Beside genomics, no field of modern science has exploded with more drama and anticipation than fullerene chemistry. Nor has any fallen short of such high expectations. The 1985 serendipitous discovery of the soccerball carbon molecule--C60 or buckminsterfullerene--was the first concrete score for nanotechnology, long before that nebulous word became a media and venture-capital staple. "Bucky's gone through grad school," the late Richard Smalley, a co-discoverer, used to say, "But he hasn't found a job yet.

Bucky now has an egg-headed cousin. A team of researchers from four universities revealed last week the discovery of an egg-shaped fullerene, a cage of 84 carbon atoms. The surprise is one of geometry. C60 is composed of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons, like a soccer ball. Geometers call it a truncated icosahedron. The bucky egg takes its shape from interlocking carbon-atom pentagons, which collapse the cylindrical base into the narrow top of the egg. Previously, rows of pentagons were assumed to be unstable.

Like its older cousin, the buckyegg will see a future in medical research labs. The scientists discovered it looking for a better way to make C60, or "buckyballs." But any commercial or even testable application for the buckyegg remains a nanodream.

[Illustration credit Christine Beavers, UC Davis]