, Funny

      ... can we get a screenshot? No. But I've recruited a salty sea pirate to describe it to you in colorful language:

      "Y'ar. I've seen it meself with me one good eye. It be blacker than pitch, darker than a black cat on a moonless night, and dim as the stygian depths of Davey Jones' locker itself. As murky and inscrutable as an hoor's arsehole. Not well-lit, I am telling thee. Opaque, if ye catch my drift. As inky as a squid's, er, ink. Ye keen well what I mean."
      --
      Your courageous and selfless spelling corrections have made me a better person.
  4. I was going to ask... by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...if anybody had found a picture of it. I'd see this article a few days ago and couldn't turn up anything.

    Unfortunately, posting on Slashdot provides me with the perspective to see how stupid a question it was.

    1. Re:I was going to ask... by ndogg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did you really expect that an article on the blackest material ever made would be able to shine some light upon the subject?

      --
      // file: mice.h
      #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. How much more black? by LaskoVortex · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black."

    --
    Just callin' it like I see it.
    1. Re:How much more black? by jay-be-em · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

      --
      "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
  7. mapping this darkness on a scale by laejoh · · Score: 4, Funny

    from 1 to 10 would yield us, what? 11?

    1. Re:mapping this darkness on a scale by gandhi_2 · · Score: 2, Funny

      The answer is none. None more black.

      --
      THL phish sticks
  8. Mr Desiato would like a word with them... by jamesh · · Score: 4, Funny

    If the media release is accurate, a Mr Hotblack Desiato would like a word with them... his current ship isn't quite black enough.

  9. Dethklok were first to do this by black_lbi · · Score: 2, Funny

    "We're here to make coffee metal.
    We're here to make everything metal.
    Blacker than the blackest black times infinity."

  10. But by niceone · · Score: 4, Funny

    How much more is the the Macbook that is this colour going to cost???

    --
    ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
  11. Finally by Phyrexicaid · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ninja suits!

    --
    The meme is dead, long live the meme!
  12. obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nothing to see here ... please move along

  13. Re:Where to put it by entrigant · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hmm... a gigantic near absolute black building in the middle of a sunny day... hmmmmm... nope, don't think I'd notice that.

  14. Great, now I have to update my livejournal! by bipbop · · Score: 4, Funny

    My soul is as black as the darkest carbon nanotube forest!

  15. Perfect for Priests' Socks by clickety6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Father Ted - Series Three, Episode One

    DOUGAL: Anyway, what else did you order?

    TED: Priest socks. Really black ones.

    DOUGAL: I read somewhere, I think it was in an article about priest socks that priest socks are blacker than any other type of socks.

    TED: That's right Dougal. Sometimes you see lay people wear what look like black socks but if you look closely you'll see they're very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue.

    DOUGAL: Actually that's true. I thought my uncle Tommy was wearing black socks but when I looked at them closely they were just very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY, very, very, very dark blue.

    TED: Never buy black socks in a normal shop. They'll shaft you every time!

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  16. Re:wouldn't scattered light still be light? by Tesen · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just knew the Monolith was real! ;)

  17. Re:Stack of razorblades by NevarMore · · Score: 4, Funny

    "(Because of the potential for dangerous reflections, please don't shine lasers into a stack of razors trying to test their reflectivity--unless you know what you're doing and, hopefully, have an appropriate pair of laser goggles.)"

    The fact that the razors are sharp and pointy can be safely ignored.

  18. Re:Collects, actually. Solar panels, anyone? by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 4, Funny

    For a mention of those you'd have to read the article, grasshopper. ;)

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
  19. Re:It is kinda disterbing by Dragonslicer · · Score: 2, Funny

    While this is interesting it isn't the kind of thing that is going to make those sleeping RPI students say, "Oh my God, why didn't I know about this sooner?" You sure about that? This is the school where the athletics teams are the RPI Engineers.
  20. Thats the sound .... by TheEmpyrean · · Score: 2, Funny

    And that was the sound of goth and emo kids everywhere having a collective orgasm. Its also justification for my shirt that says "I'm only wearing black until they make something darker"