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Materials are everywhere in daily life. You probably use them without thinking about where they come from. Visiting Materials Science may change that.

From toys to takeout boxes, rechargeables to running shoes, materials are found in every aspect of your life. How much do you know about the history and makeup of these things you rely upon daily? Learn the science behind familiar materials like plastic and metals, and innovative new materials that may change our lives.

How are your roof's ceramic tiles
different from the ones
on the space shuttle's exterior?
More about the exhibit

Fabric of Our Lives

Explore where materials science is headed next as scientists and engineers push its limits forward. See how materials undergo destructive tests, create different carbon structures like diamond and graphene, identify the best elements for designing magnets and compare historic materials to the ones we use today. See a massive Atomic Probe Field-Ion Microscope, the type that first allowed scientists to image materials at a molecular and atomic level, opening the door to even more innovation. As materials science reaches smaller scales, its impact on our lives may only grow.