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A D V A N C E D
M A T E R I A L S
&
P R O C E S S E S |
M A R C H
2 0 1 5
7 OMG!
OUTRAGEOUSMATERIALSGOODNESS
Are you working with or have you
discovered a material or its properties
that exhibit OMG - Outrageous
Materials Goodness?
Send your submissions to
Julie Lucko at
.
the skull of Erlikosaurus andrewsi, a
3-4 m (10-13 ft) large herbivorous dino-
saur called a therizinosaur, which lived
more than 90 million years ago in what
is now Mongolia. Using a digital model
of the fossil, the skull of Erlikosaurus
was virtually disassembled into indi-
vidual elements. Any breaks or cracks
in the bones were digitally filled, while
missing elements were duplicated and
deformation was removed using ret-
rodeformation techniques to digitally
reverse the deformation steps. Final-
ly, the reconstructed elements were
reassembled. For more information:
Stephan Lautenschlager,
, .
SPECIALIZED SEM HELPS
ANALYZE ANCIENT ARTIFACTS
Geologist Timothy Rose of the
Smithsonian Institution’s Analytical
Laboratories, Washington, used his
lab’s high-tech nanoscale scanning
electron microscope (nanoSEM) to an-
alyze hundreds of artifacts from the
ancient Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan,
and Mezcala civilizations dating from
1500 B.C. to 600 A.D. “With our modern
imaging and analytical tools we can
look at objects at very high magnifi-
cation, which can reveal new details
about how, and sometimes when, ob-
jects were created,” says Rose. “Being
able to work in the low-vacuum mode
NEW MATERIAL LETS YOU
BREATHE UNDERWATER
Scientists at the University of
Southern Denmark created a crystal-
line material that can pull all the oxy-
gen out of a room and release it when
and where it’s needed. What some have
dubbed the Aquaman crystal offers
promise for those tethered to bulky
equipment. The material uses cobalt
bound in an organic molecule. “Cobalt
gives the new material precisely the
molecular and electronic structure that
enables it to absorb oxygen from its
surroundings,” says professor Christine
McKenzie. The material, like a sponge,
can absorb oxygen and release it many
times over. Once absorbed, the oxygen
can be released with a small amount of
heat or by exposure to low oxygen pres-
sure, like a vacuum. Researchers are
also investigating whether the oxygen
release could be triggered by light. For
more information: Christine McKenzie,
,
RESTORING RARE DINOSAUR
FOSSILS WITH CT SCANNING
A rare dinosaur fossil was restored
by an international team of scientists,
led by the University of Bristol, UK, using
high-resolution x-ray computed tomog-
raphy (CT scanning) and digital visual-
ization techniques. The team studied
allows us to put samples into the micro-
scope au naturel without coating them
with an electrically conductive material
such as carbon, which would be almost
impossible to remove from a speci-
men.” The nanoSEM functions reliably
over a range of pressures. For more in-
formation: Timothy Rose, ,
Just a few grains of a newly synthesizedmaterial could allow people to stay under-
water without scuba tanks.
Header image: Courtesy of Marlon Felippe.
Reconstruction of the Cretaceous
therizinosaur Erlikosaurus andrewsi
shows original fossil (back), reconstruct-
ed digital skull model (middle), and life-
reconstruction (front). Courtesy of
Stephan Lautenschlager.
A 17-cm carved stone figurine shown
inside the SEM chamber ready for nonde-
structive imaging and analysis. Courtesy
of T. Rose/Smithsonian.