Name: Is Spider Silk Stronger Than Steel?
Uploaded: 2022-08-01T00:00:00+00:00
Description: Spider silk begins as a liquid form called dope. But in the blink of an eye, this liquid transforms into something much more powerful.

We have seen the capability of a spider when constructing a web, but what if we took that spider silk and attempted to use it for other purposes.

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Did you know that if a spider web was human-sized, it would be strong enough to hold up a person and then some? Spider silk begins as a liquid form called dope. But in the blink of an eye, this liquid transforms into something much more powerful. This is because as the dope is released, the spidroins, spider silk&#39;s very large proteins, fold themselves and interlace, leading to a complex and sturdy structure. During this spinning process, the spidroins separate themselves from the watery buffer that holds them inside the silk glands. An influx of acid then prompts the proteins to securely interlock. Webs are essentially made up of nanostrands. Scientists used an atomic force microscope to discover these nanostrands that are 1000 times thinner than a human hair.The main chemical components of spider silk are glycine, alanine, and a small amount of serine. This makes it extremely powerful. Spider silk has a tensile strength of about five times that of steel. It has a higher strength-to-density ratio and a similar tensile strength to the metal. It has been suggested that a Boeing 747 could be stopped mid-flight by a single pencil-width strand of spider silk. It doesn&#39;t just beat steel; it also has an advantage over the toughest man-made polymer, Kevlar.The Ancient Greeks knew about spider silk&#39;s many applications over a thousand years ago. They would use it to stop bleeding and heal wounds. The material even found its way into World War II as a crosshair for sighting systems of telescopes and guns.Spider silk works wonders in most temperatures, effectively maintaining its main properties even in extreme heat and cold. It holds up against 392°F (200°C), even coping well beyond 572°F (300°C). On the other hand, when the temperature drops, spider silk doesn&#39;t suffer.It will retain its elasticity down to minus 40°F (40°C) before succumbing to the harsh conditions. Nowadays, there is a lot of research into using spider silk within the medical industry. Surgeons use spider silk proteins to keep wounds clean during the healing process.Meanwhile, wearables made from spider silk are lightweight, breathe better, and have UV resistance. As research continues on spider silk, this material is bound to be found in multiple industries. Its ability to biodegrade, in particular, make it a good candidate for many future applications. Can you think of a significant case use for spider silk?

Spider silk begins as a liquid form called dope. But in the blink of an eye, this liquid transforms into something much more powerful.

Is Spider Silk Stronger Than Steel?

Is spider silk stronger than steel?

Materials Lab is a bite-sized show covering normal and bizarre materials that you may not know exist. Focusing on the specific facts and stories about the materials, you will be a fountain of knowledge after watching each episode.

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Shrilk could be the next material to replace plastic once and for all. It is a degradable bioplastic derived from shrimp shells and silk protein.

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The ill effects of synthetic single-use plastic on the environment are well-known. A study by the US National Park Service indicates that plastic bottles can take up to 450 years to disintegrate and decompose. Researchers for the longest time were looking for biodegradable options that can meet the requirements.One of the most promising discoveries for a potential alternative is Shrilk - a classic example of bio-mimicking, where designers draw ideas from how various living organisms function. Examples include the design of the Japanese bullet train, which was inspired by a bird&#39;s beak. In this case, the inspiration for the material was derived from the functioning of insect cuticles. The process in the manufacture of Shrilk, which consists of layering two common polymers, was developed by Javier Fernandez and Donald Ingber, both belonging to Harvard&#39;s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. In the case of Shrilk, it consists of Fibroin, which is a silk protein obtained from the domestic silkworm Bombyx mori. This is combined with Chitosan, which is derived from shrimp shells. Since the ingredients required for this are by-products of other processes and are available abundantly at low cost, the potential of this material as a possible replacement for plastics is immense. Javier also explains &quot;how the process of layering Shrilk is not chemical, except the interface of layers.&quot; The material&#39;s strength is comparable to that of aluminium alloy, that too, at half the weight. Shrilk is also hydrophilic, letting its properties be altered with how much water is added. On top of being completely biodegradable, chitosan in Shrilk is also a good nitrogenous fertilizer and fungicide. The properties of it being anti-fungal and bacterial make it an ideal choice for storing food items for longer periods. The possibility of Shrilk being put to wide use is soon to be expected as its ingredients have already cleared the US Food and Drug Administrations tests. A wide range of case scenarios for its usage is being probed by researchers. Shrilk can be used in the biomedical field, especially for surgical structures, gauze, and temporary scaffolds for tissue implants. These are intended to provide initial support and later harmlessly dissolve into the body fluids. Shrilk also offers the potential to be molded into different shapes, making it ideal for complex structures. In short, we have at hand a material that has all the characteristics of its counterparts and is devoid of the various harmful effects that plague the environment.

Shrilk could be the next material to replace plastic once and for all.  It is a degradable bioplastic derived from shrimp shells and silk protein.

Could this be enough to save  our planet from a plastic demise?

Can we make plastic from shrimp shells?

In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in research on electronic skin or e-skin.

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Sick of having to plug in your wearables every other day? Well, this could be the beginning to the end of that. We are talking about a world where your devices do not interfere with your life, yet monitor your health- devices that power off your sweat. Sounds too good to be true? Well, scientists believe they may be on the right track.Meet John Rogers, a scientist at Northwestern University, Illinois, leading the development of soft, flexible, skin-like material catered towards health monitoring applications. His team has invented a piece of polymer designed to reside in your throat while monitoring your dialogue, breathing, and other vitals in real-time.Although their work was primarily aimed at individuals who have had a stroke and require speech therapy, doctors believe that this device could indicate the symptoms of the coronavirus, with volunteers and clinics already on board, helping monitor vitals in premature infants and hydration in athletes.This ‘wear it and forget it’ e-skin technology can trace its origins in components found in e-book readers and curved televisions. Silicon, organic bases and inorganic bases are chosen based on the use case. While Silicon is suitable for small-area high-performance applications, organic electronics are preferred for their lower cost, when the requirement for performance is moderate, and a disposable application is desirable.However, Madhu Bhaskaran, a researcher from RMIT University, Melbourne, favors the inorganic approach. Oxides of strontium, vanadium, titanium, and such metals are her team’s material of choice to develop pain-sensing artificial skins. These oxide coatings are combined with stretchy rubbers to create a stretchable electronic material. A flexible gold-PDMS sensor is included in conjunction with a vanadium oxide temperature sensor and a strontium oxide-based component that keeps track of the electrical charge flowing through it, enabling the material to mimic the skin’s response to heat, pain, and pressure.While this may sound complex, these tactile sensors essentially measure the pressure applied against the skin and help sense a variety of pathogens and hazardous substances, which in turn, promise quicker diagnosis and earlier treatment.The most convenient development, however, seems to be the use of biofilm to produce electricity from sweat. This concept relies on the hydrovoltaic effect and promises power for 18 hours on sweaty skin.Electronic skin appears to have more real use than sheer novelty. With these ideas developing at a rate of knots, we could soon find them in our lives seamlessly. Perhaps this is the end of traditional sockets to charge wearables.

