The Brave New World of Meta-Materials.

The world as associations now know it will change drastically as science masters the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct matter to exacting specification.

Editor's note: The third millennium may have barely begun, but it's never too soon to find out what role associations might play in our ever-changing world. This article, the fourth in a six-part series that debuted in ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT's December 1999 issue, explores the scientific advances of the meta-materials era. Series' author Graham T.T. Molitor, vice president and legal counsel, World Future Society, Bethesda, Maryland, and president, Public Policy Forecasting, Potomac, Maryland, describes the coming waves of economic activity he forecasts will dominate the United States and how these eras will impact associations. The two remaining articles in the series will explore a new atomic age and a new space age. Molitor's new books, The Next 1,000 Years and a multiple-volume Chronology of Civilization, comprehensively describing patterns of change, are scheduled for release in 2002.

In the meta-materials age, "quality of life will take enormous strides forward," observes Molitor. "Manipulating atomic matter into meta-materials will radically transform the physical sciences, resulting in vastly enhanced supplies of resources--and products and processes man has only dreamed of." Care to debate any of Molitor's observations or assumptions? We'd love to share your perspective with other readers, so please e-mail us at [e-mail].

By 2100, meta-material technologies, including the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct matter at atomic and subatomic levels to achieve desired properties, will begin radically transforming the physical sciences. Unbelievable results will proliferate disciplines ranging from architecture to computer technology--to creations found only in an alchemist's wildest dreams. Advanced understanding of the biochemistry of life's instructional genetic codes projected for the life-sciences era (See "Life-Sciences Era Evolves Amidst Controversy," in ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT's May 2000 issue), will be followed by parallel developments in physics and chemistry, involving mastery over quantum mechanics that enable construction of designer materials. Harnessing of nan-otechnologies will introduce devices that previously existed only in the realm of science fiction. Fully understanding and adroitly manipulating subatomic matter will require considerable time. While advances already are being implemented, taking these technol ogies to a dominant position and role in the economy may come about between 2200 and 2300.

That distant time horizon indicates the time when meta-material technologies predominate all economic activity. Here-and-now realities involve dizzying breakthroughs, each and every one of them resulting in transformative advancements. The fascinating developments outlined in this article represent just the tip of the iceberg of what's to come.

Synthetics and designer materials

Much is already here. A succession of man-made metallurgical materials and alloys have characterized entire ages of earlier civilization--for example, the Bronze Age. In current times, scientific breakthroughs in manipulating matter have produced a dazzling profusion of superalloys, high-temperature superconductors, engineered ceramics, composites, and glass metallics. Materials emerging from the application of temperature, pressure, time, and other variables continue to transform the physical dimensions of earthly existence.

A total of 118 elements were known or described by 1998. Very heavy, superactinide radioactive elements have been predicted since the late-1990s. On a more practical plane, a vast range of synthetic materials has been designed in recent years. Imitating and actually improving upon nature, they continue to roll out at remarkable rates. Plastics, commencing with vinyl and polystyrene, discovered in 1828, launched vital industries. Synthetic fabrics--beginning with rayon in 1879, followed by Lycra for the fashion-conscious and GoreTex used in breathable and self-wicking sportswear--include bullet-proof Kevlar (an aramide fiber five times stronger than steel) and Dyneema (15 times stronger than steel).

Electroconductive plastics (1984), epoxy resin (1947), polycarbonate "unbreakable" windows (1956), and Teflon for nonstick cookware (1938) provide other examples of modern polymer chemistry that makes living a little easier and a little more comfortable.

New materials are being developed every day. More than 10 million chemical compounds had been identified as of 1988. Millions more are thought to be known but not recorded. And the number keeps growing, with an additional 400,000 compounds discovered each year.

