Buckyball medicine. Conceptual computer artwork of a spherical fullerene molecule (buckyball) on a spoon. This could represent research being carried out into the use of fullerenes for medical purposes, such as using them to help antibodies target bacteria or cancer cells. Fullerenes are a structural type (allotrope) of carbon. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs after the first such molecule to be discovered (buckminsterfullerene, C60). The molecular model here shows how the spherical surface consists of hexagonal and pentagonal rings of carbon atoms. This is a large buckyball with more than 60 carbon atoms.