E-skin is worn over human skin and can be used to garner information about bodily conditions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and other biometrics.

Millions of combatants and civilians were slaughtered in their millions on land, at sea, and in the air.

How could electronic skin change your life?

In the beginning, most items were created with plastics, but that’s no longer the case and other elements can be printed. It is now possible to even print human cells.

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3D printing has come a long way. From its early days of being a futuristic concept to building toys and simple models out of plastic, the possibilities now seem limitless, with metal and guns now being printed.While recent developments have brought about new techniques and materials that are now printable, one instantly thinks of plastics when it comes to 3D printing. Thermoplastics, which are repeatedly heated and cooled until attaining the desired shape, and thermosetting plastics, which remain in a solid state after curing, are the two most used types of 3D printing.However, fused deposition modeling, also known as fused filament fabrication, is a newer type of printing that is now employed to make basic proof-of-concept models and simple parts that are usually machined while keeping costs low.The aviation industry now uses a technique called direct metal laser sintering to manufacture ready-to-install parts, and thus optimize operations. Yes, you heard that right. 3D printing of metal is now a reality. The fashionistas among you would also be thrilled to know about a mass market of 3D printed jewelry.It is not just metal that now bends to the tune of the 3D printer. The world&#39;s hardest material, diamond, can now be printed in highly complex shapes. The &quot;once thought to be an impossible achievement&quot; was made real by global engineering group Sandvik, who can now form diamond composites in virtually any shape by utilizing additive manufacturing, and a proprietary post-processing method tailored to this purpose. While most of the material is diamond, the composite is cemented in a hard matrix material to make it printable and dense, whilst retaining the physical properties of pure diamond.Speaking of hard materials, carbon fiber and plastic can now form composites that are easier to work with than aluminum, while also being as strong as steel.Although these seem interesting, the material with the most enthusiasm around them is human cells. Research at the Wyss Institute has resulted in a multi-material 3D bioprinting technique that is capable of printing cells ten times as thick as previously engineered tissues. This approach has the potential to be used for regenerative medicine and drug-tested endeavors, by creating vascularized 3D tissues. Soon, we might be able to repair parts within our bodies or even replace them with organs and other body parts fresh off a 3D printer.Research and advancements in 3D printing have got people attentive, with forums and people sharing recipes on the rise. Soon hearts, diamonds, and guns may well be a CTRL+P away.

Who knows what might be possible in the next few years, but it’s clear that we could see major developments in cell research.

3D printing opened the door to many people to create whatever they wished

3D printing is becoming unstoppable

Hydrogel superglue was produced for the marine environment and inspired by organisms that fix themselves to underwater surfaces, like mussels.

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Scientists turning to nature to find innovative ways to solve a challenging problem is not new. Taking cues from the phenomenon of mussels and barnacles firmly sticking to cliff faces, ship hulls, and even the skin of whales, scientists analyzed the potential of Hydrogel witnessed in such cases. To begin with, what is Hydrogel? It is a sticky amalgamation of water and gummy material, which results in a tough and durable bond. Researchers at MIT have come up with a way to synthesize sticky hydrogel superglue that is made up of 90 percent water. This is a transparent rubber-like material that adheres to surfaces like Aluminium, Silicom, Titanium, glass, and ceramics. The toughness of the bond is comparable to that of a tendon and cartilage on bones. Various experiments have proved the strong adhesive nature of the compound, with objects sustaining a 55-pound weight and silicon wafers sticking onto the gel even after getting shattered. Such properties make the material perfect for a protective coating for boats and submarines, and its bio-compatibility could result in its application as a biomedical coating for items like catheters and sensors that are implanted in the human body. Xuanhe Zhao, Associate Professor at MIT, explains how the adhesive properties of the Hydrogel are based on its chemical anchorage and bulk dissipation principles. In layman&#39;s terms, a Hydrogel can expand significantly without retaining the energy used to stretch it. The chemical properties in the gel enable it to covalently bond its polymer network to the surface of the material. The same principle is harnessed by our human body in the case of tendons and cartilage. Zhao also projects the potential of this soft and sticky material with a wide range of possible uses in the future. Scientists have ascertained, through adhesive tests of Hydrogel, with different materials like Aluminum, ceramic, glass, and Titanium, that it required an average of 1,000 joules per square meter to peel off the Hydrogel from these materials. This is similar to the energy required to separate tendons and cartilage. Efforts by researchers to draw comparisons between the new Hydrogel with elastomers, nanoparticle adhesives, and existing hydrogels proved that the former had higher water concentration and superior bonding ability. A possible application of Hydrogel in robotic joints was also tested, with small portions of the matter being used to connect short pipes, which is meant to simulate the limbs of a robot.

The Superglue Made Out Of Water

Superglue made out of water

Bismuth is non-toxic, and this trait has intrigued scientists to wonder if it could become a battery replacement. Bismuth is benign, unlike other metals that can harm people and the environment.

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Any guesses on which metal grizzles and is very common in our day-to-day life? This metal is also completely non-toxic, making it an ideal material for battery replacement. That would be bismuth.One can find bismuth&#39;s application in nuclear reactors and medicines. The metal is also benign, unlike other metals that can harm people and the environment. The usage of the metal has been traced back to ancient Egyptian times, but it was officially discovered in 1753 by Claude Jefferey Jeanene.The position of bismuth, which is non-toxic, on the periodic table between poisonous materials like lead and polonium is still a mystery. The medicinal nature of the metal is used to treat stomach ulcers and makes up the primary ingredient in Pepto Bismol syrup. Dr. Robert Hoye, a lecturer at the Imperial College of London, is putting bismuth-based compounds in making photovoltaic cells, which are used to convert light to energy. The same properties can potentially enable researchers to use the same in solar cells, thus making it possible to replace batteries in indoor electronics like home sensors and health monitors. The added advantage of bismuth being benign and non-toxic, unlike other metals like lead, cadmium, and tellurium, can help reduce water and soil pollution arising from e-wastes. Bismuth has some unique characteristics that make it different from other metals. The metal displays the Hall Effect, which means that it can resist getting magnetized and is repelled by a magnetic field. Bismuth has a relatively high electrical resistance, making its thermal conductivity the lowest among metals after Mercury. Bismuth also expands when it freezes, with just three metals showing the same properties - silicon, gallium, germanium, and antimony. Bismuth is widely used in cosmetics, low-melting alloys, fire-fighting sensors &amp; systems, and as a replacement for lead in guns. Bismuth is found in small quantities as a pure metal on the earth&#39;s crust and largely in compounds such as Bismuthinite or Bismuth Sulphide. Bismuth is primarily obtained as a byproduct in the extraction processes of lead, copper, tin, silver, and gold ores found in Canada, Bolivia, Japan, Mexico, and Peru. Bismuth compounds are used as a catalyst in the production of synthetic fiber and rubber, and the metal is also used in making sharp casing of objects which are subjected to high temperatures, as it expands when heated. The metal also finds application in nuclear reactors and in a process called &#39;Cold Fusion,&#39; designed to create trans-Uranium metals.

