tonyfast edited anecdote.md  about 10 years ago

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#### An Anecdote from the Materials Science space   In materials science, we design new and improved materials to satisfy the demands of the most cutting edge technologies like aerospace and electronics and voluminous materials like aluminum and rubber. Our science is driven by microscopes and computers that observe what happens to EVERYTHING you use while you use. So here's an example, when a metal pipe bursts the material fails catastrophically. The crack that broke that pipe started on the order of atoms, a few atoms broke apart, then a lot more, then they started moving together, then some called pipe guy. We look at atoms, cracks, crystals, polymers, fibers, etc on the order of length scales from nanometers to airplanes. The images we generate are beautiful, we use the most sophisticated cameras in the world to see shit that no one else can see. It's beautiful, it's challenging, it has public appeal, it has research value, and sharing is caring. Below is a nanotruss, Julia Greer's group at CalTech makes them, this beautiful truss is less than half the size of human hair. Who cares how magnets work.