1. Gorilla Glass would help reduce a vehicle’s weight and lower its center of mass, boosting fuel economy by up to a few percentage points depending on how much of the glass is used. Cars that use the material will also be quieter inside. Corning expects at least one high-end auto maker to start making cars that use some Gorilla Glass within the next year.
2. Corning’s development-stage “antimicrobial” glass could be certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency within the next few months. The material would initially be used in the health-care industry to keep device interactions more sanitary, but smartphones are also a possibility. The number of germs on a smartphone exceeds the number of germs on a public toilet. Antimicrobial glass obliterates the bacteria on smartphones.
3. Willow Glass could spur the creation of “hundreds of new products,” ranging from flexible displays that conform to the human body to new insulating layers in semiconductors that will help sustain the continued progress of Moore’s Law.
Corning expects to mass produce Willow Glass in the second half of 2013, with commercial products entering the market in early 2014.
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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