What if you discovered an infinitesimally thin material capable of conducting electricity able to suspend millions of times its own weight and yet porous enough to filter the murkiest water And what if this incredible substance is created from the same element that fills the common pencil Thats graphenea flat twodimensional carbonbased molecule with a single sheet measuring only one atom thick.In this laypersons introduction to this revolutionary substance a physicist and a chemist explain how graphene was developed discuss the problems in scaling up production for largescale commercial use and forecast the potentially transformative effects of incorporating graphene into everyday life. Recent research developments include adding graphene to Silly Putty to make extremely sensitive and malleable medical sensors and compressing and fusing flakes of graphene to create a threedimensional material thats ten times stronger than steel.This widely adaptable substance promises to change the way we interact with smartphones laptops information storage and even condoms. It may also enable significant improvements to air purification water filtration technologies and drug delivery.