micro lattice world's lightest material The material is light enough to sit on top of a dandelion. YouTube/Screenshot

Boeing has released a video showcasing its revolutionary microlattice, "the world's lightest material."

The microlattice is a "3D open-cellular polymer structure" and is made up of interconnecting hollow tubes whose outer walls measure just one-1,000th the width of a human hair.

The material is one-100th as light as Styrofoam, making it the lightest and also one of the strongest materials known to science.

Sophia Yang, a research scientist at HRL laboratories who worked with Boeing on the creation of the material, says the metal is 99.99% air. She compares the material to bone, which has a rigid outside and mostly hollow inside, creating an open-cellular structure, which means it's remarkably strong and light.

The material has been made primarily for use in in aerospace engineering. Engineers intend to use the microlattice for plane interiors in places such as side panels, overhead cabins, or walkway areas. This would dramatically reduce the weight of the aircraft, making it more fuel-efficient and cheaper to run.


Yang also highlights the material's ability to absorb high levels of impact. Using the "egg challenge" as an example, she says: "You need to drop an egg from 25 stories and protect that egg ... What we can do is design the microlattice to absorb the force that the egg feels. So instead of having an egg that's wrapped in three feet of bubble wrap, now you have a much smaller package that your egg can sit in."

The microlattice was originally unveiled in November 2011 and was named one of 10 world-changing innovations by Popular Mechanics.