Quick Change for Super Sponge

by Mark Peplow news@nature.com, 20 Jul 2005 Just a little heat is enough to turn a waterproof block of foam into a sponge, a group of scientists reports. Neil Shirtcliffe and his colleagues from Nottingham Trent University, UK, don't quite know what their nifty materials could be used for. The waterproof-sponge hybrids have been made to perform their trick at 400 °C or less, so the most likely application might be as a temperature sensor in an oven, they suggest. Regardless of use, the materials are an interesting chemical oddity. Read more