Optical materials are essential in many modern applications, but controlling the way a material reflects light on its surface is costly and difficult. Now, in a recent study, researchers from Japan ...

A class of fifth-graders from Green Acres Elementary in Lebanon, Ore., asked us to find out how pencil lead is made. That quest took us all the way back to the dawn of the universe and then all the ...

True or false: You can get lead poisoning if you’re stuck with a lead pencil. False. Lead pencils contain graphite (a form of carbon), not lead. In fact, contrary to what many people believe, lead ...

Q Were pencils ever really made with lead, or has it been graphite all along? A Stefan, when I read your question I thought, "I betcha they were once made with lead -- say, back before the 1920s. Then ...

Despite the name, pencils have never been made with lead. They’re made with graphite, a form of carbon. Just where does graphite come from, and why did we decided to write with it? NPR took a look ...

This Ain Supplio pencil lead from Pentel uses nanotechnology to release allegedly mind-expanding aromas, letting you smell your way to smartness while you scribble your meandering prose on a piece of ...

Plasma irradiation removes graphite from the pencil lead, exposing a thin layer of clay. By controlling the exposure time, the thickness of this layer can be varied to modulate the infrared (IR) ...