We the Geeks: The Stuff Superheroes Are Made Of

Ed. note: This event has concluded. Watch the full hangout below.

This week, as thousands of sci-fi and superhero enthusiasts gather in San Diego for Comic-Con, here at the White House we’ll be gathering some of the Nation’s top innovators who are designing materials to enable real-life superpowers—including invisibility and super-strength.

This Friday, July 19^th at 12:00 pm EDT for a “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangout on “The Stuff Superheroes Are Made Of” – where we’ll be talking about some of the most exciting new developments in materials science and how they can change our world for the better.

You’ll meet American scientists and innovators working on materials and technologies with amazing capabilities—seemingly ripped straight from the pages of a comic book or film script—including invisibility cloaks, impenetrable liquid armor, self-healing, touch-sensitive synthetic skin, and more. You’ll also hear how the Obama Administration’s Materials Genome Initiative – which just celebrated its second birthday – is helping to enable and accelerate these breakthroughs with the goal of making them happen faster and cheaper than ever before.

• James Kakalios, Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, and author of The Physics of Superheroes
• Nathan Landy, graduate student at Duke University; working on an invisibility cloak
• Zhenan Bao, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University; focusing research on self-healing and touch-sensitive synthetic skin
• Norman Wagner, Alvin B. and Julia O. Stiles Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware; research on liquid armor
• Nate Ball, co-founder of Atlas Devices and inventor of Batman-like Ascender; host of PBS's Design Squad Nation

Hear from the scientists and engineers who are working to turn science fiction into science fact by watching the latest "We the Geeks" Hangout live on WhiteHouse.gov and on the White House Google+ page on Friday, July 19, at 12:00 pm EDT.

Got comments or questions? Ask them using the hashtag #WeTheGeeks on Twitter and on Google+ and we'll answer some of them during the live Hangout.

Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at OSTP and Meredith Drosback is a TMS Fellow working on the Materials Genome Initiative at OSTP.