Free Republic

Concrete is an incredibly useful and versatile building material on which not only today’s societies, but also the ancient Roman Empire was built. To this day Roman concrete structures can be found in mundane locations such as harbors, but also the Pantheon in Rome, which to this day forms the largest unreinforced concrete dome in existence at 43.3 meters diameter, and is in excellent condition despite being being nearly 1,900 years old.Even as the Roman Empire fell and receded into what became the Byzantine – also known as the Eastern Roman – Empire and the world around these last remnants...

Texas A&M University and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory have developed a family of synthetic materials with self-healing capabilities. The polymers vary in texture, from ultra-soft to extremely rigid. They can be 3D printed, are recyclable, and stick to each other in air and underwater. Such materials are expected to fulfil the need of re-configurability in several military applications. The synthetic polymers comprise long strings of repeating molecular motifs, while the elastomeric polymers exhibit lightly crosslinked chains providing a rubbery feature to the material. Researchers of the study focused on the molecules involved in the...

Scientists Create Terminator 2-Like Material That Heals Itself ... (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Technological Singularity) In Terminator 2, the T-1000 android was blown nearly in two, only to mend itself by pulling its mercury-like substance back together. Scientists have long been working on creating a polymer to do the same thing, but previous research always required an external factor (like temperature or pressure) to work. Scientists at the CIDETEC Center for Electrochemical Technologies in Spain succeeded where other scientists have failed: they've invented a plastic polymer that will heal itself all on its own....

Space can be an unforgiving environment for elderly satellites, with temperature extremes, tiny rocks and other hazards threatening to breach spacecraft hulls. But future spacecraft may be able to extend their mission lifetimes by borrowing a human trait to heal minor nicks and scratches. "The analogy is the human body," said Ian Bond, of England's University of Bristol, in an interview with SPACE.com. "Think about cutting yourself. There, capillary action will draw blood out to block the cut." Bond and his colleague developed a similar system, but replacing blood with resin and veins with tiny glass tubes, to fill in...