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A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

wsj.com

121–130 of 135 posts

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#121

Not a single mention in the article of their biggest downside, environmental costs.

There are many ways to be environmentally costly... Can you be more specific?

The resins used in carbon fiber for example do not biodegrade. New studies are coming out everyday demonstrating that microplastics and nanoplastics of synthetic materials interfere with the Earth's biosphere, in all sorts of ways. DNA transcription errors, hormonal disruption, increase in arterial plaque and heart attack/stroke, etc. Considering the article is largely about composite materials formed using resins, it stands out that no mention is made of synthetic, plastic resins vs the potential for biodegradable, non-accumulating resins.

For carbon fiber, a quick google reveals that polyacrylonitrile is the most widely used resin. According to google it is not readily biodegradable: https://www.igtpan.com/Ingles/reciclagem_poliacrilonitrila.a....

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#122

Not a single mention in the article of their biggest downside, environmental costs.

I would have been interested in the recycling aspect of these materials. We already struggle with plastic and PFAS, should this not be discussed before there's another problem?

The same demons who create those materials are responsible for composites.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#123
post #76

It's always fun to read an article like this, spot the "this is a press release" tone, and then spot which company had it placed in the WSJ. Along with a quote from the CEO. It's basically free advertising.

Which company? There are mentions of at least 3 companies, with at least 2 CEOs quoted

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#124

One of my biggest everyday QoL upgrade is men's casual pants finally getting elastane. E: not just elastane but performance fabrics from athleisure in general, good moisture/odour/temperature control, easy to maintain etc. Some people like break in into their cotton/denim classics, but performance fabrics tend to not need break in in at all.

> One of my biggest everyday QoL upgrade is men's casual pants finally getting elastane.

I don't know if it's elastane but I've definitely seen QoL improvements in clothing compared to 35 years ago (back when I was a teenagers).

Underwear are soooo soft. And they fit perfectly. Same for t-shirts. Same for socks.

I don't know what makes some clothes so comfy (and requiring no ironing either btw) but there's "something" that makes lots of clothes simply better nowadays.

And they last too: I'm the kind of person who hates shopping (which drives my wife mad) so when I find something I like, I'll buy three or five of them (which drives my wife even madder). I've got some pieces I have since years and years (that one is nearly divorce reason ;) Sometimes I find a five years old picture and think: "Oh I already had that thing back then!?".

Yeah, many clothes are just simply better now.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#125

One of my biggest everyday QoL upgrade is men's casual pants finally getting elastane. E: not just elastane but performance fabrics from athleisure in general, good moisture/odour/temperature control, easy to maintain etc. Some people like break in into their cotton/denim classics, but performance fabrics tend to not need break in in at all.

> One of my biggest everyday QoL upgrade is men's casual pants finally getting elastane. I don't know if it's elastane but I've definitely seen QoL improvements in clothing compared to 35 years ago (back when I was a teenagers). Underwear are soooo soft. And they fit perfectly. Same for t-shirts. Same for socks. I don't know what makes some clothes so comfy (and requiring no ironing either btw) but there's "something…

I'm with you. All my socks are the same brand, same color. No pair matching needed. They are all the same.

That and having breakfast. It's the same almost everyday - unflavored whey + frozen fruits protein shake.

Brain cycles saved by not having to think.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#126
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and finally Romans developed something resembling concrete (I dont remember kYa). About 2 kYa, give or take a couple of centuries. And it was actual concrete, rather than something resembling concrete. In fact, better than the concrete we were making a hundred years ago, and better than most of our concrete fifty years ago. Roman aqueducts and bridges are still standing 2000 years later. Not sure I'd put money on t…

Yeah there was a theory discussed on HN a couple of years ago that superior qualities came from mixing in quicklime (CaO). I'm not sure if they've developed that and tested it against modern concretes. I guess it's hard to tell if they'll last 2000 years without waiting quite a while. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34280239 )

I heard it was that they used seawater not freshwater.