Could this be the next best battery replacement?

This technique opens a door to manufacturing of pressure monitoring bandages, shade-shifting fabrics, or touch sensing robots.

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Imagine decoding hidden messages by stretching color-changing films or having shade-shifting clothes in the market, or developing touch-sensing robots, wouldn&#39;t that be interesting? The good news is such color-shifting materials will soon be available and manufactured at a large scale using a unique photography technique, all thanks to MIT researchers. This video describes how they developed this technique, how they got this idea, and the challenges they faced while developing it. The researchers repurposed a 19th-century color photography technique called Lippmann Photography, developed by Gabriel Lippmann, a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist, and applied it to modern holographic materials to produce color-changing films. The team printed large-scale images onto elastic materials that can transform their color and reflect different wavelengths when stretched. They printed detailed flower bouquets on films that changed warm colors to cool shades when stretched. They also printed films that reveal the imprint of objects such as a strawberry, a coin, and a fingerprint. According to the researchers, this is a unique technique for manufacturing detailed large-scale materials with structural colors. These colors appear due to the material&#39;s microscopic structure instead of dyes or chemical additives. While looking for solutions to scale these structures&#39; production, Benjamin Miller, an MIT researcher, came to know more about holography or Lippmann color holography. This technique makes 3-D images on physical materials by superimposing two light beams. Lippmann produced images through light wave interference. He placed a mirror behind a thin transparent emulsion (a substance he prepared using light-sensitive materials like silver halide). He exposed the setup to light, and the mirror reflected beams to the emulsion. The interference of incoming and outgoing light beams stimulated the emulsion to show colored patterns. This technique is laborious and time-consuming, so Miller and his team got a new idea by combining this technique with modern hologram technology. They adhered transparent, elastic film on a reflective mirror-like surface. Then, they placed the projector at some distance from the film and projected images on each sample, including Lippmann-Esque bouquets. As a result, the film produced large, detailed images within a few minutes, reproducing colors in the original images. They were then removed from the mirror and placed on a black elastic silicone sheet for support. When stretched, the film showed color shifting due to structural changes at molecular levels. For instance, it reflected the red color when exposed to green light and infrared wavelengths (non-visible) when exposed to red light. The team is now exploring various applications of this technique, such as making color-changing bandages to monitor bandage pressure when treating conditions like lymphatic disorders and venous ulcers. To know more such mind-boggling updates, keep following Materials Lab.

The future of camouflage could appear in the form of these color-changing films.

How colour-changing camouflage tech work?

Gallium has a cool and unusual characteristic that you can melt it with your body temperature. Holding onto a piece of gallium will cause it to melt.

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Imagine holding a metal that can melt in your hands at room temperature! That&#39;s gallium for you. Discovered in 1874, the unique metal was named after the Latin term for France, Gallia. What makes gallium stand out from other metals is its peculiar characteristics, which include a low melting point of 85 °F (25 °C).Gallium can be found in many optoelectronics, such as LEDs, and in household items, such as alloys, computers, and DVDs. The metal, a safer alternative to mercury, is also used in making thermometers and mirrors. Gallium, a metal as soft as aluminum, is rare, found only as a mixture making up just 0.0019 percent of the Earth&#39;s crust. The metal, which can only be removed through smelting, has been mined in Germany, China, and Kazakhstan. Gallium has a brittle nature when in solid form and melts easily. The metal is, however, very hard to boil, and one needs temperatures crossing 3,999 °F (2,204 °C) to achieve this feat. The metal is primarily used in electronics, with it being commonplace in semiconductors and transistors. The nature of gallium to turn electricity into light has resulted in it being widely used in LEDs. Gallium, when mixed with nitride, has the potential to replace Silicon in a variety of day-to-day applications. Here&#39;s how. The former features a wider band gap than the latter, which is basically how well a metal can conduct electricity. This property enables gallium nitride to sustain higher voltages and higher speeds for electric currents. These properties result in making such electronic devices more efficient by losing less energy than similarly-specced silicon devices. This also translated into better packaging and an overall reduction in the size of such devices. Additionally, gallium nitride&#39;s ability to sustain higher temperatures could open up new possibilities in car manufacturing as it could enable tighter packaging options. The non-toxic nature of gallium can enable its alloys to replace Mercury dental fillings. Gallium also took centre stage in a large neutrino experiment that was held between 1991 to 1997 to prove theories about Solar Neutrinos and the sun&#39;s energy creation system. The detector tank was filled with a gallium trichloride-hydrochloric acid solution, which contained a massive 30.3 tons of gallium.The possibility of gallium nitride becoming a viable alternative to Silicon can prove to be a masterstroke for advanced electronic devices in the future. It can also be used in medicines and nuclear weapons.

This Metal Is Like Mercury But Safe

This metal is like mercury but safe

According to the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of Americans believe there is intelligent life beyond Earth.