Evolution and convergence

The onslaught of the meta-materials era is based upon thousands of such tethering trends and materials, the overall significance of which is typically difficult to discern or rarely noted. The way in which the meta-materials era will unfold (albeit even more quickly) might easily resemble the radical transformation of urban architecture during the 20th century as a result of the confluence of a host of advances in building materials. High-rise building construction, centerpiece to this drastic change, was made possible by advances in reinforced concrete, pre-stressed and post-stressed concrete, and high-strength and low-cost steel that merged construction strength with lightness.

Other supporting technologies shifted habitats skyward: elevators, air conditioning, central heating systems, electricity, high-pressure pumps, and so forth. By the 1930s, skyscrapers pierced urban landscapes everywhere. Hindsight often illuminates the components of such advancements. Hence, this article focuses attention on the critical developments in meta-materials today that will translate into the realities of tomorrow, particularly for related associations. Looking ahead in this way can provide perspectives that help push developments into optimal pathways, accelerate the pace of change, and provide opportunities for associations to aggressively pursue advantageous courses of action.

Subatomic matter: quantum phenomena

Meta-material developments involve unraveling the mysteries of such scientific disciplines as quantum mechanics, quantum chromodynamics, quantum electrodynamics, particulate physics, and other phenomena associated with myriad states and configurations of matter. Creation of antimatter (see side-bar of definitions, "Mastering the Jargon") opens up new realms for understanding other little-known dimensions of matter.

The quantum realms of mechanics and physics involve subatomic-level phenomena. Discovery of subatomic particles is akin to peeling away outer layers of a large onion. About 60 years ago, atoms were thought to consist of three components: a cloud of electrons, protons, and neutrons. By the 1960s, the number of observed subatomic particles had grown to 100, then to 200 by 1982, and 300 by the 1990s, with the end not yet within sight.

The Large Electron-Positron Collider operational in 1989 at CERN laboratories near Geneva, Switzerland, can discern particles as small as 10 quintillionths of a meter. Resolution on this scale discerns the first components of matter and energy from which the entire universe evolved. The Large Hadron Collider, scheduled to come online by 2005 with energy levels seven times that of current instruments, will expand frontiers even further.

Capturing snapshots of particles isn't easy. To grasp the diminutive and evanescent dimensions involved at this level, ponder the fact that 6.242 quintillion electrons pass a given point in an electric circuit each second. Once the precise nature of matter is understood, science will be able to control physical parameters at will. That time is not far away.

Clearly the amazing cache of new materials and products derived from scientific manipulation of these miniature bits of matter will redefine markets, industries, and the entire U.S. economy. Associations addressing the numerous issues involving meta-materials--including the American Chemical Society, Institute of Electronic and Electronics Engineers, and Material Marketing Association--will assume major responsibilities in this unfolding era. Countless other organizations that are not as directly linked to developments will also be affected by the chain reaction triggered by a major economic shift.

Scientific manipulations

By gaining control over some of the forces that determine particles of matter, scientists are able--and will become more sophisticated in their efforts--to manipulate matter into forms, products, and processes that have far-reaching effects for society and for associations. Scientists are already exerting forces that greatly alter the characteristics of matter.

High- and low-pressure physics. Pressure, lots or little of it, profoundly affects the nature of matter and demonstrates just one small part of what is to come. Pressures amounting to millions of atmospheres already have been created. Exerting 2.5 million atmospheres of pressure on hydrogen gas, for example, metallizes the gas, and in this form, gives it hundreds of times the thrust of any other fuel, thereby introducing new propulsion possibilities. Similarly, oxygen becomes a superconducting metal at a pressure of about 1 million atmospheres.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, laboratory low-pressure vacuums of one billionth of an atmosphere have been achieved. A near-absolute vacuum voids remaining gasses, thus eliminating processes carried on in the space and enabling ultra-pure materials fabrication. Industrial uses abound. They range from vacuum deposition of thin coatings on cool surfaces to distillation or drying at low temperatures that minimize heat damage to sensitive materials.

The synthetic production of diamonds from carbon provides an excellent example of the effects that manipulation of matter--in this case, through application of pressure extremes--can have on an industry.

