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Material in Science Fiction
(Technovelgy items at top: skip
down to News)
Name |
Author (Publication Date) |
| Arthur C. Clarke (1978) | |
| Douglas Adams (1980) | |
| Philip K. Dick (1965) | |
| E.C. Tubb (1958) | |
| Author Unknown (1984) | |
| H. Beam Piper (1962) | |
| Charles Stross (2005) | |
| H.G. Wells (1899) | |
| Frank Herbert (1965) | |
| Rudy Rucker (1988) | |
| Clifford Simak (1963) | |
| Gene Wolfe (1980) | |
| Edgar Rice Burroughs (1929) | |
| Robert H. Wilson (1931) | |
| Arthur C. Clarke (1978) | |
| Lawrence O'Donnell (1943) | |
| Philip Frances Nowlan (1928) | |
| John Brunner (1968) | |
| Frank Herbert (1965) | |
| E.E. 'Doc' Smith (1965) | |
| Neal Stephenson (1995) | |
| William Gibson (1988) | |
| Arthur C. Clarke (1956) | |
| Larry Niven (1969) | |
| Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle) (1974) | |
| Ridley Scott (1982) | |
| Jules Verne (1866) | |
| John Brunner (1975) | |
| Frank Herbert (1965) | |
| Sigizmund Krzhizhanowsky (1925) | |
| Larry Niven (1970) | |
| Stephen Baxter (1994) | |
| Larry Niven (1970) | |
| Larry Niven (1968) | |
| Bob Shaw (1968) | |
| L. Sprague de Camp (1940) | |
| William Gibson (1999) | |
| William Gibson (1999) | |
| Hugo Gernsback (1911) | |
| John W. Campbell (1932) | |
| Nat Schachner (1941) | |
| Larry Niven (1973) | |
| Philip Frances Nowlan (1928) | |
| Philip Frances Nowlan (1928) |
Related Science Fiction in the News
Brine Wells May Swallow Towns What kind of spaces are we opening up beneath our feet? (re: Sigizmund Krzhizhanowsky, 11/18/2009 ) |
Silicon-Silk Electronic Implants What would you do with implantable electronics that could flex right along with your body? (re: Paul Di Filippo, 11/4/2009 ) |
Thermeleon Roof Tiles Change Color To Save Energy Very clever project could greatly save on heating and cooling costs. I also like the name chosen for the team that developed the material. (re: Frank Herbert, 10/9/2009 ) |
Tooth Enamel Secret To Stronger Aircraft Looking for a new composite to build stronger planes? Smile, aerospace engineers, new materials are on the way. (re: Dan Simmons, 8/25/2009 ) |
Self-Healing Metal Coating Imagine a material that can heal itself when scratched, or become more corrosion-resistant, or become self-lubricating. (re: J.G. Ballard, 8/10/2009 ) |
New Transparent Aluminum Somewhat Shortlived What, another story about transparent aluminum. No really, it is transparent. To ultraviolet lights. For a very short time. But it's pretty cool. (re: Gene Roddenberry, 7/28/2009 ) |
InfoChemistry And Self-Folding Origami DARPA is moving right along on their programmable matter project. (re: Various, 6/11/2009 ) |
Silver-Based Epoxy Makes Electronics Thinner Interesting technique for making memory packages smaller - I'm pretty sure I read about this idea more than thirty years ago. (re: Niven and Pournelle, 5/20/2009 ) |
Bendable, Self-Healing Concrete This engineered cement composite can not only bend, it can heal itself without any intervention from human beings. (re: J.G. Ballard, 5/6/2009 ) |
Atomic Layer Deposition Like Wolverine's This technique could also toughen other biomaterials. Like possibly an X-man's skeleton and claws? (re: Various, 5/5/2009 ) |
BAM! It's More Slippery Than Teflon (And Greener) Remarkable material is super slick and super hard, even in the thinnest coating. (re: Clifford Simak, 11/26/2008 ) |
'Plastic Steel': Optically Transparent Plastic Nanocomposites Sounds pretty close to transparent aluminum to me; and it's available in thin sheets like Visqueen or Mylar. (re: Various, 11/25/2008 ) |
Carbon Nanotube Speakers Are Flexible, Transparent This material could be an enabler for a variety of science fictional ideas, Update: a reader has found a great precursor to the idea of a flexible speaker. (re: Bruce Sterling, 11/22/2008 ) |