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They came, they saw, but did they leave anything? Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have plagued the imaginations of human beings for decades, with multiple sightings reported around the world but with little tangible evidence.Researchers are now trying to shed some light on the million-dollar question of whether we&#39;re alone in this universe by analyzing possible UFO materials left behind on the Earth&#39;s surface. According to the Pew Research Centre, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe in the existence of extraterrestrial organisms, that too, far-superior kinds. Discoveries of collectors like Dr. Jaques Valley, a UFOlogist, who dedicated his life to collecting purported UFO materials dating back from 1947, are now being analyzed at Standford University. One of the most promising discoveries is a discarded mass of an object from a flying circular object in Iowa in 1977. Investigators found a 4X6-foot puddle of molten metal that burnt the grass around it. The metal primarily consisted of Iron, with traces of Carbon, Titanium, and other metals. Due to the nature of its landing and its state, Valley was quick to dismiss the mix of what seemed to be steel alloy and cast Iron as space debris or objects falling off a plane.So, how do researchers certify that such objects are really extraterrestrial by nature? A new device, the Multi-Parameter Ion Beam Imager, has enabled scientists to analyze such materials at an atomic level, making it easier to ascertain the authenticity of such objects. Using the device, Dr. Gary Nolan, a standard microbiologist, was able to create revolutionary 3D images of such items retrieved, which provided an outline of the sample at a nuclear level. The results authenticated that particles used in the material found at Iowa could not be found on earth. He, however, specified that the test does not certify if the technology is extraterrestrial but that the process of manufacturing metals found is incomprehensive to most scientists. Gary, on behalf of the government, has analyzed close to 12 samples from purported UFO crashes across the country. He has concluded that a few of them lack the properties of materials created by humans. Certainly, more such materials are out there to be discovered. And given that now scientists have the tools to examine such objects for their authenticity and origins lends us hope that if life outside earth exists, we are increasingly becoming equipped to deal with it.

Could a UFO bring these materials?

Season 1

Graphene is often referred to as the miracle material. Why is this the case?

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Graphene is often referred to as the miracle material. Why is this the case? After all, graphene is simply formed from a single, thin layer of graphite – the soft, flaky material used in pencil lead. Both diamond and graphite are forms of carbon, yet they have widely different natures. Diamonds are incredibly strong, while graphite is brittle. However, graphene’s atoms have the unique trait of being arranged in a hexagonal shape. So, when graphene is isolated from graphite, it takes on some miraculous properties. It manages to be a mere one-atom thick, the first two-dimensional material ever discovered.Graphene was discovered relatively recently in 2004 by physicist Andre Geim and his team. It all began when Geim set his student Da Jiang the task of obtaining as thin a sample as possible of graphite by polishing a one-inch (2.54 cm) graphite crystal. A few weeks later, Jiang delivered a speck of carbon in a petri dish. Upon looking through a microscope, Jiang was asked to try again. Unfortunately, that was all that was left of the crystal. Another student noticed that a ball of used Scotch tape was in the bin. This Scotch tape had graphite residue on its sticky side. Geim placed the tape under the microscope and discovered that the graphite layers were thinner than any others he’d seen before. He pressed and pulled the tape apart, resulting in the flakes peeling into yet thinner layers of graphene. During further research, Geim and a Ph.D. student named Konstantin Novoselov discovered that graphene had a pronounced field effect, the response that some materials show when placed near an electric field. This would then go on to earn them both a Nobel prize in Physics in 2010.Scientists would go on to state that graphene could replace silicon because of its ability to field effect. Research into graphene was ignited, and scientists across the world were startled by their findings.Graphene was noted to be one of the thinnest materials known to man, yet it was a hundred and fifty times stronger than a material of its equivalent weight in steel. It is as pliable as rubber and can stretch to a hundred and twenty percent of its length.Today it is being used in bullet-proof vests and even in batteries. It also has the potential to one day replace silicon in computer chips. Its applications are limitless, and new methods for its use are being constantly discovered.

Graphene was found almost by accident, and ever since there have been multiple experiments to see what it is capable of.

The miracle material: Graphene

A magical material stuck between a solid, a gas, and a liquid. It has multiple uses and has found itself in many different situations.

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In 1931, chemists Steven Kistler and Charles Learned made a bet on who could remove the liquid in a jam without shrinking or contracting the substance. Kistler won the bet, and in doing so, he invented aerogel.Now, what exactly is aerogel? When silica is combined with a solvent, a gel is formed. The liquid in the gel is then removed and replaced with air, forming the lightest solid material in the world.Aerogels aren&#39;t easily available; they are rarer than diamonds and cost thousands of dollars per ounce. The electronically conductive material is blue - but for the same reason why the sky is blue. Tiny particles make aerogel scatter blue light more than other colors.Though it is the lightest material, aerogel is a force to reckon with and cannot be underestimated. A tiny two-gram piece of aerogel can support a 5.5 lbs (2.5 kg) brick. Basically, it can hold four thousand times its weight by force.But hold up. That isn&#39;t even the most amazing thing about aerogel. It has low thermal conductivity, which means that you can do cool experiments with a blowtorch. However, it can easily shatter like glass if you apply too much pressure.Aerogel has had fascinating uses over the years. It was used as a thickening agent in cosmetics, paint, and napalm. The material&#39;s insulation properties helped it find a place in your freezer. This very characteristic led NASA to use aerogel in the Mars rover to protect it from harsh temperatures on Mars. Historical buildings in Switzerland also use aerogel-based plaster to increase insulation. Aerogels were also used in cigarette filters in the &#39;60s and &#39;70s.Aerogel has even appeared in fashion. You can also find ski jackets with aerogel to keep you warm as you glide down the slopes. Dunlop began producing the aerogel racquet in 2007, and it became popular with tennis players. The aerogel reduces the vibration to the player.Aerogels are also used to remove pollutants such as oils, toxic organic solvents, dyes, and heavy metal ions from aquatic environments. In the future, aerogel will find itself in microelectronics, precision engineering robotics, biotechnology, and sensor technology. With 3D printing on the rise, scientists can manufacture parts made of aerogels with high precision. Eventually, they could be used in skylights, body armor, non-deflatable tires, aircraft structural components, and heat shields for spacecraft re-entry.This versatile material truly has a future with infinite possibilities.

World's Lighter Solid Aerogel

World's lighter solid aerogel

Did you know that the cement industry plays a significant role in contributing to global carbon dioxide emissions, way more than flying or shipping?

