Number 15 (Story #2), January 3, 1991 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein DIAMOND IS THE "MOLECULE OF THE YEAR," according to the editors of Science magazine. The advent of techniques (e.g., using chemical vapor deposition, CVD) for growing diamond thin films, along with other developments in synthetic diamond technology, have made possible new and future uses for diamonds in transistors, abrasion-resistant tools, scratch-proof lenses, unlubricated bearings, and particle detectors. Carbon-60, or buckminsterfullerene, was one of the runners-up in the Science ranking of molecules. (Science, December 21, 1990.)