From movies to science labs - smart sand!

When I read this article about smart sand, I immediately thought of the sand monsters that would whip up in the desert scenes from the Scorpion King - it's not quite there yet but they created 'sand' that can replicate some 2d shapes.

The goal is 3d shapes using tiny 'sand' particles... My imagination is coming up with uses!

Smart Sand

I read the article and watched the video, but I cannot think of uses, can you share some of the ones you have thought of?

Hollywood - miniatures to life size, plaything for kids. It all starts as fun stuff until the military finds a use for it.

reply to post by Iamschist


well i was thinking it would be good to get my kids toy cars and replicate their favorites into larger sizes - then i could use modelling spray release to coat the object and then make a negative cast of it. then i could return the sand and do it for the next car...

I would then be able to fill each cast with foam hardener and then i would have a set of big cars for them to play with...

but i was also imagining a super computer drone creating clone robots that are capable of taking over the world...

one or the other, it could be cool!

reply to post by brettrix


I wondered if it could have computing applications, and molding for the plastics or metal industries, to be frank the science was a bit over my head.