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September 2008: Scientists create world's thinnest balloon, just 1 atom thick

Using a lump of grahite, a piece of Scotch tape and a silicon wafer, Cornell researchers have created a balloonlike membrane that is just one atom thick - but strong enough to contain gases under several atmospheres of pressure without popping.

And unlike your average party balloon - or even a thick, sturdy glass container - the membrane is ultra-strong, leak-proof and impermeable to even nimble helium atoms.

The research, by former Cornell graduate student Scott Bunch (now an assistant professor at the University of Colorado), Cornell professor of physics Paul McEuen and Cornell colleagues, could lead to a variety of new technologies - from novel ways to image biological materials in solution to techniques for studying the movement of atoms or ions through microscopic holes.  
Read full Cornell Chronicle article