By 1797, or possibly even before, the transformation of ordinary carbon into diamonds had become the holy grail for scientists. General Electric researchers created the first man-made diamonds during 1954, using anvil presses exerting 50,000 atmospheric pressures at 1,250 degrees centigrade for 16 hours. Within 25 years, GE output exceeded the combined output of all other natural diamonds ever mined--plus the output from all other man-made sources.

The geometry of diamond crystals can be manipulated at different pressures, with impurities being added or eliminated to adjust color. Recently, diamonds were synthesized under vacuum using a 10-millisecond burst of heat. At the opposite pressure extreme--under a low vacuum of 1/1,000th atmospheric pressure--diamond synthesis was accomplished from carbon-rich gas at 1,050 degrees Celsius (1967). By 1990, diamond--forming conditions were brought down to near room temperature using fullerenes (a carbon isotope shaped like a soccer ball) at 200,000 atmospheric pressures.

Carbon in all its many forms--diamonds, graphite, fullerenes, coal, and other allotropes, including solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasma forms--may join silicon as a key and virtually inexhaustible resource. Man-made diamond production is at least 10 times the magnitude of natural counterparts.

Global production of synthetic diamonds during the mid-1990s was estimated at 100 tons, about 90 percent of worldwide total diamond output. Most of this output goes into abrasives with annual revenues running at $800 million. GE offers 6,000 different types of diamond abrasives. Nearly one quarter of a carat of diamond in the form of abrasives is used in manufacturing one automobile. Diamond cutting bits are crucial to oil-drilling operations, saws used in quarrying and stone polishing, and innumerable other industrial cutting tools. Diamond grinding and polishing materials are indispensable to eyeglass production and optical equipment of all kinds.

Sporting diamonds could acquire a whole new meaning as usage in other products becomes commonplace. Personal computers, for example, may contain diamond-doped semiconductors; diamond-coated, protective integrated circuits; diamond heat-dispersal sinks; and computer disks that are both scratch-resistant and crash-proof. Amorphous diamond (second in hardness to crystalline diamond) is 10,000 times as wear-resistant as silicon. Eyeglasses may be coated with truly scratch-resistant diamond surfaces. Pocket knives with diamond cutting edges will never need resharpening. Wrist watches may be protected by shatter-resistant crystals. Long-lasting and biologically inert diamond-based hip and joint replacements could also become a welcome reality.

Diamond, conceivably, could become as ubiquitous as plastic or glass. Carbon, an abundant Earth element, coupled with advanced physics can empower that potential. Not only is diamond the hardest known material, but it also possesses many commercially valuable properties that make it the best semiconductor, insulator, abrasive, light refractor, and thermal conductor. Having said all of that, the detail of cost may foreclose many of the possibilities mentioned above.

In a classic response to fend off the onslaught of synthetic alternatives, the diamond cartel strives to set itself above and apart. The latest move involves diminutive engraving of the De Beers authentication on its gems. The approach is reminiscent of the classic and protracted fight between oleo-margarine and butter producers. Associations involved in such a repositioning--including the Diamond Council of America, American Gem Society, and Jewelers of America--justifiably will continue to wrestle with these kinds of issues and must remain aware of the unfolding developments. Commodity and industrially oriented associations--the Industrial Diamond Association and Diamond Wheel Manufacturers Association prominent among them--must concentrate on getting the most product and best quality at the lowest cost.

Thermal physics. Extreme temperatures ranging from superhot plasmas to supercooled (cryogenic) materials at or near absolute zero also dramatically alter material properties. Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), consisting of wavelike atoms occupying a single quantum state, was accomplished at a temperature 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero (a million times colder than interstellar space). In this state, superfrigid and near-motionless atoms align in uniform and closely compacted manner, and can become superconductive and superfluidic. BEC opens new pathways for studying mechanisms of particles, atoms, and their varying states--essential steps to manipulating matter.

