Futurist Jim Carroll<p>𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟔 - 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 - "𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦." - Futurist Jim Carroll</p><p>(𝐹𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝐽𝑖𝑚 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 30 𝑀𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛: 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑦 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔-𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡 - 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔.𝑗𝑖𝑚𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝑚)</p><p>We are experiencing unprecedented innovation in physical materials, everything from self-healing surfaces to programmable matter. These new substances enable product capabilities that were previously impossible."</p><p>I previously covered this megatrend in my "Big Future" series, which I ran a few years ago - you'll find the whole series over at - where else! - bigfuture.jimcarroll.com.</p><p>One of the trends I covered in that series involved "new materials science," and there is a lengthy blog post worth exploring.</p><p>To get a sense of this megatrend, read what I wrote back then:</p><p>---</p><p>We all use materials. We never really think about it too much, though: the science behind their discovery, the acceleration of that science, and what it leads to in terms of new opportunities. That’s what this post is about.</p><p>Why is it important? Virtually every single industry, new product discovery, and invention is the result of materials science.</p><p>What's fascinating is how, within this trend, a field of 'self-healing surfaces' and 'programmable matter' is coming about. Let's dig in! As always, there's a PDF of the full report right here.</p><p><a href="https://pdf.jimcarroll.com/Megatrend16-MaterialScience.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pdf.jimcarroll.com/Megatrend16</span><span class="invisible">-MaterialScience.pdf</span></a></p><p>**<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Materials" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Materials</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Science" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Science</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Innovation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Innovation</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Programmable" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Programmable</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Self" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Self</span></a>**-healing **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Technology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Technology</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Nanotechnology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Nanotechnology</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Chemistry" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Chemistry</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Future" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Future</span></a>** **<a href="https://mastodon.futurist.info/tags/Advanced" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Advanced</span></a>**</p><p>Original post: <a href="https://jimcarroll.com/2025/07/decoding-tomorrow-30-megatrends-16-material-science-breakthroughs-we-are-moving-beyond-static-objects-to-a-world-of-living-materials-that-heal-think-and-reshape-our-reality/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">jimcarroll.com/2025/07/decodin</span><span class="invisible">g-tomorrow-30-megatrends-16-material-science-breakthroughs-we-are-moving-beyond-static-objects-to-a-world-of-living-materials-that-heal-think-and-reshape-our-reality/</span></a></p>