Self-healing rubber bounces back (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Roland Pease
BBC Radio Science Unit

A material that is able to self-repair even when it is sliced in two has been invented by French researchers.

The as-yet-unnamed material - a form of artificial rubber - is made from vegetable oil and a component of urine.

The substance, described in the journal Nature, produces surfaces when cut that retain a strong chemical attraction to each other.

Pieces of the material join together again as if never parted without the need for glue or a special treatment.

This remarkable property comes from careful engineering of the molecules in the material.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7254939.stm

Not the first such material, but an improvement over previous successes in some ways:
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/4038

[tridim]

1. Very cool!

[Bonescrat]

2. I'm headin' to the kitchen...

...to pee in some vegetable oil...

[RL3AO]

3. sounds like horror film plot material

now can they bring it to life?

[Occulus]

4. Oh, there are boatloads of applications for this stuff

The first thing I can think of is seals of all sorts. Another obvious application would be surgical gloves.

How about a replacement for the common zipper? No more broken teeth. Or, maybe, a refrigerator container that you cut open each and every time you use it, because it 'heals itself shut'.

This is some really cool stuff.

[krispos42]

5. Fuel tanks

Line all of them with this stuff. Even in a car crash, it would seal right up and prevent leaks.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. My first thought was a self-healing rubber ... i.e. a condom.

Not sure if it would work "in time", but it sounds like you could keep remolding a "retread" into functioning condition.