graphene

A single layer of carbon atoms one atom thick — graphene — is 200 times stronger than steel by weight and flexible enough to wrap around a pencil. Carbon nanotubes theoretically approach 100 GPa tensile strength. Diamond resists compression better than any other naturally occurring mineral. Yet all of these materials are demolished in comparison to what forms inside neutron stars: nuclear pasta, a substance requiring approximately 10 billion times the force needed to shatter steel. The physics behind each record reveals something fundamental about how matter itself is held together.

At the nanoscale, materials behave differently from their bulk form — gold turns red, carbon becomes stronger than steel, and quantum effects dominate.