Kicker - Kevlar’s chemical cousin

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: The man of steel can withstand just about anything thrown at him, but what about his suit?

Well a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a material that is superhero worthy. It’s twice as strong as steel and one-sixth as bulky!

It can conduct electricity and block gas.

It also takes a lot less energy to produce than steel. The process is actually very similar to the process of making plastic. And that’s because it is plastic.

But it’s not just any plastic. Researchers are calling the two dimensional polymer 2DPA-1. MIT chemical engineering professor Michael Strano said it’s the chemical cousin of Kevlar, the substance used in bulletproof vests.

Researchers say it could eventually be used to make most anything stronger—from the buildings we live and work in, to our electronic devices, so protecting the world and everything in it.

MYRNA BROWN: Now that is super.

BUTLER: It’s The World and Everything in It.

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