This 1D Graphene Switches from Conductor to Insulator When It Stretches

You've heard all about the wonder properties of graphene, so come meet its one dimensional cousin, carbyne. A chain of single carbon atoms to graphene's two-dimensional layer of atoms, carbyne has some pretty amazing properties of its own. By one measure, it's the strongest material in the world (over graphene!), and a new study finds it has the strange ability to go from conductor to insulator with a small stretch.