None More Black

It might someday be used by the military as a kind of "cloaking device." It will make solar panels more efficient. And it will increase the accuracy of energy-measuring instruments. The real question, though, is when this creation by scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will enable iconic hipsters everywhere to achieve an even deeper level of cool. From the Washington Post:

Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The previous record for darkest substance ever made was held by the cover for Spinal Tap's Smell the Glove album.