Back in the 80s, I would hear dad and his friends talk about polymers as if they were the answer to most contractors problems. That was back then. Now, polymers are found in almost every household item. So, what does the future hold for us? Something scientists call: metamaterials! The wonder fix; that thing that might make us invisible or give us superpowers.

Like polymers, metamaterials rely onMicrostructure. But unlike polymers, with metamaterials, the forms that the material takes are dictated artificially. By us by humans! That makes metamaterials so amazing, and that is why they are the future.

Natures way of arranging shapes is random. Sure, we can find beautiful patterns in the wild, but the way that materials are arranged, at a microscopic level, in nature, is only beneficial up to a point.

Wood, for example, is great for building a cabin or a boat. But imagine wood-like material that has multiple assemblies inside that make it stronger, that can be light refractive, and even fireproof. That is the reality of metamaterials, and they are not SF! But first, we need to learn to mold the materials to our will to become transparent, for example.

Most of these features are achieved via repeating patterns on the surface of the material. The shape of the micro arrangements on the surface is the one that can influence the way light bounces off it, or how electromagnetic waves behave. And if you can influence electromagnetic waves, you can influence sound also. That means better speakers for example. Or better Wi-Fi reception. Or invisibility!

Metamaterials are usually arranged in recurring patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths of the events they influence. Metamaterials derive their properties not from the characteristics of the base materials, but from their newly designed structures. Their specific geometry, size, orientation, and arrangement gives them their smart properties, which earned them the Greek word meta for beyond brilliant.

So basically, the way that we arrange these materials is whats going to lead to a level up in all industries. But this has to be done at scale to accomplish that. And right now, even nano-bots look like giants, and metamaterials are a long way from being the polymers of our parents age.

Metamaterials can handle light, sound, and electromagnetic waves on the macro scale. This theoretically will lead to some amazing materials with endless possibilities.Computronium, for example, is the metamaterial that Intel and AMD only dream of. The so-called programmable matter. Like Star Trek and the Borg if you want.

To create this mystic metamaterial, the human race needs to manipulate some factors of the base material: permeability,permittivityand theindex of refraction. To do this, we need to artificially construct geometrical patterns of the material in question with negative permeability and add another with negative permittivity. And voila the concept for metamaterial is born.

Working on the nano-scale is not impossible right now, but it is expensive, and metamaterials are not on the top of our needs as a species. And, lets face it, we dont have the tools and the processing power to pull something like theis. Yet, diamond-like hardness is achievable, artificial muscles and even exo-suits.

Deploying resources and processing power into metamaterials might be the answer to immortality or, at least, prolonging the lifespan of the average human. Predictions, today, may become a reality for our children or grandchildren.

For now, in the real world, we have an almost Iron Man suit from the US army, joyfully namedTALOS, that uses liquid armor. A non-Newtonian fluid is used in this case to catch the bullet before it hits the target, the liquid hardening on impact with the projectile. Of course, it costs the budget of a small country to develop, and its military, but, its a step in the right direction. Maybe the Metal Gear future envisioned by Hideo Kojima is not that far away, right?

We are a long way from building the slim bodysuits see in Ghost in the Shell, but the reality is that we are making baby steps in the development of carbon structures and arrangement of graphene or diamine.

The sure bet appears to be carbon. We can produce diamonds from carbon now. But imagine a window made from a diamond-like surface that doesnt scratch, doesnt break. Your imagination is the limit.

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Metamaterials Are Real And Yes, They Can Theoretically Give You Super Powers - TechTheLead