Our world is poised on the edge of a revolution in the science of materials. From carbon nanotubes to spider silk, sticky gecko feet to bulletproof foam, scientists are combining high-technology with nature’s most incredible inventions to create a new generation of materials which are stronger, smaller, cleaner, and smarter than anything we’ve seen before.

Hosted by the New York Times’ lively technology correspondent David Pogue, each hour in this four-part series explores the talent, luck, and determination that can turn a wild idea into a cutting-edge material or high-tech breakthrough.

Making Stuff: Stronger - What is the strongest material in the world? Is it iron? Are Kevlar and carbon nanotubes the way of the future, or will the powerful properties discovered in natural spider silk one day replace steel?

Making Stuff: Smaller - How small can we go? Could we one day have robots taking fantastic voyages in our bodies to kill rogue cells? The triumphs of tiny are seen all around us in the Information Age: transistors, microchips, laptops, cell phones.

Making Stuff: Smarter - What can nature teach us in building smarter materials? Can we create materials that sense and respond? When describing smart materials, one analogy scientists give is the evolution from the first Terminator robot, a machine made of metal and circuitry, to the shape-shifting liquid guy in Terminator 2, said Making Stuff producer Chris Schmidt.

Making Stuff: Cleaner - Most modern materials are dangerous to the environment, but what about cleaning up our world? Batteries grown from viruses, tires made from orange peel oil, plastics made of sugar, and solar cells that cook up hydrogen - these are just a few glimpses of a new generation of clean materials that could power devices of the future.

For thousands of years, humans have been manipulating the elements and the world’s raw materials. Now, scientists are generating new materials that function differently and stronger, smaller, smarter, and cleaner than ever.

Expected to revolutionize medicine and technology, these innovations are likely to result in an unprecedented trove of nifty new stuff that is sure to transform the way we work and play and live.

If you would like to win a copy of this fascinating new 2-Disc DVD, just answer this easy question about Kevlar: Kevlar is a heat-resistant and strong synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora and was developed by Stephanie Kwolek at ______ in 19__; but what are the two (2) missing factors in that sentence?!

Send us your answers and if you are correct you will be in the running to win one of these new DVDs! Just send us an e:mail here before November 30th, 2021 with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: MAKING STUFF DVDs to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

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