- More than 2 years ago
It takes a scanning tunneling microscope to view this crystal made of billions of 10–21-carat diamondlike molecules. These newly discovered, naturally occurring molecules are called cyclohexamantane. For decades, researchers have synthesized so-called diamondoids with simpler molecular structures and have even used one of these, adamantane, to make medicines. Simple diamondoids are also found in petroleum, where they can form well-clogging sediments.