Superconductivity (a phenomenon occurring at very low temperatures at which electrical resistance vanishes) in mercury at 4.2 degrees Kelvin was discovered in 1911. Superconductivity at 153 degrees Kelvin under 150,000 atmospheres was achieved during the 1990s. Energy-saving potentials for reducing, enhancing, and conserving energy use are obvious. At least 43 of 83 naturally occurring elements, and 2 of 18 artificial elements are known to possess superconducting powers. Given that China possesses about 95 percent of known, key, rare earth deposits used in superconductors, geopolitics may color long-term developments in this area.

At the opposite extreme, temperatures of 920 million degrees Fahrenheit, 30 times hotter than the center of Earth's sun, have been created. Much lower temperatures--l.87 million degrees Fahrenheit, easily achieved with intense laser beams--turns most materials into plasma and can initiate fusion. Fusion triggered by immense temperatures unleashed by lasers is an essential step to sate global energy demand, and may be used to build thermonuclear weapons.

Solid-state physics. Science keeps finding new ways to exploit available resources. Solid substances, such as crude steel, have given way to artifacts and applications that rely on thin films, individual atoms, or (prospectively) subatomic particles. It comes down to doing more with less. Results include conserving finite resources, miniaturizing applications, upgrading performance, reducing costs, and speeding up effects (i.e., faster computer chip circuits).

The most abundant element on Earth except for oxygen, silicon has become the bedrock of the burgeoning computer industry. Silicon, semiconductors, optical fiber, and computers are to the Information Era what steel, petroleum, internal combustion engines, electricity, and electric motors were to the Industrial Revolution. As with other new technologies, their initial appearance was marked by awkward and large-scale dimensions. Due in some part to solid-state physics, size steadily diminishes across time. The first programmable computer filled an entire room; contained 18,000 vacuum tubes and 1,500 electromechanical relays; weighed 30 tons; measured 10 feet in height and 80 feet in width; occupied 1,600 square feet; and consumed 100 kilowatts. By the 1950s computers that had shrunk to refrigerator-size began heading toward postage-stamp dimensions. Discussion currently is focused on quantum computers the size of a pinhead.

Meanwhile, electronic cards that sing their greetings when opened incorporate nearly the same computing power as the first computers. Motor vehicles--some with 30-100 onboard dedicated computers that constantly check and adjust oil pressure, fuel mixture, tire air pressure, seat adjustments, headlights, and navigation--surpass the computational ability of the lunar-lander spacecraft Apollo-11.

This trend toward smaller, faster, and cheaper computer and communication technologies will continue to characterize these industries. The newest generation of computer-etched chips involves extreme ultraviolet lithography, a technique that can create features smaller than 0.1 micron (about one five-hundredth of a hair's width). This development has potentials for increasing microchip capacity by 1,000-fold and boosting the speed of the fastest chips currently available by 100-fold. By about 2100, lithographic chip etching will reach a limiting threshold-70 nanometers--at which point quantum disruptions will compromise semiconductor effectiveness.

Associations representing semiconductor, software, and computer communication--such as the Semiconductor Industry Association, Software and Information Industry Association, and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, to mention a few--contend with progress so swift that it constantly outmodes and transforms businesses they represent. Staying ahead of fast-breaking technological breakthroughs requires association leadership to exercise vigilant and intensive focus on research dimensions, lest members get left behind and end users feel short-changed.

Advances in solid-state physics have also allowed replacement of the unwieldy telephones of yesteryear by featherweight versions with billions of times the capability of their predecessors. Have you ever wondered what happened to the old whip-like or the stubby prod-like antennae on your cell phone? Hidden inside cordless phones is a diminutive fractal antenna. The discontinuous but symmetrical configurations of quantum phenomena allow miniature wires to be crinkled into these fractal patterns, occupying a mere fraction of space taken up by a stub antenna. The diminutive version is 25 percent more efficient, and it's cheaper to manufacture and operates on many more hands.

