Materials scientists have been exploring other semiconductor technologies for a long while, trying to find something cheaper and better than silicon.
Materials scientists have been exploring quasicrystals because of their distinct properties — they are hard, brittle, slippery and, unlike most metals, poor conductors of electricity.
So materials scientists have, for the past 15 years or so, tried to make magnetic aerogels by mixing some magnetic molecules into the solution.
To do this, materials scientists have designed steels that can be strengthened in the same ovens used to bake body paint onto the part.
In this battle, materials scientists have a key role to play because the success of their efforts to develop improved materials will determine the shape and viability of future automobiles.
The following sections describe specific needs that have been identified for improving the performance of automobiles and other ground-transportation vehicles, as well as approaches that materials scientists have taken in response to those needs.
Materials scientists have been trying to a crack the problem and, in northern California, a solution appears to have been found by Bolt Threads, which will unveil next year the first products which use fibres developed to replicate the unique benefits of spider silk.
Visions of ecopolis Computers that read your mind An even brighter idea Lighting up the world Concrete possibilities Secrets of the digital detectives Mr BlackBerry sends a message ReprintsBut like good chefs, materials scientists have long known that they can tweak the basic concrete recipe to create any number of desired effects.
Materials scientists have developed a new ceramic that's closer to melted mozzarella than bathroom tiles.
But Debra Rolison, a chemist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., notes that other materials scientists have accomplished similar feats.
