Self-healing materials: Get ready for repair-and-go.

We are fortunate that our bodies are able to heal themselves with little or no intervention after a minor injury such as a small cut. This self-healing ability has inspired scientists to invent a range of different methods for restoring function to damaged materials1. However, there are many challenges to be overcome before self-healing materials are available for practical applications such as circuit boards and airplane wings2. Now, writing in ACS Nano, Anna Balazs and co-workers3 at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Massachusetts introduce a new concept in self-healing that is inspired by the ability of white blood cells to heal wounds in the body. When the body is injured, certain molecules called mediators are released to help white blood cells find the site of the injury and activate a healing process4. Thus, white blood cells are recruited to the site of damage where they recognize the injured selF-HeAlING mATerIAls