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Plastic That Changes Shape In Light
JLavezzo writes "Picture a flower that opens when facing the sunlight. In work that mimics that sensitivity to light, MIT Engineer Robert Langer and his German colleagues have created the first plastics that can be deformed and temporarily fixed into shape by light. This material could one day lead to medical devices that build themselves inside a patient's body, or door latches that can be opened with a flashlight. Additional commentary available at The Science Blog"
Why do these "gee whiz" stories about new tech or materials always have such strange example applications?
"This material could one day lead to medical devices that build themselves inside a patient's body, or door latches that can be opened with a flashlight."
Okay, the medical one isn't so bad (except, kinda dark in a body)... but a door latch that opens with a flashlight? Huh?
How about...
- Plastic flowers that open in the sunlight!
- Sunglasses that automatically lower in front of your eyes!
- Light-based transformer toys!
- Gag sundials!
Okay, maybe this is harder than it looks...
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
This could allow retail level solar panels to eek out the equivalent to an additional 2 hours of peak sunlight over a 12 hour period. Initially this would appear to be a 10% improvement but in reality it is closer to a 30% improvement (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to integrate sin(x.pi/12) from 0 to 12 hours [flat panel on the ground with the sun passing directly overhead] to yield 6.28).
I should imagine the cost of the plastic is going to be far less than the processed silicon for solar cells.
da ZombieEngineer