And very importantly -- it can contract and expand with electric current. It can be used as an artificial "muscle" and if it is cut in half it will re-attach and be usable within 5 minutes and almost fully re-connected in 24 hours.
This link might be better for you.<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v8/n6/full/nchem.2492.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v8/n6/full/nchem.2492.ht...</a><p>This professor's research looks pretty fucking cool <a href="http://www.chaowanggroup.com/publications.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.chaowanggroup.com/publications.html</a>.<p>We can dream of a future where our computers' processors are biological or organic, where the distinction between life and machine dwindles.
I wonder how self healing properties affect maintaining original shape. Would it form a blob after being folded and compressed? Does it stretch out if it self heals while stretched?
self healing properties would be a labor savor in outside-facing building materials (e.g. roof and stucco patching compounds, window sealants, elastomeric paints, wood putty)<p>probably too expensive for such mundane uses though.<p>maybe this stuff can extend the working lifetime of the equipment on NASA space probes
I've been reading about these "self-healing" materials for years. They have always been overhyped and never made it out of the lab. The only way to have truly a "self-healing" material, it to make it with nano technology that has self-organizing, swarm properties. All these other "breakthroughs” are just gimmicks with limited use potential.