Carbon nanotube technology, closer than you think: "Recent advances in carbon nanotube materials have created a buzz in the IT industry of late. Skeptics say it's too soon, and the end product is too expensive. But there are aspects of this nanotechnology that might pay off sooner than you think.

Carbon nanotubes are a form of pure carbon that scientists grow in labs. They look like a powder or black soot, but they're actually hollow strands, thousands of times thinner than a human hair.

Researchers have predicted the material's use in manufacturing tiny, densely packed computer chips, yet that application is decades off on the horizon. But in the near future, scientists could add the materials to a polymer and use the highly conductive properties of carbon nanotubes to dissipate heat from a computer. "