Number 69 (Story #3), February 27, 1992 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein GRAPHITIC MICRO-TUBULES , the recently discovered structures consisting of concentric, hollow carbon needles, should possess a wide variety of conducting properties. Scientists at the NEC Corporation in Japan have performed calculations which show that the tubules, essentially one-dimensional objects, would behave like metals or like semiconductors depending on the diameter (typically a few nm) and the helical arrangement of the rolled carbon sheets forming the tubules. (Noriaki Hamada et al., Physical Review Letters, 9 Mar. 1992.)