Scientists create darkest material ever

Researchers at a US laboratory claim to have created the darkest material ever; a carbon nanotube which is one atom thick and rolled into a cylinder. For an object to be completely black, it must absorb all the colors of light over every angle and wavelength while reflecting none back, and scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, may have just gotten one step closer. The team built an array of vertically aligned, low-density nanotubes -- rough on the surface to minimize reflections -- and then measured the optical properties. They discovered that the objects very good at absorbing light, while downright rotten at reflecting it, thus creating a new standard for "blackness." In practice, their nanotubes could form a super-black object, leading to the creation of more efficient solar panels or solar cells, or more importantly, a Kuro display that goes beyond absolute black. "They've made the blackest material known to science," Says Professor Sir John Pendry, though Shaft's representatives have called for a recount.

[James @ Jan 24th 2008 1:21AM]

Oh god, no-one tell the emo's.

[KrisL @ Jan 17th 2008 10:35AM]

#000000h, that's cool!

[Flashpoint @ Jan 17th 2008 12:15PM]

JAY Z - The Black Album.

[Mobius_1 @ Jan 17th 2008 10:26PM]

Jay-Z, the Carbon Nanotube Album

[Wayne @ Jan 17th 2008 10:35AM]

I'm going to use it for my band's new CD cover art.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 17th 2008 11:04AM]

SAY IT LOUD.
I'm BLACK AND I'm PROUD !

[Mickey Jones @ Jan 17th 2008 11:12AM]

That's actually Spinal Tap: Smell the Glove.

[Saint Dumb Ox @ Jan 17th 2008 12:00PM]

as per the This is Spinal Tap DVD....."a pastel black"

[John @ Jan 17th 2008 12:21PM]

Goth teens rejoice! Somebody find a goat!

[Farris @ Jan 17th 2008 1:15PM]

"How much more black could it be?"

"...none..."

"Yeah... none more black."

Spinal Tap FTW!

[Dale @ Jan 17th 2008 3:06PM]

What's wrong with being sexy?

[Johnny @ Jan 17th 2008 3:36PM]

Yo nanotube is sooooooo phat and soooooo black,
-that when it goes to night school, it getz marked absent!
-that when it goes skydiving, it turns day into night!
-that it goes to a funeral naked!

[enzo @ Jan 17th 2008 4:36PM]

I actually heard one of the scientists on npr this morning... the interviewer asked if he had ever heard of Spinal Tap, he said no.

Thanks to youtube though, he now can be in on the joke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlynf--lsxA

[Mr.Tech @ Jan 17th 2008 4:54PM]

At least I know why all the black guys are stealing our womens now.

[Mickey Jones @ Jan 17th 2008 10:03PM]

On a darkness scale of 1 to 10, this one goes to 11.

[Zoesch @ Jan 18th 2008 12:36AM]

Once you go carbon nanotube you never go back

[Kiel @ Feb 6th 2008 12:17AM]

Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity.

[bob sakamano @ Jan 17th 2008 10:36AM]

i kept waiting for a picture to load and then i realized you guys were showing us an example

FUNNY ENGADGET!!!!

[Generic @ Jan 17th 2008 12:05PM]

yes I was going to comment about that too.

I like the camera angle though, very artistic!

[jamma @ Jan 17th 2008 12:16PM]

Yeah the same thing happened to me when a friend sent me "pictures" of the New York Blackout a few years ago...I was on a 54k connection so i couldn't tell the difference

[r3loaded @ Jan 17th 2008 12:36PM]

That should go up in the Tate Modern gallery :)
(Fun trivia fact: I live just behind the Tate Modern)

[z @ Jan 17th 2008 1:54PM]

The angle might be fine but I'm unimpressed by your 8bit scan, even less by the lousy image compression choice. Could you please post a decent uncompressed tiff version asap?

[Joseph @ Jan 17th 2008 5:41PM]

You can see it if you have an OLED monitor.

[Jesuswept @ Jan 17th 2008 6:06PM]

Spinal Tap!

