Materials

• Adhesives: How do forces stick things together? Why can geckos climb up walls?
• Alloys: Why are two metals often better than one?
• Aluminum: If it's light enough for a drinks can, why is it strong enough for a plane?
• Anti-static coatings: How can a material get rid of static electricity?
• Bioplastics: Can we make plastics that disappear more quickly?
• Bricks: Why are bricks red? What makes mortar stick to them?
• Bulletproof glass: How can you protect a Pope or a president?
• Ceramics: What's the link between your toilet and your teeth?
• Cermets: Why do ceramics and metals work so well together?
• Composites and laminates: Can we invent new materials better than any that already exist?
• Copper: What makes it so good at conducting heat and electricity?
• Dry-stone walls: How can walls stand up with no mortar?
• Electroplating: How can we disguise one metal as a better one?
• Energy-absorbing plastics: How can plastic stop your phone shattering when it hits the floor?
• Glass: Why can you see through it? Is it really a liquid?
• Graphene: Will atom-thick sheets of carbon revolutionize our world?
• Iron and steel: What makes them our metals of choice in bridges, buildings, and other giant structures?
• GORE-TEX®: How does it keep the water out of your walking boots?
• Kevlar®: How can a piece of cloth stop a knife or a bullet?
• Lubricants: How does oil and grease make a machine last longer?
• Materials science: What makes one material different from another and better for a particular job?
• Metals: What are metals anyway—and why are there so many of them?
• Molecular beam epitaxy: Can you build a crystal with a kind of atomic spraygun?
• Nomex®: How can you fireproof a racing driver or lift cookies safely from your stove?
• Nylon: Who was the mysterious chemist who invented this revolutionary textile?
• Paint: What are the ingredients in a can of paint and what do they all do?
• Paper: How can you make a nice writing surface from bits of old plants?
• Plastics: Why are plastics different from other materials?
• Platinum: If it's so expensive, how can we afford to use it at all?
• Reinforced concrete: How can steel make concrete an even better material?
• Rubber: It's white when it comes from the tree but black when you see it in tires—why is that?
• Self-healing materials: Can we design materials that repair themselves like the human body?
• Shape-memory alloys: How can you make crush-proof eyeglasses that spring back to shape?
• Thermochromic (color-changing) materials: How can you take your temperature with a strip of plastic?
• Tin: Why do we still use it up on the roof?
• Titanium: What makes it one of the best materials for building airplanes?
• Water: Are we running out of this simple, valuable, life-giving compound?
• Wood: Why is it still one of the best, most versatile materials we have?
• Zeolites: What's the connection between a cat litter and a water filter?