What is a carbon nanotube?

A hundred times stronger than steel at one-sixth the weight, carbon nanotubes are one of the hottest technologies right now. But if all the hype is starting to sound like Wesley Crusher rerouting the flux capacitor through the main deflector array, check out this fun 5-part series of videos put out by WomenInNano in collaboration with nano2hybrids and the The Vega Science Trust. The above video introduces the concept of a carbon nanotube. Part two tells how they’re made. Part three shows us what they look like in an electron microscope. Part four shows how nanotubes are being used today, and the final video discusses different types of carbon nanoforms like scrolls, cones and fullerenes. [via openMaterials]