Number 110 (Story #3), January 15, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein BUCKYBALLS EMIT LIGHT. When exposed to laser light, fullerenes usually re-radiate light in the infrared. The result was different when David Leigh and co-workers at the University of Manchester inserted carbon-60 atoms into the spaces of a zeolite crystal known as VPI-5. Shining blue laser light on this compound caused the buckyballs to re-radiate visible light. Researchers speculate that electrons confined to the 12.5-angstrom zeolite channels may undergo quantum changes similar to those proposed for electrons in light-emitting silicon. Light-emitting fullerenes may have many practical applications as an optical material if the re-emission efficiency (only 1%) could be improved and if the visible-light emission could be stimulated by electricity rather than light. (Science, 18 December 1992.)