New self-healing material rebuilds itself using carbon from the air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future it will be taken for granted that materials can self-heal, and they’ll be able to do it in a multitude of ways. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. In a world first researchers at MIT in...
New 3D printed material heals itself after being cut in half
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is one of the first combinations of 3D Printing and Self-Healing materials, and it’s how many materials could be made in the future. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Recently teams of researchers showed off their self-healing computer...
Colorful bio-engineered bacteria could end fashions obsession with toxic dyes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The dye in your jeans, and most of your clothes, comes from countries whose dead rivers run red and blue, but now there’s a way to put an end to it, for good. Throughout the fall of 2012, Marie-Sarah Adenis and Thomas Landrain toiled...
“Green” concrete could help cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Concrete is a huge contributor to global green house gas emissions, so finding new ways to curb those emissions helps in the bigger battle against climate change. In an age where we can 3D print houses and entire communities using a range of different...
An entire South American community will be 3D printed in just 24 hours
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Houses used to be expensive and time consuming to build, those days are fast disappearing. Following on swiftly from the developments in France, where a family became the first in the world to move into their own 3D printed home, and in Dubai who...
Food breakthrough lets researchers grow fish meat on demand
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the Earth’s population and its appetite for protein grows this latest breakthrough will help alleviate famine and hunger. We are on the cusp of a food production revolution, one that could eradicate global famine and let us make food, of all types, from...
Perfect fit one size fits all clothing is here, thanks to robots and smart materials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Inventory is one of retailers biggest cash sinks, but now a new technology combo means retailers can buy one size from the manufacturer and custom fit it to every body shape in house. You’re shopping for a sweater, and you spot one you love,...
Coffee without the coffee beans, “Molecular Coffee” has arrived
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we find new ways to produce food coffee isn’t immune, and now a company has found a way to make great tasting coffee but without using beans. Food production is going through a revolution. Take the animal out of meat, and you’ve got...
Scientists create Nanobionic plants that detect chemicals and could grow on Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to bend nature to our will has its advantages, but it could also help us create plants that grow naturally on alien planets. Plants are naturally amazing little machines so, naturally, scientists think that giving them a bionic leg up could unlock...
Revolutionary polymorphic liquid metal paves the way for shape shifting robots
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to create robots that can shape shift and change their shape is a matter of when, not if, and we’re getting closer. Between the US Pentagon’s use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to defend its critical systems from attack, DARPA’s proposal to...
3D Printing with sound, new tech opens door to printed cosmetics, food, and drugs
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As 3D printing becomes more popular the ability to control the size of droplets opens the door to 3D printing everything from cosmetics and materials, to pharmaceutical drugs. Harvard University has announced that its researchers have developed a way to print objects using sound....
Researchers have created a digital nose that can sniff out disease
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are many ways to detect disease, and one of the most effective ways is using smell, so scientists have developed a digital nose. An electronic nose typically identifies odours by detecting the “fingerprint” of a chemical compound across an array of sensors that are...
Russian researchers used a common inkjet printer to print advanced Nano-Sensors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we develop more nanoscale things we need to be able to keep track of them and monitor them and now we have an inexpensive way to achieve that. Researchers from ITMO University in Russia have created a new type of optical Nano-Sensor that...
Star Trek like Replicator manufacturing tech unveiled for first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we manufacture products today is wasteful and unsustainable, so we’re developing new ways to make the things we love. Recently I wrote an article about a new form of 3D Printing, called 3D Holographic Printing, printing with light not conventional materials, that...
Future EV’s with 16,000km range and space elevators made possible with new Chinese Nano-Cable
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are multiple uses for incredibly strong cables and materials, from defence to space elevators, and even helping electric cars travel 16,000km on one charge. Recently I’ve discussed advances across a wide variety of materials, including the development of a wonder material that lasts...
Samsung gets closer to launching its first foldable smartphone
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we continue to see breakthroughs in materials electronics are starting to move to the next stage of their evolution. As smartphone fans await a trio of new phones from Samsung next week, eyes will soon be turning to what could be the Korean company’s...
Futuristic transparent electronics get closer thanks to a Swiss supercomputer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Transparent electronics will help revolutionise a variety of industries and products, and make computing even more ubiquitous than it is today. If you search the internet for images of the future of smartphones, as well as other gadgets, then it’s highly likely that included...
Genetic engineering breakthrough turns chickens into egg laying medicine factories
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to produce drugs and medicines cheaply is important, and this breakthrough breaks grounds on all kinds of fronts. Ordinarily, when scientists want to produce proteins to use in medicine they have to use techniques that are costly and complex. Recently, however, in...
US researchers have found a safe way to 3D print explosives
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to 3D print explosives is a turning point for the military and other industries that rely on explosives, but it also opens up a debate on the potential dangers of the uses of the technology. According to new research out of the...
Scientists have created the blackest material ever, and it’s great for gaming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are certain situations, such as calibrating satellite systems, or in cinemas where nearly dark doesn’t cut it, Vantablack is the darkest material ever produced. Have you ever gotten up to use the restroom during a movie screening, then struggled to find your seat...
