Season 38: Episode 11

Season 38: Episode 13

Nova (1974)

Season 38: Episode 12

Making Stuff: Smarter

TMDb

Air Date:

2025-12-06

Genre

Documentary

Release Date

1974

End Date

2025

Episode Description

"Making Stuff: Smarter" looks at materials that respond to their environments and even learn, such as an airplane wing that changes shape as it flies. Scientists are turning to nature in developing such "smart" stuff. Sharkskin, for instance, has inspired a substance that, when sprayed in hospitals, could eliminate antibiotic-resistant bacteria. David Pogue visits a scientist who has even created a material that can render objects invisible. "Smarter" concludes with a vision of the ultimate in "life-like" stuff: programmable matter that could create a duplicate of a human being.

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