You might think that such a new ‘wonder material’ would lie outside your everyday experience, but graphene is the exception. When you write or draw with a pencil, the graphite (the ‘lead’ of the pencil) slides off in thin layers to leave a trail – the line on the paper. Carbon’s ability to form a thin layer of molecules is what makes graphene special – and scientists are starting to explore the possibilities for electronics and computing of carbon grids that are just one molecule thick.