Transmission of telephone messages is carried on fiber-optic cable. Stretched thinner than a human hair, signals are digitally encoded, compressed, pulsed, and spread across a vast spectrum of light-wave frequencies so that hundreds of thousands to trillions of signals potentially may be simultaneously delivered via a single line. Fiber-optical cable, fashioned from silicon, replaces huge tonnages of copper wires. The first copper transmission lines, measuring about one fourth inch in diameter, carried but a single message.

Nanotechnologies: doing more with less

Nanotechnologies--artifacts constructed at scales measuring one billionth of a meter (about the length of 10 atoms) or less--open up a Lilliputian frontier only beginning to be developed. Scanning-electron microscopes, with the power to image and to manipulate single atoms, could inscribe the entire 28 volumes of The Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin. Electrostatic motors as small as 70 micrometers (0.003 inch in diameter) achieving speeds of 350,000 revolutions per minute, and top speeds of 600,000 rpm, have been constructed.

Electrochemical fabrication, or surface micromachining, developed in 1985, enables designers to stack layers of etched patterns to build ready-to-go (no further micromachining or assembly required) fly-speck-size devices. Bar code scanners, currently costing $50-100, could be produced by this new technology for as little as $1 per unit.

Fullerenes, first discovered in 1985, opened up yet another isotopic phenomenon about featuring carbon-structured "cages" with enormous potential for enhancing nanoscale development. Fullerene isotopes' size and configuration depend upon how many carbon atoms are linked. So far, isotopes stringing together 32-600 carbon atoms have been developed. Integrated circuit makers, seeking ever-smaller components, hope to replace bulky, cumbersome, and energy-consuming wiring with metallized carbon nanotubes. Gas separation and oil-refining operations work toward using molecular scaffolding of fullerenes as a substitute for zeolites (naturally occurring mineral sieves). Porous carbon membranes with apertures 0.5 nanometers wide, for example, enable oxygen passage 30 times faster than larger nitrogen molecules.

Current large-volume nanotech products include devices for triggering automobile airbags, controlling ink-jet printers, measuring blood pressure (in catheters), and adjusting intake--manifold pressure in fuel-injected engines. The computer and medical industries are already benefiting from miniproducts deriving from nanotechnologies.

Computer applications. Computer designers wistfully talk of developing pinhead-sized computers so cheap that they may be embedded to monitor and indicate when clothes need dry cleaning or when ballpoint-ink reservoirs are running low. More speculative possibilities include self-replicating devices relying upon DNA-like blueprints for self-assembly. Such developments might someday enable desktop replicators combining computers, copiers, and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) to fabricate small prototype products.

MEMS have a number of other applications. Hacker lock-out MEMS, the size of a shirt button, are used to secure computers. Intricate MEM mini-chips have been developed as a fail-safe device built into nuclear weapon detonation triggers.

Projection system applications. Digital light processors using MEM arrays of micromirrors for solid-state projection systems, ranging in cost from $4,500 to $120,000, have swept the business projection market and stand poised to revolutionize motion pictures by eliminating costly and bulky distribution of film prints with instantaneous, effortless, and far cheaper electronic delivery. Electronic distribution of motion pictures to theaters, and eventually to consumers online, poses new problems and opportunities for The Motion Picture Association of America, American Film Marketing Association, and Chemical Fabrics and Film Association. Other organizations, such as those representing theater owners, will benefit from faster, cheaper delivery.

Health care applications. Microfluidic devices resembling bio-labs on a chip--consisting of chambers, valves, and passages that can be implanted, swallowed, or configured into patches--are becoming a salvation for patients tethered to intravenous tubes or requiring frequent medication. Releasing mechanisms can be triggered by electricity, air bubble bursts, ultrasound, or tiny needles.

Miniature scalpels sculpted from silicon by microlithography are 10 times sharper than metal. Vibrating blades at 200,000 cycles per second literally melt tissues. Auxiliary circuits can be used to monitor whether too much tissue is being cut, and can distinguish between healthy or diseased tissue.

