My dad pointed me to this story last weekend — research scientist Shawn-Yu Lin at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute reported that a team he works with has created the darkest substance ever made, one that absorbs 99.995% of light that hits it, making it about 30x darker than the “blackest black” previously known.
The applications of this nanomaterial could range from making stealth aircraft even stealthier to improving the efficiency of solar panels by helping them absorb more light.
Of course, my main motivation behind posting this story was that I could write about nanotechnology and Spinal Tap in the same blog post. After reading this story, all I could think of was Nigel Tufnel’s remark upon seeing the cover of his new album:
It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.
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