Nanowaste: Predicting the environmental fate of buckyballs

As companies gear up to make industrial quantities of nanomaterials, worries mount about the safety of these products should they end up contaminating the environment. A new study indicates that buckyballs, one of the most well-studied nanomaterials, undergo considerable changes in different aquatic environments. So, their effects probably will vary from place to place.

A buckyball is made up of 60 carbon atoms arranged into the shape of a miniature soccer ball.