[Phil Perman @ Jan 17th 2008 10:38AM]

Best, picture, ever

[tf @ Jan 17th 2008 11:02AM]

shopped

[Chris @ Jan 17th 2008 11:04AM]

Seriously, look at the edges! Nothing lines up at all. And scientists would never use an object that wide. Totally fake.

[James Flowers @ Jan 17th 2008 1:09PM]

Yes , very nice, but does it come in any other colour?

[Johan S @ Jan 17th 2008 2:43PM]

Hmm .. Oh, is that a picture of it? It doesn't look all that dark.

[karts41 @ Jan 17th 2008 7:12PM]

Yeah, the highlights are ALL wrong. And the shadows dont go in the same direction.

[John @ Jan 17th 2008 10:39AM]

I wonder how James Earl Jones feels about this.

[Austin @ Jan 17th 2008 10:41AM]

Yawn. Guess now that you're done being a Mac marketing sheet, you can go back to reporting news from last week. Smashing.

[Jon @ Jan 17th 2008 10:42AM]

Yawn. You came all the way here to tell us you don't like Engadget? Get lost clown!

[jamma @ Jan 17th 2008 12:22PM]

You're complaining about Apple posting about Apple in a post where they're NOT talking about Apple?!???


Clever...

[jamma @ Jan 17th 2008 12:23PM]

Whoops, brain fart, meant to say:

You're complaining about ENGADGET posting about Apple in a post where they're NOT talking about Apple?!???


Clever...

[James Ollier @ Jan 17th 2008 10:41AM]

That picture is the cover of "Smell the Glove"

[Wulf @ Jan 17th 2008 10:50AM]

That," he said, "that ... is really bad for the eyes ..."

Ford looked. He too stood astonished.

It was a ship of classic, simple design, like a flattened salmon, twenty yards long, very clean, very sleek. There was just one remarkable thing about it.

"It’s so ... black!" said Ford Prefect, "you can hardly make out its shape ... light just seems to fall into it!"

Zaphod said nothing. He had simply fallen in love.

The blackness of it was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell how close you were standing to it.

"Your eyes just slide off it ..." said Ford in wonder. It was an emotional moment. He bit his lip.

[KYDS3K @ Jan 17th 2008 5:44PM]

MAJOR PROPS for the Hitchhiker's reference! You beat me to it!!!

[triathlete @ Jan 17th 2008 10:49AM]

black is the new black

[PhilxBefore @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:12PM]

Really? You guys rate this comment Lowest but the identical one above him as Highest just because it was posted a minute before?

You guys are either very fickle with your humor or you must have been rating their elevation on the page.

[schrosa @ Jan 17th 2008 10:48AM]

black is the new black

[Tim @ Jan 17th 2008 10:46AM]

I can't see it.

[Loban @ Jan 17th 2008 3:16PM]

Once you go darkest material, you never go back.

[Mike @ Jan 17th 2008 10:47AM]

Reminds me of Beverly Hills Ninja when Chris Farley was asked if he had a black belt:

"The blackness of my belt is like the inside of a dead man's coffin on a moonless night."

Chris Rock's reply? "That's pretty black."

[Macfly @ Jan 17th 2008 10:55AM]

Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer steals the most sour lemon ball invented:

" Frink: As you can see, I have created a lemon ball so sour, it can only
be safely contained in a magnetic field. The candy, known as
77X42 is -- hey! [looks in case] Where the hell's the candy?
Homer: [face grossly contorted] I dunno..." (courtesy of SNPP.com)

[tamoghno @ Jan 17th 2008 10:51AM]

just curious, what's the practical use of it ?

[Phil Perman @ Jan 17th 2008 10:55AM]

Super efficient solar panels, displays that can show pure black even in direct sunlight, goodness knows how many others. Theres a list in the read link

[Jon @ Jan 17th 2008 10:59AM]

And also for Steve Jobs new wardrobe....awesome shirt dude!

[XR @ Jan 17th 2008 11:42AM]

Something darker than black for New Yorkers to wear??

[jamma @ Jan 17th 2008 12:19PM]

If you had an iPod Touch, you'd love this stuff, despite being on 1.1.3, i still don't think it shows black properly