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Did you know that the cement industry plays a significant role in contributing to global carbon dioxide emissions, way more than flying or shipping?Though the material is the foundation of modern development, more than four billion tons of cement are produced every year to build houses, motorways, and flood defenses - and now they are responsible for about eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. Reinforced concrete was introduced in France, in the mid-19th century. Since then, it has been used to build pretty much all buildings. It is quite impossible to think of a future without concrete.But one can&#39;t deny its role in increasing carbon dioxide emissions, and the clock is ticking. It is high time we seek alternatives for the building blocks of our metropolises. Fret not, we do have options. Made of waste steel dust and silica obtained from the ground-up glass, ferrock is a top contender. The material was an accidental discovery by David Stone to keep iron from rusting and hardening up. Ferrock is incredibly hard - five times stronger than Portland cement, and yet flexible. It lowers carbon dioxide by absorbing and binding the gas as it dries, resulting in a carbon-negative process that can trap greenhouse gases.Another material, ashcrete, made from waste fly ash generated in coal-burning operations, is like ferrock. Ashcrete is environmentally feasible, as 93 percent of the resulting substance is recycled material. Now, fly ash is produced by burning coal, which produces carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for one ton of fly ash would still be significantly less than that produced during the manufacture of one ton of cement. Next is a biocomposite material, hempcrete, suited for most climates. It weighs only about an eighth of regular concrete weight and lacks the brittleness of concrete. The lightweight properties of the material make it easy to transport.A surprising alternative in this race is mycelium, thin root-like fibers from fungi that grow underground. Mycelium can be used as a water, mold, and fire-resistant building material once dried. Lastly, we have finite, made from desert sand. Now, while desert sand has been considered useless as building blocks, scientists from Imperial College London believe that finite can outperform concrete.As evident, we have a plethora of options to construct our buildings in the future. The real question is if we can make the switch before it is too late.

Will we ever be free from concrete?

Tungsten on its own is brittle and shatters under impact. However, when mixed with other metal alloys, tungsten improves tensile strength.

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Years ago, lightbulbs in our houses would emanate an orange, mysterious glow. The soft glow was nothing but a reaction between electricity and tungsten filament. Now, however, LED bulbs have taken over, and the cozy warmth of that orange light has disappeared.Does that mean tungsten is no longer in use today? Absolutely not.Tungsten was largely mysterious until Spanish chemists, and mineralogists Juan José d&#39;Elhuyar and Fausto d&#39;Elhuyar examined the metal thoroughly. They discovered an acid made from wolframite that seemed like tungstic acid. The brothers isolated the metal oxide from wolframite and then reduced it to tungsten metal by heating it with charcoal.Tungsten is strong and durable, resistant to corrosion, and has the highest melting point and tensile strength of any element. These properties enable tungsten to be used in multiple settings. Tungsten was first used in China to add a distinct peach color to porcelain. Though the metal is available in many countries, China continues to supply about 80 percent of the world&#39;s tungsten. And for much of the 20th century, people didn&#39;t have to resort to lighting candles or employing the less efficient carbon filament lamps, thanks to the tungsten lightbulb, which was patented in 1904.The Germans used the metal during World War One, which helped in exceeding their munition output from the Allies. Therefore, it was rather strange to find out that most of the tungsten had arrived from the British Cornish mines in Cornwall.But the Germans&#39; success with tungsten didn&#39;t stop with the war. An electrical bulb company had submitted a patent for tungsten carbide. Now, while tungsten refers to the individual metal, tungsten carbide is an alloy of tungsten and predominantly carbon. The only natural material the hard tungsten carbide can scratch is a diamond.During the Second World War, the Germans were the first to use tungsten carbide core in their rounds. When enemy tanks were hit by these projectiles, they melted.Fast forward to now, tungsten is found in its tungsten carbide form and steel alloys, which are used in the production of rocket engine nozzles.Turbine blades and wear-resistant coatings contain super-alloys with Tungsten. Tungsten alloys are also used in automotive industries and radiation shielding.Tungsten is also an excellent candidate for future fusion reactors due to its high melting temperature and good heat conductivity properties. Though tungsten had humble beginnings, it could transform the way how we provide power to the world.

Why Tungsten have a great impact on metals

Why Tungsten have a great impact on metals?

The character Scotty mentions turning metallic aluminum into its transparent counterpart, which was meant to be incredibly strong and help them in their mission.

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, one of the Star Trek feature films, introduced a futuristic material. Called transparent aluminum, the stuff seemed to be solely the likes of science fiction, something that could never be replicated in reality. The character Scotty mentions turning metallic aluminum into its transparent counterpart, which was meant to be incredibly strong and help them in their mission. It didn&#39;t last long in fantasy. You might be surprised to hear that the material was first investigated during the 1960s. Known to scientists as ALON, the substance is a transparent ceramic called aluminum oxynitride, composed of equal parts aluminum, oxygen, and nitrogen. The toughness of the material — a laminated pane of ALON 1.6 inch thick can stop a 50 caliber rifle round — makes it a great option for infrared windows. ALON is also used to make armored windows and optical lenses.Space is probably the best arena ALON sees itself in. As the possibility of traveling to space becomes closer to reality, we need materials that can withstand debris and micrometeorites. According to scientists, ALON&#39;s physical properties would make it a suitable prospect to withstand such hypervelocity impacts.However, ALON isn&#39;t the easiest thing to produce. Aluminum oxynitride powder must be pressurized to 15,000 pounds per inch in rubber molds submerged in hydraulic fluid. The material, which is molded and opaque, is heated to 3632 °F (2000 °C) and kept at that temperature for two days. After two days, it is ground and polished.As of now, the finishing process of ALON belongs to a company called Surmet Corporation, which produces the material for military and industrial applications. Dr. Lee Goldman, VP Technology of Surmet, has said that ALON was so much harder than glass &quot;that when a projectile hits the surface, the hard steel core shatters into little pieces, and those little pieces are a lot easier to stop.&quot; Surmet is known to be the exclusive commercial supplier of transparent aluminum.Now, while ALON is a reality, producing the ceramic alloy costs an arm and a leg. And so companies prefer using glass instead. The material is therefore continued to be created in small sizes, as the demand is less. That is unless we have new methods to produce the material in a comparatively easier manner or companies decide to invest heavily in producing the material. Keeping its properties and capabilities in mind, it is no doubt that the applications for such a revolutionary technology would be near limitless.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, one of the Star Trek feature films, introduced a futuristic material.

How transparent aluminum could make Star Trek technology a reality?

Ferrofluid is a type of fluid that contains suspended micro particles of iron, magnetite or cobalt in a solvent.

