PBS - Making Stuff (2011) Part 4 Making Stuff Smarter

Making Stuff

Invisibility cloaks. Spider silk that is stronger than steel. Plastics made of sugar that dissolves in landfills. Self-healing military vehicles. Smart pills and micro-robots that zap diseases. Clothes that monitor your mood. What will the future bring, and what will it be made of? In NOVA's four-hour series, “Making Stuff,” popular New York Times technology reporter David Pogue takes viewers on a fun-filled tour of the material world we live in, and the one that may lie ahead. Gets a behind-the-scenes look at scientific innovations ushering in a new generation of materials that are stronger, smaller, cleaner, and smarter than anything we've ever seen?

Part 4 Making Stuff Smarter

“Making Stuff Smarter” looks at materials that respond to their environments and even learn, such as an airplane wing that changes shape as it flies. Scientists are turning to nature in developing such “smart” stuff. Sharkskin, for instance, has inspired a substance that, when sprayed in hospitals, could eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria. David Pogue visits a scientist who has even created a material that can render objects invisible. “Smarter” concludes with a vision of the ultimate in “life-like” stuff programmable matter that could create a duplicate of a human being.

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