Lab error leads to remarkable breakthrough

Like many great inventions, this substance was the result of an “oops.”

Jeannette Garcia was making a polymerization reaction in an IBM lab when she forgot to add one ingredient.

The result was two new polymers, one so strong "I couldn't even get it out of the flask," she told NBC News. "I had to break the glass with a hammer."

Called 'Titan,' the first substance is "a super-strong, super-light, and super-recyclable new material.” Another bonus, it’s a third as strong as steel. The second is a gel called “Hydro,” said to have the ability to heal itself when cut.

Scientists say both can be broken down to molecules, meaning they can be recycled.

There hasn’t much movement in polymers for decades. Styrofoam was developed in the 1940s, and nylon came about in the '30s.

More here.