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Almost 60 years ago, inventor Steve Papell of NASA created a bizarre-looking liquid that could be used as rocket fuel. Called ferrofluid or magnetic fluid, the carrier fluid, usually an organic fluid such as water or kerosene, contains nanoscale ferromagnetic particles coated with a surfactant to stop them from clumping together in the liquid. These colloidal fluids would have a composition of five percent magnetic particles, 10 percent surfactant, and 85 percent carrier fluid.The liquid becomes highly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field. Which means you could use a magnet to move the liquid around from a distance.How cool is that?So, what does ferrofluid look like? It has a spiky-looking shape and resembles a bunch of razors. The odd shape is caused by the need to find a stable shape to minimize the total energy of the system - this effect is known as normal-field instability.The particles that make up a ferrofluid have a diameter of 10 nanometers or less. This is because the particle size has to be small enough to be evenly dispersed through the liquid by the random motion of particles in a liquid due to collisions with other molecules. At the same time, they have to be large enough to contribute to the magnetic response of the fluid. Ferrofluids have found themselves in several applications, ranging from small electronic devices to space missions and cancer treatments.You can also find this &#39;magical&#39; liquid at your house. Due to their high thermal conductivity and heat transfer properties, they are used in devices such as loudspeakers, as the sound produced when the voice coil vibrates generates unnecessary heat. Ferrofluids help cool the voice coil.That&#39;s not it. You can also find ferrofluids in hard drives where they seal the interior of the device. When magnetized, they form a barrier against dust and dirt that could ruin the delicate plates.Over the years, ferrofluids also caught the interest of artists due to their visually arresting look. When artist and entrepreneur Nikola Ilic stumbled upon an online video of ferrofluid sculptures in motion created by Japanese artist Sahiko Kodama, Ilic immediately wanted a ferrofluid display for his desk.Years later, he created a company that sells ferrofluid in glass jars for those intrigued by its movement.The futuristic-looking liquid will have newer uses in our lifetime. Take the example of a team at the Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, China, where researchers published a study that demonstrated liquid microbots made from ferrofluid droplets. The droplets are oil-based as they envisage applications in the watery fluids of the body.Evidently, ferrofluids could have a multitude of exciting possibilities in the future.

Almost 60 years ago, inventor Steve Papell of NASA created a bizarre-looking liquid that could be used as rocket fuel.

Why Ferrofluid is Revolutionary

Why Ferrofluid is revolutionary?

Nitinol is a metal that can remember its original shape when heated. This metal has been useful in the medical and space fields.

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Imagine a material that self-heals or returns to its original form after being altered. Consider the range of possibilities for applications with such a material. That is Nitinol for you. Nitinol was discovered by a young scientist William J Buehler, a metallurgist at the Naval Ordinance Labs, who worked on a team intended to design a nose cone for the Polaris missile project. The material for the same had to withstand the heat generated while the missile re-entered the earth&#39;s atmosphere. William examined a range of 60 alloys for the project from a book named Constitution of Binary Alloys, with Nitinol being one of the alloys examined. He noticed that the material had a noticeably different double state and named it Nitinol, short for Nickel-Titanium Naval Ordinance Laboratories. In 1961, researchers came across the shape-memory aspect of the alloy while experimenting with the fatigue properties of the materials. They noticed that when Nitinol was heated, it rapidly straightened out. It was only in 1995 that Nitinol became known to the general public, soon after Nike began using it in its Vision line of eyewear series. A pair of glasses that self-heals if you sit on it or even if it falls from your hand! Nitinol made it possible, as it allowed such glasses to be extremely flexible and return to their original form after being compressed. Soon after, Nitinol found its applications in the medical field, where it is being used as a part of vascular stents. The presence of Nitinol meant that the stents could be folded flat to be easily inserted through small holes into the bloodstream, thus minimizing the treatment time. The material can deal with severe deformations and is rated considerably more lasting than stainless steel. Nitinol is now widely used for all implants going into the human body, specifically making it an ideal fit for hip replacement material. The metal&#39;s super elastic properties enable it to dampen out the vibrations caused when a person moves. Nitinol is most widely used in the biomedical field, followed by the eyewear industry. It was also featured on the Nasa Mars mission, with its properties being used 33.6 million miles away. A new wheel with Nitinol as the key component for its tires on Mars rovers allows it to carry more weight, hence letting it hold more instruments for analysis. Nitinol holds great promise to be used in a wide range of applications that impact our daily lives.

The Metal That Remembers - Nitinol

The metal that remembers - Nitinol

The use of personal protection is rising. Preventing attacks from knives, either stab or slash attacks is important for those who work in the defense industry.

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Apart from learning self-defense techniques, researchers have been looking at the possibilities of wearable protective clothing to prevent injuries in case of being stabbed. When one thinks of the proverb of the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, &quot;prevention is better than cure,&quot; it&#39;s much better to prevent knife wounds than actually trying to stop the bleeding. The challenge that researchers in the field encountered was how to stop a knife from penetrating the body, yet appear to be dressed for daily activities at the same time. Slash-resistant clothing is the answer for people who would like to keep it discreet. The material, named Cut-Tex Pro, is made from a combination of ultra-high molecular weight and other technical fibers, which are weaved using high-density knitting machines. This fabric acts as the first line of defense in stabbing incidents. It prevents the person wearing it from experiencing a significant cut.  This kind of clothing, when combined with a heavier stab-proof vest, provides near-total protection from attacks using a knife, edged weapons, shanks/spikes, hypodermic needles, and even blunt force. These types of vests are made using the process of hybridization. A material called Aramind - aromatic polyamide is of key importance here and offers high strength, low conductivity, and is not flammable. These characteristics arise due to the stiff polymer molecules, which exhibit a strong crystal orientation and the interaction between the polymer chains, courtesy of the hydrogen bonds. The process includes layers of Aramide getting infused with Surlyn thermoplastic film, which is then wetted with a dilatant shear-thickening fluid. Several such layers are amalgamated to form armor that exhibits improved stab resistance. Researchers are also working on a material that is flexible, and that can also stiffen demand. Scientists at NTU Singapore and Caltech have developed a lightweight 3D-printed &quot;chain mail&quot; fabric from nylon plastic polymers. The fabric features hollow octahedrons that interlock with each other. This material is wrapped in a vacuum-packed hollow plastic envelope, making it a solid structure that is 25 times harder to bend than when it is relaxed. Such advanced materials, which can stiffen on demand, can also be put to use in medical applications such as to form exoskeletons to aid in movement and help a patient stand or carry loads. Coming back to slash and slab-resistant clothing, it provides the first line of defense to people employed in the emergency, security services or for people under threat.

Preventing attacks from knives, either stab or slash attacks is important for those who work in the defense industry.

This Jacket Protects From Stabbings In Style

This jacket protects from stabbings in style

Season 2

Can you name the darkest substance humans have ever created? It’s called Vantablack - a material that looks like a dark hole.

