Anyone who has a smartphone knows the feeling of slight cardiac arrest whenever a phone is dropped, especially face-down. Those moments in between the drop and pick up are filled with anxiety. Well, researchers in the United Kingdom feel our pain, and have developed a "self-healing" material that they believe can be used for electronic devices.
The material was originally designed for aeroplane wings, according to The Independent. Kurt "The Cyber Guy" Knutsson said that the material works similar to the human body, in particular how blood clots and forms a protective scab to heal wounds.
The new material contains millions of microscopic spheres, according to Business Insider. The spheres break down into liquid, which then mesh together and fill any cracks. The liquid hardens and glues the pieces together, leaving a near-perfect fix, according to Fox News Insider.
While this sounds amazing to smartphone consumers, it sounds like money being flushed down the toilet to manufacturers. It is obvious that if this technology appears in cell phones, profits that companies get to repair devices would decrease.
The Independent reports that the material made for airplane wings can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a day to repair a damaged wing. It remains to be seen how long it would take to repair a broken cell phone screen, should the material be incorporated into the devices one day. The researchers caution the public to be patient, as they estimate the material to be "widely available" within the next five to ten years.
