However, a simulation now reveals that these ultra-fast transport rates might have not been properly grounded after all. Researchers who work with experiments and computer models have been at odds over the capabilities and governing physics of the material ever since. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have stirred up a lot of interest in the world of science since their discovery in 1991. After all, the material has unusual properties that make it ideal for various applications. For instance, CNTs are used in electrical engineering as tips for powerful scanning tunnelling microscopes, as strengthening fibres in synthetic materials or for specific aircraft components. CNTs have triggered the wild imaginations of some that ropes made of these nanotubes may one day carry lifts from Earth into space.