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Smart Materials: The Future of Stuff
Within our lifetimes, solid objects will react, sense, change and move according to their surroundings. This won’t be a result of fancy robotics or cunning electronics, but rather the fundamental properties of the materials themselves. In years to come, we will be living in self-regulating houses, riding self-fixing bicycles, and driving on self-illuminating roads, all thanks to smart materials. These are metals, plastics, fabrics and fluids that react to the outside world without any human involvement, and they promise to change the way we live our lives forever.

Dr Anna Ploszajski is an award-winning materials scientist, engineer and communicator. Named Young Engineer of the Year 2017, Anna is one of the UK’s leading communicators of materials and engineering. By day she is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Making, but by night she performs stand-up comedy about materials in the UK’s comedy basements. Anna is also a writer and produces a podcast about materials called ‘rial Talk. In the summer months, Anna can be found in wellies at the UK’s top festivals, performing her one-woman show about Smart Materials, or alternatively, swimming the English Channel.