Bruce, thank you for the link...news to me since it is only two weeks old :-)
Similar research was/is happening elsewhere, including at my local university according to my cousin who retired as head of one of the mech eng labs there last year and had people 'playing' with nanomaterials there for a couple of years.
On availability of the materials, the most effective way of converting the magnesite to anhydrous magnesium chloride is a difficult operation in itself.
Interestingly these are all post-grad students, and from their names, probably foreign students. This means that the REAL research is happening somewhere else (Raytheon ?).
I'll look into this further because if the manufacturing problem can be overcome, there are three immediate applications I can use for my own designs.
Greg C