Nanomaterials
Presto-chango, your stained, torn shirt cleans and mends itself. Paint, cement, and fabrics self-repair and self-clean, making them nearly indestructible. Spilled grape juice on the couch? No problem. "Nanomaterials will basically shake off the stains, not allowing them to stick," Zolli says. What if an earthquake causes a crack in the wall of your house? Inside the cement, nanomaterials recognize the problem and repair it by rearranging matter molecule by molecule to fill in the damage.