Buckypaper To Go Commercial Soon Fascinating material may actually be available soon in commercial quantities as a product for use in aerospace and other industries. (re: Various, 10/20/2008 ) |
E-Skin For Robots Stretches Like Yours Modern science marches on, making robots nicer to the touch. (re: Various, 8/13/2008 ) |
Neowater - Like Intracellular Water Unique process creates a specially structured water that is very similar to intracellular water; this should have both medical and industry applications. (re: Kurt Vonnegut, 8/6/2008 ) |
Graphene Is Also Super Strong One of the most remarkable materials ever discovered, graphene continues to amaze. (re: Roger Zelazny, 7/20/2008 ) |
Nanopaper - Paper Tough As Steel This material sounds like it has a lot of potential; light as paper, with the tensile strength of steel. (re: Jules Verne, 7/1/2008 ) |
Two Plastics Merge To Create 'Metal' Interesting combination of insulators produces a conductor. (re: Frank Herbert, 6/16/2008 ) |
Flexible Rigid Biopolymer Inspired By Sea Cucumbers Researchers look to the humble sea cucumber for help in finding new materials for implantable electrodes. (re: William Gibson, 6/13/2008 ) |
Scientist Web-Spinners Could Just Ask Spiderman I had no idea that detailed information on how Spiderman actually generates his webs was so easily available. (re: Stan Lee, 5/1/2008 ) |
Graphene Reveals Fine Structure Constant This amazing nanofabric is just one atom thick; physicists looking through this material can see one of the most mysterious fundamental constants known to science. (re: Roger Zelazny, 4/4/2008 ) |
Metal Prices High Enough For Robot Sacrifice When will we program robots to recycle themselves? (re: Various, 3/25/2008 ) |
Iron Man Dreaming of Biological Fabrication of Circuits I've always admired the diatoms - they are truly our friends. But now, they might even be able to help us make smaller circuits. (re: Unknown, 3/8/2008 ) |
Smart Paint: Electronic Power System Surfaces Ah, remember those days when the label on a plastic bottle or similar surface was static? Soon, companies will be able to change it even after you buy the product. (re: Steven Spielberg, 3/5/2008 ) |
Piezoelectric Zinc Oxide Nanowire Fashions For Spring When I think of all the energy wasted in the sixties from corduroy pants alone, it makes me weep. (re: Frank Herbert, 2/16/2008 ) |
Nanofibers In Unlimited Lengths Now Available I don't need fibers that are actually unlimited; nanotubes that were long enough to reach the ISS are probably long enough... (re: Arthur C. Clarke, 2/13/2008 ) |
3D DNA-Directed Nanoassembly First instance of three-dimensional self-directed nanoassembly; building materials from the bottom up. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun, 2/5/2008 ) |
Carbon Nanotube Blackness Blacker Than Black Absorbs 99.9 percent of incident light, and good enough for Zaphod Beeblebrox - maybe. (re: Douglas Adams, 1/21/2008 ) |
Zetix Blast Resistant Fabric Has Other Uses This amazing material has a very counter-intuitive property; it gets thicker when you stretch it out. (re: Various, 12/7/2007 ) |
Plasteel? UM's New Ultrastrong Nanocomposite Nifty new material built in layers like mother of pearl has the strength, if not the ductility, of steel. (re: Frank Herbert, 10/5/2007 ) |
Betavoltaic Battery: 30 Years Of Power Is it possible to create a small battery that could power a laptop for years? (re: Robert Heinlein, 10/3/2007 ) |
Ice-Nine Modeled In Harvard Computer - We're Doomed Okay, the world probably won't end, but Harvard researchers really do think they have found a way for ice to be solid at room temp. (re: Kurt Vonnegut, 10/1/2007 ) |
Geckel Adhesive Has Gecko-Mussel Foot Power To get the ultimate in stickiness, you must sit at the feet of the masters. (re: Various, 7/20/2007 ) |
