BUCKYBALLS, the synthetic carbon molecules that show such promise in nanotechnology, can cause brain damage in fish and kill other aquatic animals. Although the results are preliminary, the suggestion is that nanomaterials could cause harm if released into the environment.
Industry is just beginning to exploit the potential of football-shaped buckyballs – fullerenes – and their chemical kin, cylindrical carbon nanotubes. Although only a handful of factories worldwide produce such molecules, it is envisaged that they will be widely used in areas as diverse as drug delivery, cosmetics, high-tech fibres and as oxidising agents for environmental remediation. “We believe nanomaterials…
