In a paper published in the January 8 print edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research team demonstrates that a synthetic system can reconfigure itself through a combination of chemical communication and interaction with light.
Balazs and her team developed a 3D gel model to test the effects of the chemical signaling and light on the material. They found that when the gel pieces were moved far apart, they would automatically come back together, exhibiting autochemotaxis—the ability to both emit and sense a chemical, and move in response to that signal.
“This study demonstrates the ability of a synthetic material to actually ‘talk to itself’ and follow out a given action or command, similar to such biological species as amoeba and termites,” says Balazs.
Scientists have discovered a synthetic material that can actually ‘talk to itself’