Skip to content
Download
Self-Healing Materials

Self-Healing Materials

Discovery
Dec 9, 2013 27 min
Open in Clue

About this episode

<p>Quentin Cooper takes a look at the new materials that can mend themselves. Researchers are currently developing bacteria in concrete which, once awakened, excrete lime to fill any cracks. In South America you can choose a car paint that heals its own scratches. And there are even gold atoms which can migrate to mend tiny breaks in jet turbine blades.</p><p>Engineers normally design things so the likelihood of breaking is minimised. But by embracing the inevitability of breakage, a new class of materials which can mend cracks and fissures before you can see them may extend the lives of our cars, engines, buildings and aeroplanes far beyond current capability.</p><p>(Image: Presenter, Quentin Cooper, BBC Copyright)</p>

Listen to this episode in English to learn English

Podcast episodes are one of the highest-density ways to absorb English at native pace. Self-Healing Materials from Discovery gives you natural dialogue, unscripted speech, and vocabulary that actually appears in real conversations.

In the Clue app, every word in the transcript is tappable. Tap an unknown word, see the translation in your language instantly, and keep listening without breaking flow.

Episodes to Learn English

More podcasts in English