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Structure of the new carbon network. The upper part shows schematically the linking of the carbon atoms, forming squares, hexagons, and octagons. The lower part is an image of the network, obtained with high-resolution microscopy. Credit: University of Marburg, Aalto University ================================================================================ Carbon exists in various forms. In addition to diamond and graphite, there are recently discovered forms with astonishing properties. For example graphene, with a thickness of just one atomic layer, is the thinnest known material, and its unusual properties make it an extremely exciting candidate for applications like future electronics and high-tech engineering. In graphene, each carbon atom...

President Donald Trump has blocked a Chinese government-financed firm’s acquisition of an Oregon semiconductor maker on national security grounds. Trump’s order Wednesday came after a federal panel that reviews foreign investment for possible security threats ruled against the proposed $1.3 billion takeover of Lattice Semiconductor last week. The deal has been under scrutiny since it became clear the buyer, Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, is funded by the Chinese government. …

A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomprehensible, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea holds water. The concept that current humanity could possibly be living in a computer simulation comes from a 2003 paper published in Philosophical Quarterly by Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford. In the paper, he argued that at least one of...