Material self-repairs with light

A team of researchers in the United States and Switzerland has developed a polymer-based material that can heal itself with the help of a widely used type of lighting. Called "metallo-supramolecular polymers," the material is capable of becoming a supple liquid that fills crevasses and gaps left by scrapes and scuffs when placed under ultraviolet light for less than a minute and then resolidifying. The team involves researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, the Adolphe Merkle Institute of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. (Source: National Science Foundation, 04/21/11) Gulf Coast note: The University of Southern Mississippi is known nationally for its advanced materials research.