Scientists Create New Material Five Times Lighter and Four Times Stronger Than Steel::Researchers have developed a highly robust material with an extremely low density by constructing a structure using DNA and subsequently coating it in glass. Materials possessing both strength and lightness have the potential to enhance everything from automobiles to body armor. But usually, the tw
I feel ya. People have been promising spider-silk as a building material for the last 30 years.
However, we also started making heavy use of plastics back in the 70s, and that’s definitely been a revolutionary material in practically every industrial field.
And boy, do I wish plastic didn’t take off like that. Every new finding about how many particles slough off, and get breathed in or ingested, it makes me wish we were still using metal, wood, and glass, for packaging.
In reference to the article, I think the number one consideration is scalability of production. Producing a new material in laboratory to the tune of a few grams is a far cry from using the same process to produce tons of usable product in a factory.
Here’s hoping that they can move this into an industrial process quick so we can see some benefits.
I mean… maybe? There are a host of environmental costs to those as well. Certainly, the nice thing about plastic is that its cheap to mold where as metal and wood and glass take a lot more energy to manipulate. The problem is that its too cheap, and so it gets used far in excess of its long term utility.
Sure. Which is why I’m not holding my breath. But new materials can be useful even if they aren’t cheap.