Imagine, you are texting your best friend on your smartphone. Then, with the swipe of a finger, you’re playing the latest, top-of-the-line video game on its highest settings. After you’re done, you just roll it up and put it into your pocket. This is your smartphone, but how is this possible? Graphene is the answer.

In 2004, Dutch-British physicist Andre Geim and his colleague Kostya Novoselow discovered a revolutionary material that could change our lives: graphene. Graphene is a one atom thin layer of graphite, which is the carbon used in pencils. It is the world’s first two-dimensional material and now people are trying to fully explore the possibilities for such a substance.

In CNN’s article on graphene, Andre Geim answers some practical questions on graphene such as what makes it a miracle material? Since it is one atom thick, it is the strongest and thinnest material scientists are currently aware of. The reason for its strength comes from the fact that it can’t be sliced any further, making it harder than diamond.

The material also shows superb heat and electric conductance; around a thousand times better than silicon. This could be used to speed up computers and allow them to be condensed. It’s also super flexible and even though graphene is one atom thick, it reflects so much light that it is still visible to the naked eye!

Scientists are considering using graphene for a plethora of applications. It will hopefully make advances in the medical field, and maybe even help find the cure for cancer. Nicole Coker, a chemistry teacher at Bob Jones, said, “It would work very well in touch screens, since it is highly conductive.”

Graphene would allow phones and other devices to be rolled up into your pocket. Coker also commented, “Graphene might even allow us to roll up TVs and make them portable!” It could also allow digital devices to be placed nearly anywhere, from your clothes to your windows to your dog. They would be integrated into fabrics and other things, which provides infinite possibilities.

Since graphene has developed so quickly in ten years, it could start showing up everywhere in our day-to-day lives. According to Andre Geim, “It takes 40 years for a new material to move from an academic lab into a consumer product, but within less than ten years graphene has jumped from our lab into an industrial lab.”

All around the world there are already pilot products and companies are spending billions of dollars researching this material. Don’t be surprised if the next iPhone you buy has the same technology inside it that will help find the cure for cancer.