{"id":247085,"date":"2026-11-11T07:14:53","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T13:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/by-carefully-arranging-molecules-scientists-can-control-how-a-material-responds-to-light-heat-and-physical-force"},"modified":"2026-11-11T07:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T13:14:53","slug":"by-carefully-arranging-molecules-scientists-can-control-how-a-material-responds-to-light-heat-and-physical-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/by-carefully-arranging-molecules-scientists-can-control-how-a-material-responds-to-light-heat-and-physical-force","title":{"rendered":"By carefully arranging molecules, scientists can control how a material responds to light, heat and physical force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>University of Missouri researchers have created a single solid material that responds differently depending on what it\u2019s exposed to. Shine light on it, and it changes from yellow to white, an indication of a chemical reaction. Heat it, and it undergoes a different chemical reaction. Scratch the surface, and it flashes blue.<\/p>\n<p>The discovery, now <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/anie.4589075\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in <i>Angewandte Chemie International Edition<\/i>, shows how researchers can build multiple behaviors into a single material by controlling how its molecules are arranged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you look at a solid, you might assume there\u2019s not much going on,\u201d said Kristin Hutchins, an associate professor of chemistry in Mizzou\u2019s College of Arts and Science and a researcher with the MU Materials Science and Engineering Institute. \u201cBut at the molecular level, we can build in possibilities that aren\u2019t obvious from the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Missouri researchers have created a single solid material that responds differently depending on what it\u2019s exposed to. Shine light on it, and it changes from yellow to white, an indication of a chemical reaction. Heat it, and it undergoes a different chemical reaction. Scratch the surface, and it flashes blue. The discovery, now [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}