Advanced Materials for Low Tech Uses

I'm fascinated by various new high tech materials, and how they might transform the world by replacing low tech materials. For instance, aerogel, made of silica and 99% air, has been around for a while, but is finally becoming more stable and useful.

 

 

Now it is available as insulating blankets with an R factor of 12-14, as opposed to typical fiberglass insulation value of R-3 or R-6 for foamed plastics. If this becomes cheap enough and is broadly deployed, in can make a huge difference in energy usage.

 

 

 

Vapore makes a high-tech ceramic "wick" with precise micron-sized features, that can be used for everything from fuel cells to microturbines, vapor deposition to drug delivery. But they could be used by Third World countries (and Japan) that still use kerosene and alcohol stoves. It is more efficient and inherently safer. 

 

Here is a new kind of concrete that has an embedded array of optical fibers to let light through. I can see all kinds of interesting uses of this in architecture.