Wouldn’t it be great if everything was as good at healing itself as our own skin? That’s the concept behind a new self-healing plastic that’s been developed over at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Unlike ordinary plastics, this one contains a thin network of tubes, aping the human vascular system, containing two separate gels that react when they come into contact with each other. When the surface of the plastic is punctured, for instance if shot by a bullet, the two gels pour out, mixing to form a surface roughly 60 percent as strong as the original — just like a blood clot would on our bodies.
via Engadget
Image: Nathan Bajandas
