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Schematic of optically healing polymers.
Schematic of optically healing polymers. The specially designed polymer molecules that make up the solid item can be disassembled by the UV light so that they flow and fill in the cracks. When the light is turned off, the molecules reassemble themselves and the filled cracks become rigid again.
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation, after Burnworth et al., Nature, April 21, 2011
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