In the early 1970’s the words “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.” introduced episodes of the ‘The 6 Million Dollar Man’. Rebuilding people by replacing lost limbs with mechanical parts was science fiction at that time but is now almost routine (although not with bionic strength). Today technology is working on making materials that are every bit as futuristic as bionics and which offer incredible innovations in a wide range of areas.
Altering materials to change their natural properties is nothing new; chemistry has been used to change the composition and characteristics of materials for many years. Now scientists are exploring what happens when the structure rather then the composition of a material is changed. The new material created by manipulating the internal structure of an already existing material is called a metamaterial; the possible applications for metamaterials are astounding.
According to Erik Lier, Technical Fellow, Lockheed Martin Space Systems “Modifications enabled by metamaterials can either enhance performance, or they can lower the mass and thus lower the cost of putting the antenna in space.” This would be a boon for space exploration because lighter antennas would be less expensive to put into orbit. If lighter antennas are possible could this technology also extend to lighter cars and commercial aircraft?
The laws which govern how light bends, the laws of refraction have been known for centuries but now, thanks to the discovery of metamaterials, can be stretched. By being able to bend light in any direction you can produce a material with greater refraction making it invisible or with lower refraction producing microscopes with vastly increased capabilities. As nice as an invisibility would be a super microscope that could have even more profound effect on medicine through microbiology and nanotechnolgy.
Basically anything that interacts with electromagnetic waves can be altered and possibly enhanced by the use of metamaterials and that includes MRIs, computers, and radios. It isn’t just light waves that can be affected by metamaterials; sound waves, while not exactly the same as light waves operate by the same principles and could be affected by metamaterials.
There is hardly an industry that won’t one day be improved upon by the use of metamaterials. Military applications will likely lead the way but medicine; the computer industry won’t be far behind. Eventually construction and business will feel the affects of what promises to be one of the most exciting innovations of a lifetime.
Sources:
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/45115
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/apr/10-metamaterial-revolution-new-science-making-anything-disappear