Mini-microphones using condenser membranes measuring 400 nanometers thick and two millimeters wide open up a vast range of acoustic opportunities, including truly unobtrusive and inconspicuous hearing aids.

Nanotech products hold promise for using fewer materials, consuming less energy, and minimizing wastage. Accomplishing desired effects with atom-thin layers stretches out finite resource availability. Still in their infancy, nanotechnologies currently enjoy limited association support--a reality destined to change. The Robotic Industry Association, for example, is considering extending its activities into this realm. Many related groups can already be found at the academic, educational, and research levels.

As these new technologies develop, associations representing health care providers stand to benefit from nanotech robotics that deliver drugs or perform surgery, resulting in minimally invasive laser use, less painful procedures, diagnoses enhanced by artificial intelligence, photo-optics to guide surgery, and so forth. "Geewhiz" aspects of these applied technologies gird consumer confidence and enhance quality of health care, while their cost-saving aspects can be positioned to offset concerns about rising medical costs. Given that associations play key roles in shaping public opinion, they will need to carefully monitor developments and trends in these areas that may impact emerging public policy initiatives.

Photonics: laser technologies

Lasers (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) can be encoded to carry digital optical communication, weld, vaporize, provide light shows, project holographic (3-D) images, induce fusion, zap spy satellites, or guide munitions with pinpoint accuracy. Operating principles involve emitting collimated (uniformly parallel), coherent (correlated to reduce phase interferences), nearly monochromatic electromagnetic radiation beams. Starting out with gemstones (ruby crystals), many solid, liquid, and gaseous substances have been used as resonators.

Practical application of lasers, ranging from communication to surgery, has transformed entire industries. Everyday uses range from bar code readers in the retail trade to laser disks for personal computers to compact discs for home and office use.

Medical applications of laser technology abound and exemplify the transformation of an industry. The first practical bone-cutting laser, developed in 1995, is especially useful in precision skull opening for brain surgery. Delicate eye surgery and vision correction, tattoo removal, and cosmetic skin resurfacing have gained popularity. Laser dentistry, introduced in 1990, is less painful than traditional drilling. Urinary tract stones can also be disintegrated by lasers. Optical fiber used in illuminated and TV-equipped endoscopes enable the manipulation of surgical tools guided by remote television monitors.

Single-atom lasers open up new opportunities for understanding and manipulating quantum effects and developing advanced nanoscale materials. A breakthrough in laser pulsing in 1987 led researchers to create femtosecond (quadrillionths of a second) laser bursts to track step-by-step specific details of chemical reactions-- bonding and decoupling, for example--as they are occurring.

This discovery opens the way for development of microcavity semiconductor lasers, essential for the construction of optical computers. Pharmaceutical researchers benefit from insights enabling them to precisely configure molecular lock-and-key systems that enable and ensure metabolic match crucial to bio-delivery, efficiency, and effectiveness of new drugs.

As laser technology transforms entire economic sectors, particular associations take on key roles. The Laser Institute of America and the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association will be among them, as will the American Electronics Association and numerous health care providers, including groups as diverse as the American Hospital Association and the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. The Contact Lens Manufacturers Association and the American Optometric Association representing eyeglasses and contact lenses, face serious competition from laser-correction procedures.

Weighing the impact

The impact of the scientific largesse of the meta-materials era on the association community will be vast, if difficult to comprehend in its magnitude. Associations representing manufacturers of iron, steel, aluminum, glass, and natural fabrics contend with sharing the wealth. Associations representing massive users of synthetic materials range from the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the United States and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers to the Institute of Packaging.

Faced by higher volume and heavier roadway use, other groups representing roadway construction and maintenance--the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, National Asphalt Pavement Association, and National Ready Mix Concrete Association, among them--constantly seek more durable and surface-enhancing opportunities. Anything less runs the risk of taxpayer revolt over runaway roadway costs and the increased rage of stressed-out drivers rebelling against incessant traffic delays.

