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Thu 05 May 2007Using ecstasy to keep little bundles apartHollow tubes of carbon just 10 atoms across represent one of the new frontiers of physics. It is a mysterious realm, however, where the laws of nature don't quite behave as normal and where physics joins with chemistry to produce new substances with special properties.A presentation on this land of the impossibly small provided the winning entry in the annual Science Speak competition last week at the Royal Dublin Society. The inter-varsity event involves all seven of the Republic's universities and challenges graduate students to explain their research to a lay audience using ordinary language.