The buckyball was first discovered 25 years ago by a group of scientists at Rice University, in Texas, and named after the architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, noted for popularising the geodesic dome.

To mark the discovery of this specially shaped molecule composed entirely of carbon on 4 September 1985, Google has changed the second O in its logo to a manipulatable version of a buckyball for the day.

Buckyball is the colloquial name used to describe a spherical fullerene – an abbreviation of buckminsterfullerene, its full name.

There are a variety of different buckyballs depending on the structure – the most recognisable, and first discovered, is the Buckminsterfullerene C60. It shares the geodesic structure of a panelled football and is the smallest fullerene molecule in which no two pentagons share an edge – giving it structural strength.

Full story: The Guardian