And yes, we'll have to wait a while. Though probably not 2000 years - we only have to wait until our concrete starts failing, which might be a lot sooner than that.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only possible way this comment could be more satisfying to read would be if it ended with "Until now." before the camera pans to a strange planet and the movie begins

An interesting fact is that while almost all solid objects that exist in the Solar System have their origin in the condensation of gases from which the Solar System has formed, there exist also the so-called pre-solar grains. The pre-solar grains are microscopic crystals, i.e. particles of dust, which have come to the Solar System as already solid grains of dust, from other stellar systems, typically having been prop…

These are two of the coolest and most fascinating comments I’ve read. Idk if you are a professional …. Astrogeologist?? or just a really smart person but I would like to subscribe to your newsletter for sure. Thanks for sharing this!

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mitmflared

flared yourself. just use another DNS. edit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38373137 root cause: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=cloudflare+archive

I don't use anyone's DNS. I just think it's ridiculous for an archive to be behind crimeflare's MITM-as-a-service.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#129
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting fact is that while almost all solid objects that exist in the Solar System have their origin in the condensation of gases from which the Solar System has formed, there exist also the so-called pre-solar grains. The pre-solar grains are microscopic crystals, i.e. particles of dust, which have come to the Solar System as already solid grains of dust, from other stellar systems, typically having been prop…

These are two of the coolest and most fascinating comments I’ve read. Idk if you are a professional …. Astrogeologist?? or just a really smart person but I would like to subscribe to your newsletter for sure. Thanks for sharing this!

No, I am an electronics engineer. However, I happened to have some relationships with a few professional astronomers, because my father had worked for many years in an astronomical observatory, and I keep following the research publications in this domain.

There are a few such facts about the history and the diversity of the world in which we live that deserve to be known by more people.

Re: A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything from Smartphones to Missiles

#130
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An interesting fact is that while almost all solid objects that exist in the Solar System have their origin in the condensation of gases from which the Solar System has formed, there exist also the so-called pre-solar grains. The pre-solar grains are microscopic crystals, i.e. particles of dust, which have come to the Solar System as already solid grains of dust, from other stellar systems, typically having been prop…

Is there any high quality sci-fi that explores the second type of solar systems?

Most SF movies prefer to show only planets of the terrestrial type, in order to allow the actors to roam freely there and show their uncovered faces to the cameras.

At most there have been a few novels or movies that have attempted to describe less familiar landscapes, such as those that could be encountered on the satellites of Jupiter or Saturn.

There have been a few SF stories about planets made of some exotic materials, like diamond or some metals or some superheavy elements, but those were complete fantastic stories without any scientific base and the planets described there could not exist anywhere in the known universe.

I am not aware of any novel or movie that has tried to show a completely alien planet, of the kind that could not exist in the Solar System, but which could really exist in other stellar systems. A planet from a stellar system with a high C/O ratio might have rocks made of abrasive carborundum (i.e. silicon carbide), an atmosphere composed of methane, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and an ocean containing a mixture of hydrocarbons, like some kind of petroleum.

If there would be life forms there, they could have very significant differences from the life forms that can appear in the stellar systems of the Solar type.

Here on Earth, an essential chemical property for life is the distinction between hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances, i.e. the fact that water and oil do not mix, which enables the existence of the cells of all living beings, which are made of hydrophobic membranes that partition a hydrophilic solvent. Perhaps on a planet with reversed abundances, where hydrocarbons are very abundant and water is scarce, one could have reversed cell structures, with a hydrophobic solvent partitioned by hydrophilic membranes, though it is not clear if such structures can be made stable. In such a place, most metals would be present in easy to reduce compounds, so living beings with metallic skeletons might exist. (Though at least for now, the appearance of life in such stellar systems seems less likely. In the terrestrial kind of planets, the energy flux for the appearance of life has been provided mainly by the free dihydrogen generated by the oxidation of Fe(II) ions to Fe(III) ions by water, in volcanoes and in hydrothermal vents. It is not known whether some equivalent energy source can exist in a place with little water, but abundant hydrocarbons.)

An SF novel or movie with such a subject, about the exploration of a completely unfamiliar world, could be interesting, but this kind of SF novels were written only up to around a half of century ago. Most modern SF novels or movies no longer try to analyze the consequences of intriguing scientific hypotheses, but they choose the lazier way of just transposing traditional fantastic stories into a pseudo-scientific framework.

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