Graphene: Fast, Strong, Cheap, and Impossible To Use

An anonymous reader writes: We keep hearing about the revolutionary properties of graphene, an atom-thick sheet of carbon whose physical characteristics hold a great deal of promise — if we can figure out good ways to produce it and use it. The New Yorker has a lengthy profile of graphene and its discoverer, Andre Geim, as well as one of the physicists leading a big chunk of the bleeding-edge graphene research, James Tour.

Quoting: "[S]cientists are still trying to devise a cost-effective way to produce graphene at scale. Companies like Samsung use a method pioneered at the University of Texas, in which they heat copper foil to eighteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit in a low vacuum, and introduce methane gas, which causes graphene to "grow" as an atom-thick sheet on both sides of the copper—much as frost crystals "grow" on a windowpane. They then use acids to etch away the copper. The resulting graphene is invisible to the naked eye and too fragile to touch with anything but instruments designed for microelectronics. The process is slow, exacting, and too expensive for all but the largest companies to afford. ... Nearly every scientist I spoke with suggested that graphene lends itself especially well to hype."

Comments

Jumping to conclusions, are we?

[Qbertino]

Of course, for men who are circumcised and so who already lost most of their ability to feel what sex is...

Sorry, pal, but I think you're on the wrong foot here. I happen to be circumcised - my dad was a Baptist and considered it standard procedure - and while I do find the idea of the ritual and especially its religious reasons to be beyond bizar, I personally, gladly, am fine with being circumcised. I've heard there may be medical arguments that are pro-circumsision - couldn't say for sure though and don't really care. It was done when I was freshly born, by a doctor and with anesthesia - which is the *only* acceptable way to to it, btw.! . As a kid I thought of it as a simple anatomic variation, such as color of hair. Now I know better of course.

I could imagine that from constant exposure the tip of the penis of somebody who is circumcised perhaps gets less sensitive over time, not sure about that though. Could also be the regular manual work I do and access to infinite pr0n I have - just like the rest of us. (BTW, fellas, check out the Nobnom challenge).

As for the sex, I can assure you, I *do* know what sex is (gladly) and I've had my fair share of female intimate partners, most of which, thankfully, were awesome up to flat-out stellar, p*rnstyle playmates. And I can also assure you, do hookiepookie in the right mood with the right partner and the right amount of moisture in her vulva and Ooomph in your member way more than anything else determines wether you feel what sex is or not. Likewise, play Closet-Polo with someone who is a turnoff and can't keep the mood for 5 seconds, and you'll never know what sex is, no matter how intact and sophisticated your foreskin may be.

Keep that in mind before you go about telling everybody that circumcised men don't know what sex is - some might take offense in that, as you can see here in this thread already.

My 2 cents.

Re:Now if only...

[david_thornley]

I had a bread baking machine once. (My wife said it was a one-function thing that took up space, just like husbands.) I got some nice bread out of it, but it was work, and not all that much cheaper than picking up something similar at the store. Eventually the motor for the mixing part died, and it didn't seem worthwhile to repair or replace.