Researchers in California have developed the world’s lightest material with a density of 0.9mg/cc (That is light — to give you an idea, a life-size human sculpture in this material would weight just 60 grams). What they have also managed to do is create an ordered array of tubes (a micro lattice) which imparts structural strength and stiffness.

I am a firm believer in R&D or exploration, it’s a no-brainer (How will we tackle climate change or population growth without it?). So I was disappointed to see that my industry (construction) is the seriously poor relation when it comes to R&D spend … just 0.1% compared to a UK national average of 1.1% and the automotive industry at 7.3%.