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Can you name the darkest substance humans have ever created? It’s called Vantablack - a material that looks like a dark hole.Vantablack is so dark that if you paint a face or any 3D shape using it, you won’t be able to see the 3D object. This intriguing substance comes in the form of a super-black coating that captivates the attention of not just scientists but many visual artists as well. To give you an idea of Vantablack’s darkness, here is a cool example — imagine placing a small spherical ball in front of a large square plate; if both the objects are coated with Vantablack, your eyes won’t be able to spot the sphere placed in front of the square, unless you start moving the sphere away or you change your position and look at the arrangement from sides. Since Vantablack has the power to absorb 99.96% of light, human eyes are unable to perceive anything other than sheer darkness when they look at objects coated with it. This magical material was created by Ben Jensen, founder of Surrey Nanosystems Limited, a UK-based company that owns all the rights related to Vantablack. It is currently made available in three versions; a sprayable paint called Vantablack VBx, a black coating that is great at absorbing infrared light known as Vantablack S-IR, and Vantablack S-VIS, another coating that imbibes light falling in the visible spectrum. Both S-IR and S-VIS versions are designed using randomly-aligned carbon nanotubes.The strength of Vantablack can be imagined from the fact that before melting under extreme conditions, it can withstand temperatures up to 5432°F (3000°C). Even to create this uncanny substance, scientists need to create an environment that operates at 752°F (400°C). But why do we even need a scary substance like Vantablack?  Well, it may sound weird but Jensen and his team developed Vantablack with the purpose of improving the visibility of distant objects in outer space. They suggest that Vantablack can absorb glare coming from various cosmic bodies and enable space travelers to see far-located stars and planets, that’d be hard to notice otherwise. Vantablack also creates a void effect which is superbly demonstrated by visual artist Anish Kapoor in his artwork “Descent into limbo.” Kapoor used the super-dark material to create a sense of absolute void or nothingness in space. What’s interesting is that although many artists want to use Vantablack, Kapoor was the first to buy its exclusive rights in 2014, and since then, he has been the only artist that can use the darkest material on Earth for his artworks.  So far, Vantablack has shown its ability to influence the worlds of science, art, and space travel. We don’t know yet, but there could be many other dimensions where its darkness could be of great use. As Darth Vader (from Star Wars) once famously said, “If only you knew the power of the dark side.”

We explore the process and look at what Vantablack may become in the future.

Is Vantablack the world's darkest material?

Neon gas was first discovered in 1898 by Morris Travers and William Ramsay, two British chemists who were experts at finding rare gases.

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Neon gas was first discovered in 1898 by Morris Travers and William Ramsay, two British chemists who were experts at finding rare gases. It may sound unbelievable, but the scientist duo actually had to freeze and liquefy air to confirm the existence of neon. The gas makes up only 0.0018% of Earth’s atmosphere, but the use of neon is not just limited to funky party lights. This shiny element is also involved in the manufacturing of semiconductor chips that run our smartphones, cars, and laptops. The mighty lasers that turn silicone into circuit boards during the chip manufacturing process actually require neon gas to function. But do you know where most of this neon gas comes from?About 90% of the global demand for semiconductor-grade neon is fulfilled by Ukraine. Before being attacked by Russia, Ukrainian companies Ingas and Cryoine alone were supplying between 45% to 54% of the neon required for semiconductor chip production. While Ingas generated up to 20,000 m3 (706,293 cubic feet) of neon per month, its rival Cryoin produced over 15,000 m3 (529,000 cubic feet). Unfortunately, because of the current situation in Ukraine, the world is facing a serious neon gas shortage. What’s surprising is that a typical American household already maintains approximately 8.28 liters (17.5 pints) of neon gas storage in laser-based toys, television tubes, lights, and stickers. But can we use this neon to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry? Of course not, because the lasers used in chip manufacturing demand purified high-quality neon gas that can only be obtained directly from the air using specialized technologies. For example, companies like Ingas and Cryoin have powerful air separation plants that are capable of processing large volumes of air to extract the 0.0018% neon out of it, and that too in liquid form. Ukraine’s neon manufacturing units had to shut down their operations in March as the conflict with Russia escalated, and even at present, nobody is sure when peace will be restored in the region. Meanwhile, the losses incurred by the semiconductor industry in the past eight months have made them realize the significance of neon gas. This is why most of the leading semiconductor chip producers are now putting in efforts to produce neon locally. If they become successful in doing so, there will be many new neon players in the market by the time Ukrainian companies resume their operations. We are yet to discover where the neon gas market will actually go from there.

What Neon Gas Shortages Means For The Chip Industry

What neon gas shortages means for the chip industry?

We get diamonds from the ground and diamonds from a lab, but what about diamonds from a sky mine? Could this new find make way for creating diamonds that are one-to-one like those dug from the earth?

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Do you know the cost of a diamond is much more than what you pay for it? To produce a single carat of this precious gem, a diamond mine uses 126 gallons (477 liters) of water and releases 126 pounds (56 kg) of carbon into our atmosphere. Even a car that runs on gas only produces 88 pounds of carbon during a 100-mile journey. On the other side, the water used in the diamond mining process also gets heavily polluted and is discharged back into the environment, where it further fouls surface water. Many illegal diamond mines across the globe even violate human rights to a large extent and force their laborers to work in dangerous work conditions.   But don’t be scared! We won’t ask you to give up on diamonds. However, would you consider buying a genuine and eco-friendly diamond produced out of thin air?Sky mine, a unique lab located in Stroud, England, captures carbon from the atmosphere and turns it into real authentic diamonds. It is the brainchild of British innovator Dale Vince, who like many environmentally conscious folks, was looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions. He soon came up with this bizarre idea of a lab that could create diamonds from the carbon that is freely flowing in our sky — sounds crazy, right?Wrong! After putting in some research and effort, Vince was able to set up the world’s first sky mine, and here is how it functions.The process inside the mine starts with extracting and storing carbon dioxide from the surrounding atmosphere. The stored CO2  gas is liquified, and if there are some impurities found in the liquid form, they are eliminated. The purified CO2  is then mixed with hydrogen obtained by hydrolysis of rainwater molecules to produce methane. From here, the chemical mixture is transferred to a diamond mill where it is heated at 14,432°F (8000°C). Even the surface temperature of the Sun is 9,941°F. Such extreme temperatures are employed inside the diamond mill to actually mimic the conditions found inside the Earth’s core, where diamonds are naturally formed.    Hot balls of plasma comprising diamonds are formed inside the mill after the heating. Vince and his team took five years to perfect this method, and now it takes them only two weeks to create a real carbon-negative diamond.In fact, the diamonds produced by the sky mine are so real that they also come with a certificate of purity from the International Gemological Institute. Still, the best part is — unlike conventional diamond mines, a sky mine does not cause harm to the environment. So no tears and only diamonds!

We get diamonds from the ground and diamonds from a lab, but what about diamonds from a sky mine?

