What weird, futuristic material should we look into next?

Years ago Nitenol was classified. It had great memory but they didn't know what to do with it. Years later they realized they could pit it in heart defects if the place was going to have to move a lot, I have one in my heart. They squeeze it in and slide it in the heart. When I first got it I recall listening in my heart there. I heard my heart going. Ching ca Ching Ca Ching. On and on. Finally the heart will grow over it and it can't be heard anymore. The thing fixed the hole in my heart. I'm 69" .

I first heard of nitinol decades ago! It then seemed to fade from the public eye and now it’s back.

I didn't see it mentioned, but the name "Nitinol" is from "Nickel + Titanium + Naval Ordinance Lab" (I used to work for a company that used it to make cardiac stents)

Imagine having a house made of this stuff destroyed by a hurricane then rebuilt after catching it on fire. 😂

@VergeScience It was a great honor working with you to produce this video and educate the public about nitinol. Nitinol truly is poised to initiate the next technology revolution and we're thrilled to join you in a part of it.

The first time I came across nitinol was actually in an escape room where we found a wire and learned that we needed to heat it up. When we applied the heat, the wire shifted itself into words which led us to our next clue. It was extremely clever! I'm glad that people smarter than me have found applications outside of entertainment!

Nitinol is used everyday as arch wires in orthodontic braces and also in files for doing root canals

Maybe we can't regenerate like in COD.... But maybe our cars can.

Anyone else remember getting a tiny strip of Nitinol for free when you ordered it from a Popular Science article back in the late 70s?

And to think, this is just a tiny taste of the cool technologies engineers collaborating on space missions get to work with.

Nitinol: literally reinventing the wheel

The title made me though that the metal had a RAM memory by default. lol

I first found out about nickel titanium alloy when I was looking up what my brace’s arch wire is made of

This reminds me of what has been described as recovered ufo material from the Roswell crash where there was a metal foil type material that you could crumple and fold up and it would return to its normal state.

"we have the opportunity to step back and reassess entire systems"... In other words, reinvent the wheel!! Really missed an opportunity there 🤣

I would say this is what composes the Lamborghini Sian's rear engine flaps. Which automatically open up when engine warms up to a certain temperature without the help of any electricals! Although they haven't shared any details on its working.

I have gone from a video titled " how toddlers flex on other toddlers" from gus johnson to this. KZfaq recommendations are absolutely impeccable at 1: 30 in the morning

Yaoyorozu and Todoroki used something similar to this when they captured Eraser.

This is literally insane your imagination with this type of metal could be possible 🤯

Really, really interesting! This is why I love Verge!

Fantastic. I'm guessing a subcutaneous Erectile Dysfunction prosthetic is already in the works. LOL

It’s about time someone did something with this stuff. Heard of it since I was 7 years old and had trouble even looking it up till about 10 years ago and finally people are doing something.

Been watching your videos for years now and always enjoy them

*T-1000* *ORIGIN* *STORY* 👍🤖👌

Glad that I worked on this material during my undergrad! :)

Love the variety of topics you guys cover.

This is a great explanation of the properties and applications of NiTi alloys! I’m an orthodontist and we use the shape memory properties of NiTi wires in EVERY SINGLE patient! The result is greater comfort and duration of activation (fewer appointments = fewer missed school or work hours). Thank you, science!

I was reading a spy novel 20 years ago and the hero used a strand of thread in his clothing to make a weapon using heat from a match. 20 years ago!

Me: Oh so thats what magicians use to bend a spoon.

I worked with Dr. Santo Padula in the fall of 2015 as an intern at NASA Glenn in CLE; absolutely brilliant guy. I was so fortunate to have seen his research and the Nitinol rover wheel design.

I just love your content!! Thank you for all of it!!

This is honestly pretty incredible and my mind is racing right now thinking of possible applications to replace current everyday products. This metal could perform movements that would otherwise need mechanical processes. A crane or lift would be an example. The advantage here is the metal does all the work; only a heating and cooling device would be needed instead of a motor.

My father have been working on memory metals for over 20 years. Good morning verge

Thanks for improving my knowledge..this NITINOL metal is crazy good

Best thing I’ve seen in a long time. Wow. Flipping amazing.

I am a Materials Science graduate, and I approve this video!

This is simply superb EDIT: A link to academic papers is missing. Pity.

That last clip put the cherry on top, fantastic.

eye opening channel, truly remarkable.

