Scientists have long dreamed of making molecular electronics, of building 1D strings atom by atom to create new circuits even smaller than today’s tiniest silicon structures. Shrinking silicon circuits has led to vast increases in computing power, and molecular wires could be the next advance. Molecular wires have thus far become insulating and stopped carrying current before reaching the length they’d need to be for most practical devices. Scientists have now shown they can overcome that limit, making wires that carry current along more useful lengths ( J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c12059 ). The researchers did this using 1D topological insulators as their wires. A topological insulator is a material that conducts electricity only along its edges. Its unusual electronic structure provide new ways to control the flow of current. But the distance that electricity travels is limited by gaps in the electronic structure of organic molecules used