NASA "Genius Materials"

NASA Genius Materials

If you're a fan of the replicator which already is 3 D Printing and wants to step into the Star Trek Hala Deck it won't be long.  Around the world designers are working on smart materials such as alloys that can change shape on demand, plastics that heal themselves when ruptured, and fluids that obey magnetic commands to flow or stiffen under computer control. "One of the great challenges in creating a smart material is arranging the molecules," says Eric Furst of the University of Delaware. "They're so small!" 

In the micro-gravity of Earth orbit, vials of fluid mixed with very small 'colloidal' particles (about a millionth of a meter in diameter) are exposed to magnetic fields. Magnetism is switched on and off again very rapidly. This jostles the particles, causing them to bump together and self-assemble into microscopic structures that currently no supercomputer can predict. "Astronauts enjoy watching this process in action through microscopes because the samples are back-lit by a green lamp, they sometimes call it the 'green blob experiment', says Furst."

Understanding all Matter will be the Holy Grail for humanity. 

Full Story at NASA Science 

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