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Getting materials out of the lab - Works in Progress

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Inventing new materials is only the first step. Getting them into mass production and use is just as hard.

I'm writing these words using plastic keys, on a composite wood desk, looking at a Gorilla Glass screen. The screen is linked to a machined-aluminum computer, inside of which doped silicon switches on and off a billion times per second. One hundred and fifty years ago, not a single one of these materials existed. The Works in Progress Newsletter Get new articles from Works in Progress delivered to your inbox. Sign up Materials are not charismatic technologies like cars or computers. Yet they enable almost every one of humanity’s technical achievements: rebar unlocked the skyscrapers of the 192

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