The Brilliance of Bridges and Roads That Repair Themselves | Mark Miodownik | TED

Your skin heals after a scratch. What if our roads, bridges and cities could self-repair after getting damaged, too? Scientist and engineer Mark Miodownik describes a new class of materials — animate matter — with the potential to sense damage, self-heal and even biodegrade when the job is done. Humanity's next great leap isn't making more stuff, he says — it's making stuff that doesn't fall apart. (Recorded at TED2025 on April 10, 2025)

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