We could sure use some cheaper polyimides.

I just got the latest email from NASA Tech Briefs, which included an invitation to a web seminar about Vespel. Now, I haven't worked with Vespel, per se, but I have very fond memories of some other polyimides. Back in my prototyping days I played around with any number of very tough materials since my fiber bending device required that I be able to soften high-temperature fiber optics, which required a heating system and surrounding framework that would have melted most conventional components.

Anyway, the point is, plastics really do enable lots of wonderful things. Things that we would be much impoverished by having to do without. But we need to have ones that forgo some of the typical weaknesses. Creation from petrochemicals. VOC outgassing. Vulnerability to heat. Well, since the days that NASA built silvered kapton polyimide sheets as insulators for the space shuttle it's been obvious to me that we should pay more attention to this class of materials. Can you imagine what it would do to the viability of fabric structures like yurts to be able to incorporate a massively tough silvered bubble wrap that didn't significantly outgas and could tolerate temperatures up to 300 Celcius?

So the next time somebody asks you why we should be working to get more American kids to study math and science, this is a mighty fine example of a technology that could still use a hell of a lot more work. One where improvement could result in products right out of science fiction that would enrich our lives. One that is not about software or sales or any of those other clean fingernail professions that everybody seems to think are the only important ones anymore. (Aside, of course, for our fetishized enthusiasm for any job that involves the chance to beat up and/or kill people.)

Keep it in mind. Cheap polyimides. The kind of thing that will never be on the cover of Time Magazine could really make our world a better place.

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[Interrobang]

VOCs and other compounds are a big problem. Not to sound like one of those woo-woo crystal-clutchers who rave on about "toxins" without specifying any, I'm genuinely concerned about a lot of these products.

Case in point, for those of you playing at home: Go to the website of any major corporation that handles industrial chemicals (try Monsanto, ICI Paints, Dow Chemical, DuPont, or any big chemical supply house, like Fisher Scientific; 3M is also good -- you want adhesives, sealants, or threadlockers). Search among their Material Safety Data Sheets for random compounds and products that you might find around your house, workplace, or environment. Start reading the MSDSs. Pay particularly close attention to the first section (hazard information) and the section with the toxicological information. Even accounting for how understated toxicologist-speak tends to be, you might be surprised at what you find...