Metal Foam

Afsaneh Rabiei is a materials engineer at North Carolina State University who, with support from the National Science Foundation, has developed metal foam that's lighter but much stronger than ""real"" metal. It's designed for use in biomedical engineering (stronger replacement body parts like knees and hips) car bumpers (a crash at 28 mph feels like an accident at only 5 mph w/ this material). Tests are now underway to use it as both body armor and vehicle armor for the military.