Richard Palmer, d3o Inventor, O2 X Entrepreneur of the Year Inventor Richard Palmer gets a bit of recognition for bringing science fiction to life for all of us. (re: Larry Niven, 7/10/2007 ) |
Self-Healing Polymer Autonomous Material System Autonomous materials may be able to heal themselves without high maintenance costs. (re: J.G. Ballard, 6/13/2007 ) |
Rhenium Diboride Like Metal, Crystal Tip for creating latest super-tough material found in Doc Smith. (re: E.E. 'Doc' Smith, 4/25/2007 ) |
Kryptonite Discovered By Scientist Boffins are finally able to identify mysterious mineral. (re: DC Comics, 4/24/2007 ) |
Slow Light 'Scenedow' Close At Hand It looks like a prototype 'scenedow' from Light of Other Days has been created at the University of Rochester. (re: Bob Shaw, 1/20/2007 ) |
Shape-Memory Polymers Temperature Morphing Special polymers perform amazing stunts in response to modest temperature changes. (re: Various, 11/25/2006 ) |
d3o Design Competition To Invent The Future Design your own materials for the future using d3o intelligent molecules, and win cash prizes. (re: L. Niven, 7/5/2006 ) |
Namib Desert Beetle-based Dune Dew Collectors They're not chromoplastic, but this new material could be used in Frank Herbert's dew collectors from Dune. (re: Frank Herbert, 6/18/2006 ) |
Metal-like Polymer Developed In South Korea Who would ever think of flexible, extrudable plastic with the same properties as metal wire? SF authors, that's who. (re: Niven and Pournelle, 5/9/2006 ) |
Anti-Adhesive Surfaces Of Plants The natural world is the source of some of the best 'thinking' in materials science. (re: Clifford Simak, 1/18/2006 ) |
New Materials One Atom Thick Extracted With Micromechanical Cleavage Science fictional materials are created by extracting individual atomic planes from conventional bulk crystals by using a technique called 'micromechanical cleavage'. (re: Roger Zelazny, 7/21/2005 ) |
Invisibility Using Plasmonic Covers Researchers Andrea Alu and Nader Engheta of the University of Pennsylvania have written a paper on how plasmonic resonance effects might be used to render an object invisible. (re: H.G. Wells, 3/2/2005 ) |
Water-Repellent 'Bumpy' Glass Mimics Lotus Leaves The lotus is a good model for a water-repellent surface; they are waxy and covered with tiny bumps that make water roll off. Surfaces like ordinary glass are naturally wettable; when water is poured onto it, its surface tension is reduced so it sprea (re: Frank Herbert, 1/30/2005 ) |
Graphene - Nanofabric One Atom Thick A nanofabric called graphene just one atom thick has been created at The University of Manchester. (re: Roger Zelazny, 10/23/2004 ) |
Aluminate Glass: Did Scientists Create Transparent Aluminum? Scientists at 3M in Minnesota have alloyed aluminum oxide with rare-earth metal oxides to create a strong glass with good optical qualities - it really is transparent alumninum. (re: N. Meyer/H. Bennett, 8/23/2004 ) |
Pilkington Activ Glass - The Invisible Squeegee Of Window-Willie Pilkington Activ glass has a coating of microcrystalline titanium oxide that acts as an "invisible squeegee" to allow the surface to clean itself. (re: Robert Heinlein, 6/9/2004 ) |
Diamondoids From Crude Oil Aid Nanotechnology Research Diamondoids are now being refined from crude oil in sufficient quantities to allow for formal research and development in nanotechnology. Diamondoids are not for jewelry; each one is only .000000000000000001 carat in size. (re: Neal Stephenson, 5/10/2004 ) |
Arachnid Adhesion: The Sticky Feet Of Spiders We've all seen spiders crawl up a glass window, then hang upside down from the ceiling. This study used a scanning electron microscope to find out how they do it - and how humans might make sticky things stickier. (re: William Gibson, 4/27/2004 ) |
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