Scientists have made a new material that is 99.8 percent air and 0.02 percent carbon nanotubes. The material is both strong and flexible and can contract like a muscle.
Despite its extreme lightness, it’s no featherweight. Pushed in one direction, the nanotube part of the muscle becomes stronger than stainless steel. When pulled at a right angle, however, the aerogel in the muscle becomes more elastic than rubber.
Unlike rubber, which has a relatively small range of temperatures in which it can function, the new aerogel can operate within a huge range of temperatures, from -196 degrees Celsius to more than 1600 degrees Celcius. That’s cold enough to turn nitrogen into a liquid, and hot enough to melt iron.
Paradoxically, heating the carbon nanotubes (up to a point) actually makes them stronger. Unlike materials like iron that become softer as they are heated, the carbon nanotubes become stiffer the hotter they become. — Discovery
