Hydrogen hopes in carbon shells

To succeed as alternatives to conventional cars and trucks, hydrogen-powered vehicles will need a safe, lightweight, compact, and cheap way to store their fuel. Now, theorists studying spherical, 60-carbon shells called buckyballs (SN: 5/20/06, p. 308: Available to subscribers at Feeling cagey) suggest that lithium atoms added to buckyball surfaces bestow on those molecules a remarkable capacity to store hydrogen.