You mentioned the drawbacks: it’s expensive, and difficult to work with. That’s why it’s (basically) only used in expensive applications, like medical devices.

is incredible to see how our civilization got so advanced in a fairly short time

On KZfaq. Thumbnail and Title always Matters. Keep up this Fascinating Work. Respect the Hardwork.

That’s so amazing! The last shot looks kind of like a super simplified pulling system

that feels like magic😂

Wow interesting alloy. Never heard it before.

Watching this from my Surface Book with Nitinol wires to clip attach and detach the display.... Awesome technology

Couldn't have said that last part better myself. Can't wait for this future!

Blacksmith: forges it It: returns to previous state Blacksmith: 👁️👄👁️

It might sound like conspiracy theory, but didn,t rosswell 1957 ufo has allegedly same metal properties? Spooky

Please put the songs in the description! And thanks for great content!

Some videos I wish I could send more then one like, this is definitely one of them.

Love Verge Science! Anyone wondering about the lighter used? Seem kinda cool

I can see this being useful for secondary ship-hull layering to auto-heal punctures.

I saw videos about this on Discovery channel about 20 years ago.... Glad to to see it again

Wow this is awesome man : )

At 2:08, that really blew my mind for some reason.

Is made out of the memory metal found in the Roswell crash?

Great material covering such a cool material!

Amazing especially the practicality of tires

The future/present is wild

I think this is the same material used in Lamborghini Sián FKP37 for its auto opening engine bay door, that work on its own without any computer help. They say it open when the engine bay temp reaches a threshold.

This is astounding stuff.

It's worth elaborating about the Nitinol-based motors, and their efficiency compared to heat engines or internal-combustion engines using the same fuel. Looking forward to seeing a video on this.

Everyone in nostalgia with Nitinol but I never knew this till I saw this video . It's an awesome alloy .

when Elon musk starts using this metal We know that are journey on Mars will be closer than we expected

My uncle had shown me spectacles made out of memory metal 22 years ago when he used his hands to completely crumple up the temples and bridge and then released them, so that they unfolded back into their original forms.

Amazing! thanks for your explanation...

But can we harness the energy from volcanos and geothermal pools? That's honestly where my brain went, not space...

I use nitinol, on my braces.. LOL

Great video!! NiTi was a huge game changer in orthodontics. Shape memory and consistent light forces means fewer wire changes and light forces over stainless steel. Even cooler, the transition temperature of the wires can be designed so they are super flexible at room temperature and “remember” their shape at mouth temperature.

Thank you so much for this video 👍🏻👌🏻✌🏻

Reminds me of the metal found in the Roswell UFO crash. supposedly. The crash happened in July 7, 1947, two years before it was used by Dr. William j. Buehler in his rockets.

All males have an organ like Nitinol when it's hot it expands and when cold it retracts to its original form..☺️

This absolutely incredible...

Recently heard about this earlier in the year and now I’m seeing it a good bit

I'm a time traveler, coming from a month ago. I wanted to let you guys in the future know that the Perseverance rover doesn't use those wheels and they went with normal wheels. Sorry.

Omg 😧

That's mental!!! This has a lot of potential!

3:56 i didn't expect NASA to be the type to use comic sans lol.

*Boys during puberty*

Insert my hero reference

Thanks again for sharing 🤘

You guys should make videos about science. Your really good🤓 Thx

Wow! Reminded me of my college final year project, using Nitinols SMA property to make railway track changing of tongue rail. ❤️❤️❤️

Great to see use of old technology

Thank you, it was really cool

Fascinating. Thanks

Brilliant story, thank you

Wow this can be substantially benefiting for all innovations.

This is so useful

Great video

I know some paragliders use Nitinol wires at the front where the cells are. This way the paraglider is a little less prone to collapses in rough air. If this is the future, I think Titanium and Nickel are a good investment opportunities 🤔

This is amazing!

You run high voltage through it and it will also bend too. I used it to make a steerable catheter for getting it to tight spots for brain aneurysms.

Very nicely made

It will! It will create a paradigm shift its honestly magical

A science teacher once showed my class a small amount of this metal, she talked of how it was gonna be the next big thing and they would make self repairing car body parts from it but then i never heard of it again until now That was about 20 years ago

Just a question, could you put highly thermaly conductive wires inside the nitinol itself? If you could, wouldn't that mean you don't need lighter anymore? Just some electricity would do. Or you could even put some tubes inside and then flow it with hot or cold liquid to control the memory states.

This is what they found in Roswell, among other things. That was a much more advanced version of Nitinol, which they still haven't back engineered.