These iron curtains are very, very sheer.
Recently, a group of researchers in Dresden, Germany found a way to make one-atom-thick sheets of iron. It wasn't what they had set out to do, but they were alert enough to see this as the intriguing discovery it was rather than an annoying byproduct to be cleaned up. Thin metal films are used as coatings or wrappings (aluminum foil, for example), components in optical and laboratory instruments, and as chemical sensors and catalysts. For a lot of high-tech applications, including high-density recording media and electronic devices, the thinner the film, the better. The ultimate thin film would be a sheet one atom thick — a monolayer. Carbon monolayers, known as graphene, have been around for a few years, and researchers have been busy exploring the unusual properties of these…