Golden Age For Materials

Golden Age For Materials by Cook & Bynum

The pace of innovation in materials science is leading to new commercial and consumer applications that will both change existing and perhaps birth new industries.  For example, meaningful gains are being made in semiconductors and batteries, the latter being a topic that particularly interests us.

New, high-performing substances such as exotic alloys and superstrong composites are emerging; “smart” materials can remember their shape, repair themselves or assemble themselves into components. Little structures that change the way something responds to light or sound can be used to turn a material into a “metamaterial” with very different properties. Advocates of nanotechnology talk of building things atom...