Graphene is slowly shaping up to be a real wonder material, the only thing left for it to do is to make it out of the lab and into the real world. Here's another future use for the super material: a coating that eliminates blood clotting in medical devices by kickstarting the body's clot fighting mechanism. It lasts longer than anti-clotting drugs.

In a paper published in this week's Nature Communications, the molecules of hemin and an enzyme called gluclose oxidase can be mounted on a one-atom thick graphene lattice. When it comes in contact with the blood stream, the active molecules in the coating react with sugars in the blood to kick off production of nitroxyl, a substance with natural anti-clotting properties. It effectively blocks clotting with a super-thin coating that doesn't need to be replenished.

More wonders of graphene are happening in the lab. When will it move out of the lab? [Nature Communications via TheScientist Image: Teng Xue and Nathan Weiss]