Researchers have created a new metallic material that they claim is the world's lightest solid material. With a density of just 0.9 mg/cm3 the material is around 100 times lighter than Styrofoam and ...

Imagine if there were a metallic device that could be transported all squished down into a compact ball, but that would automatically "bloom" out into its useful form when heated. Well, that may soon ...

A new metallic micro-lattice material which has been developed by a team of researchers from the University of California, has become the world’s lightest material. The new micro-lattice material is ...

Call them a bunch of intellectual lightweights. Researchers at HRL Laboratories and the Composites Center at the University of Southern California have created what they say is the lowest-density ...

Ultralight (less than 10 milligrams per cubic centimeter) cellular materials are desirable for thermal insulation; battery electrodes; catalyst supports; and acoustic, vibration, or shock energy ...

For years, scientists and engineers have synthesized materials at the nanoscale level to take advantage of their mechanical, optical, and energy properties, but efforts to scale these materials to ...

A new team is making impact-tolerant, deformable liquid metal structures using Field's alloy. It's not the first such "Terminator metal," but it combines rubber and metal to make a forgiving lattice.

This article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by ...