"Silicon Valley" has a nice ring to it. Two words: three syllables, then two. Each word is stressed on the first beat. The L's alliterate in the midst of otherwise diverse consonants. Nice.

"Carbon Valley" is monotonous. The two words have the same rhythm: BAH-dum BAH-dum. The only way out of this RHYTH-mic PRI-son (There it is again!) was solved by the salad dressing folks at "Hidden Valley Ranch." That spondee syllable at the end makes all the difference: BAH-dum BAH-dum DUM. Fortunately, the future innovators of Carbon Valley [BLANK] have plenty of time to fill that last syllable because their product is still a science project. But it's a neat one.

Scientists at the Unviersity of Manchester, in the U.K., have shot electrons through crystalline carbon strips that are just 10 nanometers wide and 0.1 nm thick. Readers might be more familiar with graphite, which is made of stacked-and-bonded graphene sheets, the material in question. The researchers think graphene transistors have great potential as a replacement to silicon because they are easier to make. Plus, those electrons flow straight through that honeycomb of pi-bonds and--because the transistor is so narrow--they do so without leaking.

The graphene strips buckle, which, in scientists' illustrations, gives them the appearance of peaks and valleys--carbon valleys, the only ones we'll see until they get these transistors on chips and commercially manufactured. That should give them years to rename the valley.

(Illustration: Jannik C. Meyer, U.C. Berkeley)