A NEW FORM OF SOLID CARBON, based on carbon-36 molecules, has been created by Alex Zettl and his colleagues at LBL. The new Bucky-lite materials---liquids, powders, and films---were extracted from the general stew of fullerenes created in an electrical arc flashing between two graphite electrodes. The C-36 molecule is under more strain than the better- known C-60 molecule and this, the researchers believe, should lead to interesting electrical and chemical properties. C-36 solids, spiked with alkali metals, might be superconducting at temperatures as high as for ceramic superconductors. (Nature, 25 June 1998.)