Materials & Manufacturing · Recorded milestone
Metamaterials
Recorded year2000
Engineered micro-structures give materials properties nature lacks, first shown bending microwaves backwards and blocking sound.
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Led to
- Daytime radiative cooling below ambientRecorded · 2014influences
- Everyday metamaterialsRecorded · 2022enables
- MetalensesForecast · ~2028enables
- Personal sound bubblesForecast · ~2032enables
- Noise-cancelling windowsForecast · ~2035enables
- Atomic imaging of living cellsForecast · ~2050enables
- Practical invisibility cloaksForecast · ~2060enables
- Self-stabilising buildingsForecast · ~2065enables
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.