Bill Gates funds creation of graphene condoms

I must admit I didn&#x27;t see that one coming. It suggests a fascinating application, which is to wear a graphene condom, on top of a rubber condom, on top of a graphene condom. Thus creating a condom &#x27;super capacitor&#x27; [1] that you would charge up by rubbing it, which could then power a piezo electric vibrator. I&#x27;m so waiting to see who patents that!<p>[1] <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/163071-graphene-supercapacitors-created-with-traditional-paper-making-process-rivals-lead-acid-battery-capacity" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.extremetech.com&#x2F;computing&#x2F;163071-graphene-superca...</a>

The possibilities of graphene are vast and many and exciting but this is kind of scary. For all intents and purposes, graphene is nanotechnology and in certain forms can act like asbestos and has a lot of other unknown behaviors in the body [1]. Unfortunately the field of nanotoxicology hasn&#x27;t really organized itself and caught up to the widespread use of nanocoating and other material science in industry[2]. I hope they find ways to make it extremely inert in the human body but there&#x27;s much work to be done.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v3/n7/full/nnano.2008.111.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;nnano&#x2F;journal&#x2F;v3&#x2F;n7&#x2F;full&#x2F;nnano.2008.11...</a> (CNTs are rolled up graphene and are formed in many graphene production methods as a byproduct)<p>[2] Nature has a whole series on this: <a href="http://www.nature.com/nnano/focus/nanotoxicology/index.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;nnano&#x2F;focus&#x2F;nanotoxicology&#x2F;index.html</a>

Fun graphene fact: As the article mentions, graphene was first isolated at the University of Manchester using sticky tape. For this discovery, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics... making Andre Geim the first person to be awarded both the Nobel Prize and the <i>Ig</i> Nobel Prize. He was previously awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for magnetically levitating a live frog.

This is a good idea which won&#x27;t solve the underlying problems with poor condom usage in places which really need it (Africa).<p>That&#x27;s being powered by deliberate misinformation campaigns and cultural leftovers, not the specific properties of condoms (though improving them is always a good idea).

I&#x27;m very glad to live in this era. I can imagine a few years from now young people will be talking about how back then they used very thick condoms that suppressed all pleasure and people still fucked using them.

I have always wanted to know.<p>What does Bill Gates want for the world?<p>He&#x27;s in India helping Polio efforts [1] and helping distribute mosquito nets in Africa. [2]<p>What does his philanthropic soul want, in the end and in the larger scheme of things?<p>Has he ever expressed this or laid out?<p>There wasn&#x27;t much in his AMA on Reddit a while ago. [3]<p>[1] <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303309504579181753580988412" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;online.wsj.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;SB1000142405270230330950...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.kplu.org/post/bill-gates-vs-mosquitoes-whos-winning" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kplu.org&#x2F;post&#x2F;bill-gates-vs-mosquitoes-whos-winni...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;IAmA&#x2F;comments&#x2F;18bhme&#x2F;im_bill_gates_c...</a>

A material as strong as graphene may have curious abrasive properties.

Hopefully the packaging is slightly different than what is pictured. :)

Maybe fund a small chip in your boxers that emits the loud cry of a baby when you take them off.

It&#x27;s not the material that&#x27;s the problem in many places, but the cost. There are reports of people using post-exposure prophylaxis drugs over condoms because they&#x27;re cheaper!<p>More info: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24942903" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;magazine-24942903</a>

So, back in the day we would have said &quot;bring your rubbers.&quot; I suppose once this condom hits the market we will say something like &quot;make sure to bring the lead for your pencil.&quot; Actually, do people ever refer to the graphite in pencils as lead anymore? We did when I was a kid.<p>The condom is something in bad need of a radical overhaul and it would have a huge effect. At least, if this could deal with the sensation component of the problem, then it would get more people to use them.<p>Still problems would be distribution (religious blocking and availability for the poor are issues here), education (family planning so people know the full financial effects of having lots of kids) and &quot;killing the moment&quot; when you stop to put the thing on.<p>At 100K per competing group, it seems like the foundation could be getting lots of &quot;bang&quot; for its buck here.

Considering that most people don&#x27;t wear condoms because they they think its coming in their way its a good idea to fund something that will encourage people to use condoms in developing nations such as africa and asia. Gates doing good job KUDOS. Now i only expect him to interviene into ms&#x27;s anti-google missions and put a hold on that shitty business. Those are some cheap publicity stunts from ms while google is busy making cool products and amaze people[<a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/11/21/google-building-chrome-app-based-development-environment-using-dart-polymer" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;thenextweb.com&#x2F;google&#x2F;2013&#x2F;11&#x2F;21&#x2F;google-building-chro...</a>].

The donation was 100 grand to 11 different teams. That&#x27;s about 1 engineer per company for 1 year (if that?), is that really enough to do this? There&#x27;s first the invention of this thing, then there&#x27;s manufacturing process, etc.

I preferred the Guardian[1] piece on this, for it&#x27;s lack of real content (who&#x27;s heard of graphene?) and very entertaining comments.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/graphene-condom-safe-sex-bill-gates" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;commentisfree&#x2F;2013&#x2F;nov&#x2F;21&#x2F;graphen...</a>

I can imagine the tech support calls. &quot;Have you tied taking it off and on again?&quot;

so, just to be clear, is this still vaporware, a prototype condom has not been made yet?

Finally, science has the answer to &quot;man of steel, woman of kleenex&quot;[1].<p>[1]<a href="http://www.rawbw.com/~svw/superman.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rawbw.com&#x2F;~svw&#x2F;superman.html</a>

Am I the only one that finds &quot;impenetrable&quot; a funny selling point? It makes perfect sense but still sounds funny. I&#x27;m surprised they didn&#x27;t go for &quot;unbreakable&quot;.

I posted the same idea 244 days ago but was downvoted.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432569" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=5432569</a>

just by association with inpenetrable, armor-piercing bullets, etc...<p><a href="http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW118285.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;media.uow.edu.au&#x2F;news&#x2F;UOW118285.html</a><p>&quot;UOW researchers have used graphene to develop a new composite material which can produce the toughest fibres to date- even tougher than spider silk and Kevlar!&quot;

Let&#x27;s hope they will also be 100x stronger than current ones, so they never break.

Can we consider using &quot;impenetrable condoms&quot; as an intended pun?

I swear. He better call it Steel Gates

that&#x27;ll make some money.

Micro... hard?

But...don&#x27;t you want penetration? wah wah wah

Gives the expression &quot;Billware&quot; a whole new meaning!

At the end of the article: &quot;Now read: Do humans dream of android prostitutes?&quot;<p>Is that Google&#x27;s answer to Microsoft&#x27;s condoms? ;-)