Sumio Iijima, a senior research fellow with NEC Corp., attends a press conference in Tokyo on June 30, 2016. The company said it has discovered a new carbon material with a diameter of 100 nanometers (nano is a billionth) that has high electrical conductivity. The new substance, named 'carbon nanobrush' by NEC, could be used for rapid electric vehicle charging and for the production of artificial muscle for robots.