Graphene: Fast, Strong, Cheap, and Impossible to Use
I have no doubt that graphene will change the world, but as the article mentions, it may take a long time to get there.<p>The thing that bothered me the most was the mention of the patent race. Everything was "patent patent patent" - which means instead of a discovery in lab A spurring a totally new way of thinking in lab B, it restricts lab B from ever thinking that way.<p>Without the race to patent every single minuscule discovery about graphene and its properties, advancing early discoveries could move at an exponentially faster pace. Don't grab the ball and run with it - grab it and keep it to yourself.<p>I know all the arguments for patents, but I can't shake the feeling that they do nothing but stifle innovation and discovery by locking up research just when it gets interesting.<p>(When the measure of success is how many patents are filed, not how many discoveries are made... or how you just beat the Chinese to <i>filing a patent</i>, I'm just a tad less hopeful.)