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Success at building large amounts of inexpensive nanotubes opens the door for lighter, faster car frames; affordable space vehicles; and ultralightweight armor. Or on a smaller level, BNNTs could be used with pinpoint precision to attack cancer cells by sticking to tumors, absorbing neutrons from a targeted beam, and generating localized alpha radiation to kill the cancer. "This is the start of a revolution in materials," says Dennis Bushnell, a NASA engineer who has watched the work closely in the hopes of using BNNTs for space vehicles.

Researchers are reporting that they've made batteries and other energy-storage devices by printing layers of carbon nanotube–based ink atop standard photocopy paper. The result is a highly conductive sheet that can carry a charge and be easily incorporated into a flexible battery. Because of paper's low cost, that could help lower the price of batteries used in electric vehicles, wind farms, and other renewable sources.

Researchers in the US and Korea have discovered that igniting a carbon nanotube, coated in chemically flammable material, can trigger a high-speed wave to race along the tube at 10,000× the speed of the spreading chemical reaction. The new phenomenon, dubbed a "thermopower wave", could lead to a new way of generating electricity and may enable micro power sources to drive nanoscale devices.