prostoalex's Journal: Self-healing artificial muscle built at UCLA

A group of researchers from UCLA Department of Materials Science and Engineering developed an artificial muscle made of carbon nanotubes, capable of healing itself. From the article: "The researchers used flexible, ever-more ubiquitous carbon nanotubes as electrodes instead of other films, often metal-based, that fail after repeated use. If an area of the carbon nanotube fails, the region around it seals itself by becoming non-conductive and prevents the fault from spreading to other areas." I don't know about you, but whenever I hear stories like these, my first concern is always whether I can use this technology to charge my iPod. Turns out, I can, as evidenced by Discovery Channel news report Artificial Muscle Heals Itself, Charges IPod.