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Passage Eleven The stone age, The Iron Age.Entire epochs have been named for materials. So what to call the decades ahead?The choice will be tough. Welcome to the age of superstuff. Material science --once the least sexy technologyis bursting with new, practical discoveries ledby superconducting ceramics that may revolutionize electronics. Butsuperconductors are just part of the picture: from house and cars to cook potsand artificial teeth, the world will someday be made of different stuff. Exoticplastics, glass and ceramics will shape the future just as surely as havegenetic engineering and computer science. The key to the new materials isresearchers increasing ability to manipulate substances at the molecular level.Ceramics, for example, have long been limited by their brittleness. But byminimizing the microscopic imperfections that cause it, scientists are makingfar stronger ceramics that still retain such qualities as hardness and heatresistance. Ford Motor Co. now uses ceramic tools to cut steel. A firm calledKyocera has created a line of ceramic scissors and knives that stay sharp foryears and never rust or corrode. A similar transformation has overtakenplastics. High-strength polymers now form bridges, ice-skating rinks andhelicopter rotors. And one new plastic that generates electricity when vibratedor pushed is used in electric guitars, touch sensors for robot hands and karatejackets that automatically record each punch and chop. Even plastic litter,which once threatened to permanently blot the landscape, has proved amenable tomolecular tinkering. Several manufacturers now make biodegradable forms; someplastic six-pack rings for example, gradually decompose when exposed tosunlight. Researchers are developing ways to make plastics as recyclable asmetal or glass. Besides, compositesplastic reinforced with fibers of graphiteor other compoundsmade the round-the-world flight of the voyager possible andhave even been proved in combat: a helmet saved an infantrymans life bydeflecting two bullets in the Grenada invasion. | 