We get diamonds from the ground and diamonds from a lab

How are diamonds harvested from the atmosphere?

Self-healing materials were once the work of science fiction, but nowadays, those silver screen ideas are flourishing in the real world.

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Sci-fi fans definitely know a thing or two about self-healing materials that have been seen on the silver screen. The definition of self-healing materials is pretty simple as it comes from the term itself. These are materials that repair themselves after being subjected to damage. However, the science behind how self-healing materials work is hard and a work in progress.Self-healing materials can be categorized under four types: materials with embedded healing agents, materials with a kind of internal vascular circulation, shape-memory materials, and reversible polymers. In 2022, Scientists have developed an eco-friendly, self-healing nanocrystal semiconductor. This happened while researching toxic-free alternatives to commonly used lead halide perovskites because of the government ban on metal halide perovskites use. The particles were observed by Sasha Khalfin and Noam Veber under a transmission electron microscope. Researchers studied how the holes created due to the electron beam&#39;s effect on the nanocrystals of perovskite nanoparticles interacted with the materials around, moved, and changed within them.The lab of Yehonadav Berkenstein produced perovskite nanoparticles with self-healing properties. This was observed as the nanocrystal returned to its original structure upon removing organic molecules coating the surface. These molecules allow the movement of formed holes into stable areas inside, and when removed, the holes are then ejected to the surface and out, leading to the observed healing phenomenon. Currently, the self-healing properties of materials depend on numerous factors, including material type, size, and shape of nanoparticles. Several applications are being studied to see how these self-healing properties in materials could be utilized. Electrical grids need dielectric polymers to insulate wires properly, but electrical treeing can lead to structural damage to the said materials. Affected sections can be &quot;healed&quot; by adding superparamagnetic nanoparticles to the thermoplastic polymer, as studied by scientists. The next application of self-healing can be seen in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, which are common among electronic devices. To make the battery safe, University of Illinois researchers developed a self-healing electrode that triggers a response in the microcapsules and disperses the crack-filling substances as batteries degrade.  Lastly, researchers are developing a flexible, nanoparticle-based sensor with self-healing properties to work with frequently used machines to maintain function. The current developments we have regarding self-healing materials are still far from achieving the likes of those that can be seen in films. However, these developments prove that we are on the way to achieving such goals. Maybe soon, a damaged phone screen will automatically fix itself and return to pristine condition.

Sci-fi fans definitely know a thing or two about self-healing materials that have been seen on the silver screen.

Which materials repair themselves?

The element with the atomic number of 14 in the periodic table is actually the second most abundant material on Earth.

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If one thinks about the most useful elements in the world, silicon would definitely be on that list. The element with the atomic number of 14 in the periodic table is actually the second most abundant material on Earth. A perfect and more visual example would be that all of the devices that people use today have silicon in them. This element is very useful, especially in the development and advancement of technology. That is why silicon plays a crucial role in the microprocessor chip industry.Outside technology, silicon is still useful as its properties allow other atoms to bind very tightly in complex arrangements. One example is Portland cement, where silicates are used as the main binder in concrete and mortar. Silicon is a semiconductor, allowing it to have increased conductivity when mixed with other materials like phosphorus or boron. This makes it the “king” of the chip industry materials, but currently, there is a shortage of chips.It is considered digital gold as the tech world has continuously used the material since the first commercial silicon transistor was announced in 1954. But how is silicon obtained?The material comes from silica sand mixed with carbon that is melted to temperatures above 3632°F (2000°C) to remove oxygen. It is then cast in the form of an ingot which will be sliced into thin wafers that are processed inside factories, creating chips. There are two types of chips. First are the logic chips, which process information to complete a task. Next are the memory chips, which store information.There are 7.26 billion mobile phone users, and 6.64 billion are smartphone users. Such an advancement in technology and access to it wouldn’t be possible without silicon. In electronics, this metalloid must be 99 in purity. Given the enormous demand for silicon, the world having 9.14 square kilometers of combined silicon wafers as of 2021 shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.The heavy dependence on technology in using silicon should be something to look out for. Scientists are currently looking for alternatives that may be used in the future. Regardless of silicon being one of the most abundant materials on Earth, it would definitely be better to have some backup. After all, one of the most important lessons learned from the Covid pandemic is to always be prepared. For now, let us enjoy the advancements made possible by the cleverest element here on Earth.

If one thinks about the most useful elements in the world, silicon would definitely be on that list.

Silicon is the second most abundant element, it even exists in our own bodies. What do you know about it?

Silicon: The cleverest element on earth

Have you ever heard of the moving rocks of Death Valley National Park? They are also referred to as the sailing stones.

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Have you ever heard of the moving rocks of Death Valley National Park? They are also referred to as the sailing stones.It is Richard Norris, a paleobiologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and his cousin Jim Norris who were visiting the national park in December of 2013 that uncovered the mystery behind this phenomena. This all started when they arrived at the site of the rocks, just as the playa was covered with a pond of water. Suddenly, the rocks began moving right in front of them. The cousins observed that the rocks required a rare combination of events to begin their smooth motion. The playa they were in must fill up with water and be deep enough to form floating ice during cold winter nights but still shallow enough to expose the rocks. On sunny days, the ice would begin to melt and proceed to break into floating panels that pushed the rocks in front of them. These sliding rock tracks have been the subject of studies since the early 1900s. However, since the reasons behind the moving stones would be revealed in the 2000s, it opened the door to many hypotheses about why or how the stones moved. The first account to document the phenomenon was in 1915 by a man named Joseph Crook from Nevada, who was visiting the Racetrack Playa, named for the long trails that the rocks leave in the mud. Over the years, the playa also had a lot of interest from geologists. In 1948, Jim McAllister and Allen Agnew mapped the bedrock area and published a report about the sliding rocks in the  Geological Society of America Bulletin. Meanwhile, a national park ranger in 1952 named Louis G. Kirk recorded furrow length, width, and general course. It was around this time that speculation about how the stones moved began. These ideas were either very complex or involved the supernatural. In 1955, George M. Stanley published a paper on the subject. After extensive track mapping and research, he speculated that ice sheets were behind the rocks’ mysterious movement. Moving forward to the 1970s, Bob Sharp and Dwight Carey started a Racetrack stone monitoring program. They named and labeled 30 stones, then of which moved in the first winter. In the seven-year period of their extensive research, only two stones didn’t move. One of these was called Karen, a block of dolomite weighing 700 lb (320 kg). Although Karen didn’t move during the research period, it did disappear before May 1994. Fortunately, Karen was rediscovered by researcher Paula Messina in 1996.