MADE TO MEASURE: New Materials for the 21st Century

Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century by Philip Ball

From synthetic skin, blood and bone to substances that repair themselves and adapt to the environment, that swell and flex like muscles, that repel any ink or paint, or that capture and store the energy of the Sun – new materials are shaping our future. For the first time in history, materials are being “made to measure”: designed for particular applications, rather than discovered in nature or by haphazard experimentation.

This book links insights from chemistry, biology and physics with those from engineering as it outlines the various areas in which new materials will transform our lives in the twenty-first century.

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The chapters provide vignettes from a broad range of materials science and can be read as separate essays – or they can be seen as episodes in a narrative that culminates with a glimpse of the nanotechnology that promises to revolutionize the creative sciences.

The subjects include materials for light-based information technology and for data storage, smart materials, biological and biomedical materials, “green” energy technologies, diamond and super-hard materials, new polymers and surface engineering.

“Made to Measure is a lucid account of the most advanced new materials. If you like the down-to-the-last-atom designer Îstuffâ described within, youâll love the twenty-first century.”Richard Smalley, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

“Made to Measure has an appeal that won’t let you stop reading once you start. A fascinating and intellectual work about invention and the craft of making new and exciting materials.”Norman Smith, AAAS