Relatively obscure associations--the National Concrete Burial Vault Association, for example--have a vital stake in tweaking and enhancing raw construction materials they rely upon. Organizations representing smaller-scale use (the National Sporting Goods Association) and niche product lines such as bicycle or fishing-rod manufacturers--nonetheless may either make it or break it, dependent upon keeping abreast of the latest developments crucial to product success.

Plastics manufacturers, wracked by increasing petroleum prices, look to giant allies like the American Petroleum Institute, for relief, even as units like the American Plastics Council concentrate on representing polycarbonate. For some groups, bulletproof materials literally stand between them and death. In like manner, bulletproof materials used in luggage manufacturing actually are able to withstand the tortuous treatment baggage handlers sometimes dish out.

Indeed, the world will be much changed as science acquires mastery over manipulating the parameters of temperature, pressure, light, electromagnetic radiation, nuclear radiation, gravity, velocity, spin, sound, solution, oscillatory phenomena, and time. Physical parameters such as the ones discussed in this article configure the nature, composition, structure, and properties of matter.

Resource use will be vastly enhanced and supplies extended. In fact, they are likely to become virtually inexhaustible as science masters the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct matter to specification. Resource recovery and recycling will be revolutionized. As these new bounties--bestowed by limitless families of meta-materials--take center stage, the quality of life for many people will take enormous strides forward.

Graham T.T. Molitor is vice president and legal counsel, World Future Society, Bethesda, Maryland, and president, Public Policy Forecasting, Potomac, Maryland.

Mastering the Jargon

The following list of definitions will come in handy as you seek to grasp the implications of the meta-materials era.

ABSOLUTE ZERO, Temperature measuring -460 degrees Fahrenheit, or -273 degrees Celsius, or 0 Kelvin at which molecular motion ceases.

ANTIMATTER. Antiparticles--positrons, antiprotons, and antineutrons--paired with ordinary matter counterparts (protons, neutrons, and electrons) that counterbalance electrical charge, magnetic momentum, and so forth by exercising opposite forces.

CRYOGENICS. Production and maintenance of low temperatures near absolute zero. Phenomena occurring under these conditions include disappearance of electrical resistance (superconductivity) and superfluidity (loss of viscosity and virtually frictionless properties enabling fluids, such as liquid helium, to defy gravity by flowing uphill or up the sides of containers enclosing them).

META-MATERIALS. As used in this article, meta, a prefix meaning sharing action in common or in quest of a transcending nature, designates new materials created by manipulating extreme magnitudes of physical conditions during synthesis or manufacture.

NANOTECHNOLOGY. Nano, a prefix meaning dwarf and representing units of one billion, characterizes extremely small artifacts measuring one billionth of a meter or smaller. Miniature mechanical devices are fabricated using chemical etching, photolithography, and plasma techniques. Scanning, tunneling microscopes can drill holes measuring less than one nanometer (one billionth of a meter) in diameter.

PARTICLE PHYSICS. Study of properties, structure, and behavior of subatomic matter resulting from decay of matter, collisions generated by particle accelerators, or cosmic radiation.

PLASMA. Ionized gasses induced by high temperatures occurring in stars (including Earth's sun), or other thermonuclear reactions.

QUANTUM. Involves "packets" or "quanta" of energy occurring discontinuously (not continuous) in range of values involving energy, mass, momentum, angular momentum, and other properties of subatomic matter.

SILICON. Second-most abundant element (next to oxygen) found on Earth. This nonmetallic element is used in transistors, rectifiers, resistors, switches, optical fiber, glassware, pottery glazes, and a huge range of applications from hardening steel to producing sand (silicon dioxide).

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY. Phenomena in many metals, alloys, and chemical compounds achieved with temperatures near absolute zero at which point electrical resistance vanishes, allowing electric currents to flow indefinitely.

SUPERDENSE STATE. Extraordinary compact state of matter packing protons and electrons so close that they are transformed into neutrons.