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“BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS represent plug-and-play materials with phase changes and changes in shape, density, moduli, conductivity, and optical properties ideally suited for programming inert materials. In addition, manipulating genetic programming of cells has been carried out ever since animal and plant breeding started. This combination represents one of the greatest opportunities for programmable matter.” https://lnkd.in/dQjg2VM View in LinkedIn

"ELECTROMAGNETIC COUPLING is ubiquitous in biological systems, inorganic materials, and molecular systems. The mechanical response to an applied electrical stimulus and the electrical response to an applied mechanical stimulus are the bases for numerous technological applications and accompany many biological processes, and yet little is known about electromechanics on the nanoscale." https://lnkd.in/d2Bw7Va View in LinkedIn

PHOTONIC CRYSTALS have been featured a number of times in this blog, as nature's first semiconductor, asymmetrically splitting photons to cause reflectance and light wave interference so that iridescent colors can be generated. Examples include iridescent beetle wings and butterfly wings. Now humans are playing catch-up with nature and using this highly evolved system for technical applications. View in LinkedIn

Girona cathedral. View in LinkedIn

"PHASE-CHANGE MATERIALS are some of the most promising materials for data-storage applications." https://lnkd.in/dPfi2nW View in LinkedIn

"OPTOELECTRONIC phase change materials (PCM) have markedly different optical reflectivity and electrical conductivity in their disordered and ordered phases. They can be switched rapidly and reversibly between their better conducting crystalline and the more insulating amorphous phases. Owing to their properties, PCMs are used as non-volatile memory materials and bear promise as materials for programmable logic circuits." https://lnkd.in/eC9wHtZ View in LinkedIn

OPTICAL ACTIVITY due to chirally asymmetrical molecules is a common phenomenon in natural systems. "Millions of years before we began to manipulate the flow of light using synthetic structures, biological systems were using nanometre-scale architectures to produce striking optical effects. An astonishing variety of natural photonic structures exists." Great summary article. https://lnkd.in/d8Egb3r View in LinkedIn