Early versions of the material have already been used in full-scale building projects as concrete, so I guess that's what we're going with. Li, with others, has been working on this idea for years, designing materials that allow for large concrete structures, like bridges, to expand and contract with temperature changes without cracking and falling apart.

Nearly a decade and a half of research accomplished this goal, and then some: later versions of the composite, as seen above, can be severely bent without losing structural integrity. This resilience comes do to its ability to form a sort of concrete scar tissue out of calcium carbonate, the stuff seashells are made of, which fills the small cracks that form when the material is contorted.

Within five years, Li expects his composite to become a living organism, gain sentience and attack humanity from beneath its feet. Well, OK, he doesn't, but I do. [National Geographic via DVICE]

Energy could be harnessed from eternal sources, like the sun, the wind, or the seas. But there is only a limited amount of elements in planet Earth and—what's worst—bringing them from other planets will prove impractical with our current technology (and the technology that will be available in the next century).

In the meantime, copper—which is everywhere around you—will be gone in about 61 years; antimony—widely used in medicines—will be depleted in 20 years; while indium, rhodium, platinum, or silver—which are present in many essential consumer electronics—won't last much longer. And those estimations are only valid if we manage to consume half of what we are consuming now.

So, unless we really push technology forward, dramatically increase our recycling rhythm, or something extraordinary happens first—like Apophis obliterating us or the Large Hadron Collider blows us to another dimension, or Nazi zombies getting out of their crypts to make bacon of all of us—we and our children are going to have a really hard time pushing the world forward.

I guess we will have to keep taking life one weekend at a time. [New Scientist via Dark Roasted Blend]

Lonsdalite, similar to diamonds that its made from carbon, is formed during asteroid impacts, and is 58% harder than its cousin. Wurtzite boron nitride is formed during heavy volcanic eruptions and can be up to 18% harder than diamonds.

Both are exceedingly rare in nature, and both form under crushing, searing conditions. Lonsdaleite is a
cousin of the diamond, a hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms that's 58% stronger than its shimmering relative, according to a computer simulation of its behavior. It's forged in nature during asteroid impacts.

The other mineral, wurtzite boron nitride is even more enigmatic. It comes together in especially punishing volcanic eruptions, and has flexible atomic bonds. When placed under stress it hardens until it is 18% stronger than a diamond.

Both materials are exceedingly rare. [Discovery News]

I asked several designers what they thought, but Kara Johnson, the lead of the Materials Team at design company IDEO, had the final word based on her focused expertise related to the question at hand. Her answer is a bit heady, but I won't get in the way of what she's telling us about tomorrow's gadget materials.

"Plastic as we know it is kind of on the way out, especially when it’s painted. No one likes the way your phone’s paint chips at the corners after a few months of use. Unpainted plastic is the future. And we need to move beyond injection molding, look at sheet processes to build structure from a series of 2d layers, instead of molding a complete 3d structure.

Glass, as a part of the screen, won’t go away very quickly. But maybe we’ll find ways to use glass so that it’s more difficult to create cracks with an accidental drop on the kitchen floor. Maybe there are lessons to be learned from automotive glass windshields or scratch resistant coatings on eyewear. And why not etch the glass?

Metal will continue to be a player in the world of gadgets. It’s beautiful and appropriate to create thin, mobile, technology-based products. Extruded aluminum is a design opportunity that has not yet been fully explored in terms of form or function. With the introduction of laser etching or chemical etching or a detailed craft process like wire filigree, we should be exploring the use of pattern on metal or to create surfaces. This is more evident in large-scale products or architecture where metal is used to create elegant structures or to create a frame for other elements of pattern. By translating innovations in metal from a large scale to something small, we will find new design opportunities, too.

So what’s next?

I think we need to experiment with how we design the buttons that connect hardware and software experiences. This is a design element whose materiality has been relatively unchanged, and there is more opportunity here to create ceramic or wood details (where the drop test requirements can be quietly avoided)...What if the power button was made of stone? What if the LEDs shine thru a thin layer of bamboo? We also need to experiment with the screen itself, this element has been limited to the display of information. What if the screen folds or unfolds? What if the glass is textured or etched with communication icons or pattern? Finally, in the future, I think that we should experiment with creating decoration or function by introducing incredibly surprising technologies (high-tech or low-tech) – like ferrofluid or starch-based plastics.

If the next generation of gadgets is about experimenting with materials or materiality, then it will only be not about what materials we use but how we use materials to tell stories.

What does vinyl mean to music and media players? Can phone be made of fabric so it is ready-to-wear, like the clothes you keep in your closet? What does traditional craft mean to high-tech products? What is the physical connection between these objects of fetish and the internet buzz that proceeds/follows each product launch? How do we create real and tangible advertising for the next CE products? And look for the introduction of “new” materials in the small details of each product…the platform of these devices is relatively standardized by its components, phones and laptops are a commodity. The design is in the details and the story you tell."

—Kara Johnson, lead of the Materials Team at IDEO, is the co-author of Materials and Design: The Art and Science of Material Selection in Product Design and the forthcoming book, I Miss My Pencil

The fabric is constructed of polyester fibers that are covered in a layer of 40-nanometer-wide silicone nanofilaments. These nanofilaments are spiky and cause water to sit in a sphere above the fabric, a permanent pocket of air protected safely below.

Not only could the fabric create a self-cleaning clothing; it reduces drag in water by 20%. In other words, Michael Phelps could go without washing his bathing suit ever again—a prospect that's probably in mixed demand depending on the specific sexual orientation of the fan. [newscientist]