In the future, solid objects will react, sense, change and move according to their surroundings.
Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe

In the future, solid objects will react, sense, change and move according to their surroundings. This won’t be a result of clever robotics or electronics, but rather the fundamental properties of the stuff itself. In years to come, we will be living in selfregulating houses, riding selffixing bicycles, and driving on selfilluminating roads, all thanks to these socalled ‘smart materials’. These are metals, plastics, fabrics and fluids that react to the outside world without any human involvement, and they promise to change the way we live.

Anna Ploszajski is an awardwinning materials scientist, engineer and communicator, and in 2017 was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is a proud member of the Science Showoff Talent Factory and regularly performs standup comedy about materials and engineering as part of Science Showoff at venues from the local pub to the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2017 she was a FameLab national finalist.

This talk was filmed in the Ri on 19 March 2018.


Thank you for our Patreon supporters who help us make more videos like this:
Ashok Bommisetti, Greg Nagel, Lester Su, Rebecca Pan and Will Knott.


The Ri is on Patreon:   / theroyalinsti.  .
and Twitter:   / ri_science  
and Facebook:   / royalinstitution  
and Tumblr:   / riscience  
Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorialpo...
Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter