#Shape memory alloy

[plethoraworldatlas]

Two insect-like robots, a mini-bug and a water strider may be the smallest, lightest and fastest fully functional micro-robots ever known to be created. Such miniature robots could someday be used for work in areas such as artificial pollination, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, micro-fabrication or robotic-assisted surgery. Reporting on their work in the proceedings of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, the mini-bug weighs in at eight milligrams while the water strider weighs 55 milligrams. Both can move at about six millimeters a second.

...

Both can move at about six millimeters a second.

"That is fast compared to other micro-robots at this scale although it still lags behind their biological relatives," said Conor Trygstad, a PhD student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and lead author on the work.

An ant typically weighs up to five milligrams and can move at almost a meter per second.

The key to the tiny robots is their tiny actuators that make the robots move.

Trygstad used a new fabrication technique to miniaturize the actuator down to less than a milligram, the smallest ever known to have been made.

"The actuators are the smallest and fastest ever developed for micro-robotics," said Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia, Flaherty Associate Professor in Engineering at WSU's School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering who led the project.

The actuator uses a material called a shape memory alloy that is able to change shapes when it's heated

[scipunk]

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Scientists probe chilling behavior of promising solid-state cooling material

A research team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has bridged a knowledge gap in atomic-scale heat motion. This new understanding holds promise for enhancing materials to advance an emerging technology called solid-state cooling. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances. An environmentally friendly innovation, solid-state cooling could efficiently chill many things in daily life, from food to vehicles to electronics—without traditional refrigerant liquids and gases or moving parts. The system would operate via a quiet, compact and lightweight system that allows precise temperature control. Although the discovery of improved materials and the invention of higher-quality devices are already helping to promote the growth of the new cooling method, a deeper understanding of material enhancements is essential. The research team used a suite of neutron-scattering instruments to examine at the atomic scale a material that scientists consider to be an optimal candidate for use in solid-state cooling.

Read more.

[electronalytics]

Muscle Wire Market Analysis Growth Factors and Competitive Strategies by Forecast 2032

Market Overview:

The muscle wire market refers to the segment of the industry that deals with the production and application of shape memory alloys (SMAs), commonly known as muscle wires. Muscle wires are made from alloys that can change their shape in response to external stimuli such as heat, electricity, or stress. They find applications in various industries, including robotics, aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and consumer electronics.

Key Factors:

1. Expanding robotics and automation market: The need for muscle wires is being driven by the growing use of robotics and automation in sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace. These cables give robotic devices the ability to move precisely and deliberately, improving their functionality and effectiveness.

2. Development of new and superior muscle wire alloys with improved qualities such as form recovery, durability, and fatigue resistance has been made possible by ongoing advances in material science. These developments help the market expand.

3. Electronics are becoming smaller: The demand for miniaturised actuation systems is driven by the movement towards smaller and more compact electronic devices, such as wearable tech, cellphones, and medical implants. A practical alternative for precise and compact actuation in these systems is muscle wires.

4. Muscle wires are utilised in the automotive industry for a variety of purposes, including active aerodynamics, engine components, and safety systems. They are suitable for a variety of automotive applications due to their ability to deliver precise and reliable actuation.

5. Medical and healthcare applications: Muscle wires are used in products including drug delivery systems, surgical instruments, and assistive equipment in the medical and healthcare industry. These applications benefit from muscle wires' capacity to deliver regulated actuation and movements.

6. There is an expanding market for smart fabrics, which include technological elements and functionality. It is possible to incorporate muscle wires into textiles to give them shape-changing capabilities, resulting in the creation of creative and adaptable clothes, wearable technology, and smart materials.

7. Applications in the aerospace industry: The aerospace sector uses muscle wires for morphing wings, actuation systems, and adaptive structures. In aircraft applications, muscle wires provide thin, effective actuation solutions that boost performance and fuel economy.

8. Research and development activities: Ongoing research and development in the field of muscle wires is fostering innovation and broadening the applications that they may be used for. This involves improvements in material composition, fabrication processes, and integration strategies that create new market prospects.

9. Energy-efficient actuation: Compared to conventional mechanical systems, muscle wires offer energy-efficient actuation. They are appealing for situations where energy efficiency is essential because they can efficiently transform electrical energy into mechanical motion.

10. Growing need for intelligent and responsive materials: The industry is seeing an increase in demand for materials that can respond to external stimuli and alter their shape or qualities. Since muscle wires have special qualities in this area, their use is growing.

Here are some key benefits for stakeholders:

Growing Market Opportunity

Innovative Applications

Energy Efficiency

Miniaturization and Lightweight

Reliability and Durability

Flexibility and Versatility

Improved Medical Applications

Competitive Advantage

Demand and Trends:

The growing deployment of robots, automation, and miniature electronic devices across sectors is predicted to increase the market for muscle wires. The market is additionally impacted by trends like the creation of smart textiles, developments in material science, and the expanding need for responsive and energy-efficient materials.

Muscle wires' prospective uses are anticipated to expand as long as research and development efforts are made, hence market expansion is likely. To fulfil the changing needs of diverse industries, producers and suppliers should concentrate on creating cutting-edge muscle wire goods, working with other industry participants, and discovering new application areas.

We recommend referring our Stringent datalytics firm, industry publications, and websites that specialize in providing market reports. These sources often offer comprehensive analysis, market trends, growth forecasts, competitive landscape, and other valuable insights into this market.

By visiting our website or contacting us directly, you can explore the availability of specific reports related to this market. These reports often require a purchase or subscription, but we provide comprehensive and in-depth information that can be valuable for businesses, investors, and individuals interested in this market.

“Remember to look for recent reports to ensure you have the most current and relevant information.”

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Market Segmentations:

Global Muscle Wire Market: By Company

• Edgetech Industries

• Jameco Electronics

• Dynalloy, Inc

• Hengxin Rare Metals

• Cliniva Healthcare

• Aura Design

• Autosplice

• SAES Getters

• Ulbrich

• California Fine Wire Co.

Global Muscle Wire Market: By Type

• One - Way

• Two – Way

Global Muscle Wire Market: By Application

• Aerospace

• Textile Electronics

• Arterial Stints

• Robotics

• Orthodontic Braces

• Eyeglasses

• Others

Global Muscle Wire Market: Regional Analysis

The regional analysis of the global Muscle Wire market provides insights into the market's performance across different regions of the world. The analysis is based on recent and future trends and includes market forecast for the prediction period. The countries covered in the regional analysis of the Muscle Wire market report are as follows:

North America: The North America region includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The U.S. is the largest market for Muscle Wire in this region, followed by Canada and Mexico. The market growth in this region is primarily driven by the presence of key market players and the increasing demand for the product.

Europe: The Europe region includes Germany, France, U.K., Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Rest of Europe. Germany is the largest market for Muscle Wire in this region, followed by the U.K. and France. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing demand for the product in the automotive and aerospace sectors.

Asia-Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region includes Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Rest of Asia-Pacific. China is the largest market for Muscle Wire in this region, followed by Japan and India. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing adoption of the product in various end-use industries, such as automotive, aerospace, and construction.

Middle East and Africa: The Middle East and Africa region includes Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, and Rest of Middle East and Africa. The market growth in this region is driven by the increasing demand for the product in the aerospace and defense sectors.

South America: The South America region includes Argentina, Brazil, and Rest of South America. Brazil is the largest market for Muscle Wire in this region, followed by Argentina. The market growth in this region is primarily driven by the increasing demand for the product in the automotive sector.

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Reasons to Purchase Muscle Wire Market Report:

• To gain insights into market trends and dynamics: this reports provide valuable insights into industry trends and dynamics, including market size, growth rates, and key drivers and challenges.

• To identify key players and competitors: this research reports can help businesses identify key players and competitors in their industry, including their market share, strategies, and strengths and weaknesses.

• To understand consumer behavior: this research reports can provide valuable insights into consumer behavior, including their preferences, purchasing habits, and demographics.

• To evaluate market opportunities: this research reports can help businesses evaluate market opportunities, including potential new products or services, new markets, and emerging trends.

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[everythingwaschocolateandsugar]

The Smart Materials Market was valued at USD 70.14 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach USD 251.20 by 2030 with a CAGR of 15.5% from 2022 to 2030.

[raccoonfallsharder]

˚₊‧✶ headcanon 21 ✶‧₊˚

i write about raccoon sense of touch a lot [this kinda spicy rumination] and i think about it a lot

like two-thirds of a raccoon’s sensory perception area in the cerebral cortex is just… focused entirely on interpreting tactile data. their fingers have whiskers (okay, vibrissae) so they can identify objects without even making paw-contact. their hands become hypersensitive when wet (lord). if they identify things with their paws, they can remember them for up to/around a year without touching them again.

so yeah, when you press a kiss to rocket’s palm, it damn near lights up his whole brain. holding hands? palm-to-palm? it’s so intimate that he’s probably absolutely scarlet under all that fur. he probably thinks it feels like you might as well be reading his mind. he memorizes you the same way he memorizes every gun he takes apart and every bomb he puts together.

i suppose this means he thinks mostly in tactile sensation, too. when he’s imagining you, it’s less about the color of your hair (assuming the high evolutionary’s made sure he can see the same color-range as humans, anyway). it’s not about the clarity of your eyes, or how you’d looked with the sun haloing you that morning on xandar when he’d first let you touch his shoulder. nope. when rocket thinks about you, it’s how warm your hands are, every little soft pillow and rasping callus on your palm and fingertips. the brush of them through his fur, every one of his little hairs standing on end in its follicle. it's the shape of the bones in your wrists from that time he traced them into memory.

similarly, rocket doesn’t remember lylla’s liquid-dark eyes so much as the silkiness of her pelt, the cool graze of her vibranium-alloy hands. the delicate touch of the damp fabric on his forehead that very first day, and the squeeze of her arms on the very last.

and so, the natural outcome of all this is that he dreams in touch, too. it’s not the silver flash of scalpels and the blood on the ground — it’s not even the gunshots and floor’s desperate pleading and his own wails, or the scent of laser-burnt fur and blood — though of course those are all there too. it’s the pain he dreams of: feeling it fresh in his body, every incision and broken bone and careless laser-stitch, every screw and metal plate soldered in. it’s not the lights for their white-brightness; it’s the tearful squinting squeeze of his eyes, the burning in his pinpoint-pupils. it’s the way lylla’s body had buckled and loosened, and pulled from his arms to the ground by gravity — the last of her warmth wisping through his fingers, already a ghost between the cold arête cages. it’s the plummet in his own belly — that terrible twisting knot that dropped when his first family did, and never ever stopped.

all that pain. it’s so much. it’s so much to make up for.

it’s so much to make up for.

but you’ll get started.

headcanons & imagines masterlist

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

Wereharpy Vaggie au idea rant thingy: Lute accidentally 'created' or 'awakened' wereharpy Vaggie when she cut out Vaggie's eye with angelic steel. le whoops?

secondary ideas: Exorcists and their weapons as re-purposed "sin-eaters", the remnants of the hell-touched winner souls who were torn apart when their job of saving sinners from sins was seen as a failure and being able to permanently destroy them instead was discovered. The original wereharpies were the Sin-Eaters, who gouged out one of their eyes with their bare hands as a final test of their commitment of giving themselves up to save sinners, and took on their more monstrous forms after absorbing and battling with the sins they devoured. Their refusal to switch from eating sins to murdering sinners ended up with them being torn apart by the Sera. Adam then was handed the re-shaped pieces of the Sin-Eaters in the form of Exorcists, while the talons were used to create the alloy that came to be known as heavenly steel, the only substance capable of permanently damaging or killing a soul. (only like can cut like)

Lute cutting out Vaggie's eye with a heavenly weapon, specifically after Vaggie had refused to kill a sinner, reawakening the scrap of the Sin-Eater Vaggie had once been part of, including her 'new' wereharpy form.

The more time Vaggie spent in Hell trying to save sinners the more her harpy form, and the Sin-Eater instincts ingrained into it, started to come out.

Vaggie thought this was some part of being an Exorcist stuck with her prey and worried her harpy self would start mindlessly killing sinners if set loose. She worked with Charlie to keep herself as much under lock and key during harpy time as possible. Meanwhile Charlie just assumed this was part of Vaggie's sinner form and was happy to help her manage it in a way that kept her from hurting others or worrying about hurting others.

Neither of them knew the full history of the Exorcists or Sin-Eaters.

which, given in more detail, maybe goes something like this:

Heaven is new and workshopping how to handle having "winner" souls enjoying their eternal reward up there. YAY!! First problem: Winners are sad when their friends and family die but don't end up in Heaven with them. :( First solution: Create sin-eaters to take on the sins of souls down in hell, specifically the ones vouched for by someone up in Heaven! In eating them the Sin-Eater strips the soul blank, memories ripped out and sorted with the bad ones remaining with the Sin-Eater and good ones stored safely in Heaven while the soul is returned to Earth for another life and another chance at someday being with their former loved ones again- the memories of which will be returned once the soul arrives up in Heaven.

Perfect! How could this go wrong???

Snag number 1: Heaven born cannot sin or take on sins, so some Winners have to volunteer for the terrible job of going down to Hell and eating the souls, which isn't fun and will probably change the composition of their own soul. The Seraphim argue for a while if this can still count as being given eternal rest, but finally agree that they shouldn't deny the chance to any Winner that wants it. Some do, and the first Sin-Eaters are made.

Frist snag dealt with!

Snag number 2: Eating sins imbues the Winner soul WITH sins, obviously, staining their wings and tarnishing their halo and eventually twisting their entire physical form as well as leaving them with terrible memories and sinful thoughts haunting their minds. Sin-Eaters learn to focus wholly on their conviction of saving sinner souls, using the virtues to drown out the rising tide of sin in them, and their bodies warp into bird-of-prey and then harpy-like shapes in reflection of this. The Seraphim decide to make a dedicated area for the Sin-Eaters up in Heaven, both to shield other Winners from having to see them in their self-chosen suffering and to help maintain the concentration needed for the Sin-Eaters to contain their willingly taken-on sins.

Second snag.... mostly mitigated. The plan is still working. Continue.

Snag number 3: Lilith, with Lucifer's help, is working to make Hell a place that can be fun to live in actually, a place where no vice is taboo and no punishment can be worse than what's already happened. It becomes a place of power, passion, and personal freedom, sins as things that don't JUST have to cause suffering, and if the people around sinners aren't the nicest well no one really is and getting your head cut off means a lot less when you'll just pull yourself back together again. Some sinners start getting chopped into pieces for fun, even! In fact some sinners like their life in Hell so much they run from the Sin-Eaters that come for them, even when told this is happening on the request of someone who loved them in life and that a second chance at Heaven is waiting for them if they just HOLD STILL AND LET THEMSELVES GET EATEN FOR A MOMENT. Not many sinners do. First, sounds too good to be true. Second-Give up what they already have for something that only MIGHT happen? A lot of sinners don't like the odds on that, or the idea of losing their memories of the people they've met and befriended in Hell. Running from Sin-Eaters turns into fighting them. The Sin-Eaters are powerful though so that doesn't work so well.

Snag number three is. Kinda still there. And about to get Worse.

Snag 4: It turns out a soul can die. As sinners put more thought and effort into fighting off Sin-Eaters they start actually hurting them. Boons with the Queen of Hell give them very limited abilities to try fending off the Sin-Eaters who want to take them from Lilith's realm. It's not enough to really damage the Sin-Eaters, but it stops them in their tracks and makes some Sin-Eaters defend themselves on reflex. Which is when snag number four comes in like a wrecking ball- Because the souls torn apart by a Sin-Eater's talons do NOT pieces themselves together afterwards. They stay dead. And not only do they stay dead, their sins unravel into demonic energy and are released into the surrounding area, imbuing the fellow sinners with power and denying the Sin-Eaters anything to devour or save. Instead of reweaving the threads of a sinner's soul the threads are SEVERED. The Sin-Eaters are horrified. This isn't want they wanted, but apparently taking on parts of other souls (absorbing them, not chaining them) can distil a soul to the point that it tears apart other souls with it's own existence. (like a black hole that used to be a star collapsing under it's own weight and slowly devouring other stars in turn) The sinners are upset about all this for a hot second before realizing that having free floating demonic power in hell means ppl can take it for themselves. The ones that manage to claim this power now find themselves with the power to give their own very specific boons- and to do even more than that, for the right price. Power in Hell shifts slightly away from it's King and Queen and lesser nobility of the hellborn demons as the first Overlords rise up and start bartering souls from and among their fellow sinners, with all limitations on self defense removed from the abilities they can grant. Meaning sinners are powerful and can attack unprovoked if they want to. And oh, do a lot of them WANT to.

Not good! The Seraphim do NOT like seeing this!!!

Snag 5: Hell is suddenly getting MORE powerful, able to resist Heaven's will with force and self-cannibalize to condense power down among it's WORST and most ambitious sinners- But at least the solution is also part of the problem here. Adam, always grumpy about the idea of giving any kind of second chance to the "losers" his ex is SO proud of, floats the very obvious but also drastic idea of just, y'know, killing MORE sinner souls. Sure it'll free up more power for the Overlords, but that'll just make them fight each other over it even more, and hey, none of souls returned to Earth a second time have made it into Heaven anyway! Why not split the difference? "Free" souls from eternal torment by killing them, reduce the numbers Hell has at it's command, make more Overlords to fight the Overlords that are already running around. And maybe have some FUN with all it!

Sera thinks this plan might work....

Snag 6: The other Seraphim disagree, and so do the Sin-Eaters.

Snag 7: Sin-Eaters are losing control over the accidental soul killing, their sense of conviction shattered by this sin that they did not take on but CREATED with their own actions, they scream. The virtues they've been propping themselves up with like scaffolding crumble under the weight of sin and the need to confess it to the loved ones of those they killed. This need drives them into mindlessly trying to break free from their section of Heaven. Sera concedes to the other Seraphim that the Sin-Eaters cannot be asked to kill more souls.... ...but she also convinces guardians of Heaven that the other heavenly souls should not be burdened with knowledge of or guilt over sins they did not commit. The Sin-Eaters must be stopped. In the end the power of the sins proves too much to cage or chain and Sera herself rips the Sin-Eaters apart.

Well. That didn't end great. At least it's over through, right?

Snag 8: Sera still agrees with Adam's plan and has an idea of her own for how to make it happen. To create an army close-knit and bloodthirsty enough both to stand ready at Heaven's defense and have earned the pain that entails, Sera reforms the pieces of the original Sin-Eaters into the Exorcists- taking Adam's preferences into account, seeing as he will be taking responsibility of them from here on out. The resulting angelic women are armed with the weapons forged from the Sin-Eater's talons, and each year Adam leads them down to hell to Exterminate as many sinners as they can. He gives them cool horned masks to wear to match his own, since they're his girls after all, but adds the "stitched shut mouth" (they're not Sin-EATERS anymore and won't be spilling ANY secrets) and "missing eye" (which he has to admit DID look badass) details as an inside joke for himself to snicker at. As far as the rest of Heaven is concerned, the Exorcists are a host of Heaven born soldiers incapable of killing souls but willing to lay down their own lives defending them, and any resemblance to the Sin-Eaters is a only a memorial honoring those poor souls Heaven could not save.

Only Sera and Adam know the truth.

Now Adam is dead, and many Exorcists with him, and even IF Sera wanted to try undoing what has been done by piecing back together the souls she cut apart, hoping they might heal now the truth they died trying to confess to has come out... she can't.

That feeling, the drive all Exorcists take strength from, the need to be part of something bigger than themselves- it can't be fixed.

They can never be part of the whole that they once were.

But... maybe Vaggie is proof they can still help the sinner souls they so devotedly wanted to save. Maybe this new way is even better than the one that made them what they were.

Maybe the rest of the truth will come out someday, but until then, wereharpy Vaggie slowly feeling more protective of than bloodthirsty for the sinners living in her and Charlie's hotel is a something she can be relieved about. It's nice having friends. She's glad she doesn't want to kill them so much anymore.

(she doesn't know what that urge to feast on them really is meant for)

(so instead of taken their sins from them, she and Charlie go on trying to help the Hazbins live with and grow beyond their pasts instead)

(and. it. works.)

[sunoorintarou]

Catharsis: Petrification

Phos!Reader x (Platonic) Geto Suguru and Mahito

Warnings: Mahito being Mahito and everything that entails, he calls reader petnames, Phos forgets a lot of things, angst, mentions and implications of child abuse and trauma, Mahito being weird (himself), heavy topics, reader feels safe around Mahito, the usual Catharsis warnings

Notes: Mahito haters, once again, beware💀

"How much longer will you sleep?" Mahito pondered, sticking his finger into your cheek. Your cursed technique, if it could be called that, was truly interesting.

After that fateful encounter with Yuji and Nobara, Mahito had taken you back to the beach, shocking everyone there. They were concerned, wondering what had happened and how it had happened. But that was nothing compared to their reaction when he pulled out the chunk of gold laced Lapis Lazuli you had created.

Before anyone could react, Mahito had placed the medium-sized stone against your neck, expecting something to happen. He, Hanami, Dagon, and Geto were the only ones truly invested, watching for any movements or any signs of life.

They were disappointed, however, when nothing had happened even after a good 5 minutes. It was when they were arguing about what to do with your body that alloy in arms started to bleed out of your neck, covering the expanse of the Lapis Lazuli.

They watched in awe (Mahito going so far as to video the event) when the alloy seemed to mould and melt the chunk of Lapis Lazuli into the shape of a head.

When it retreated back into your body, you were left with a fully functional head. It looked like you, but slightly older, with long dark blue hair and eye lashes sprinkled with specks of gold. The agate in your legs seemed to vanish, matching the solid colour of your skin.

It had been approximately a week since then. Due to his experiences with Mimiko and Nanako, not to mention how he was the most knowledgeable about your cursed technique, Geto was the one watching over you most of the time.

He frowned, thinking back to what you had said previously about memories. He had promised he'd protect you and that you'd never have to use this part of your Cursed Technique. But look what happened.

Unwanted flashbacks of a dark-haired girl clouded his mind, the sound of a gun clicking in his head. That was how Mahito had described it. The sound your head had made as it snapped off sounded like the sound of a gun being shot.

Geto shook his head, attempting to clear his thoughts. You reminded him so much of Mimiko and Nanako when he had first found them. Young, innocent, vulnerable, and plagued with pain at an age too young to deserve.

He couldn't help but wonder if he should introduce you to them during their break. They were at school and he wanted them to concentrate on their studies. He'd like to think that you'd get along well, however.

Nanako would help you get out of your shell while you and Mimiko had plenty in common already. You also liked crepes and sweets like they did. Nanako would be fond of our kind, honest nature while Mimiko would warm up to you in no time.

You were mature in a way beyond your years, but he was sure that Mimiko and Nanako would help you act more your age. Help you enjoy life more and perhaps distract you from your goals. You were simply a child who grew up too quickly, and perhaps being around Nanako and Mimiko, who acted like the embodiment of youth, would do you some good.

Somehow, Geto found himself unconsciously doing habits he had adapted from being around Mimiko and Nanako with you. Gently ruffling your hair, mending your clothes when they were torn, giving his opinion when you asked for it, helping you whenever you needed help. He found himself singing softly a couple of times while watching over you, as he did when Mimiko and Nanako were unwell.

You were a troubled child, and Geto found himself reliving his teenage years whenever he saw you, determined to make sure you did not end up the same way.

"Ah!" Mahito suddenly exclaimed, drawing Geto's attention to you.

Your eyelashes fluttered against your cheeks, face contorting as you began to awaken.

Your tired eyes fluttered open, revealing deep blue eyes in comparison to your previously teal ones. You immediately tried to sit up, hissing at the pain in your head.

"Careful." Geto scolded, gently guiding you up, hand on the small of your back.

"Ge- to - san?" You asked, voice raspy and ever so slightly deeper than usual.

"Yes, Y/n. How do you feel?" He asked, voice soft in order to not overwhelm you.

The group watched you, Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon, now having joined, as you sounded out your name, syllable by syllable.

"Is that... my name?" You asked, looking Geto in the eye.

Geto's heart dropped, eyes widening as he looked at you, everything you had told him about your cursed technique rushing through his brain. After losing such a large part of yourself, it made sense that you would have lost some of your memories.

"Yes, that's your name. Can you name me 5 things you can see?" He tested, taking note of blank look in your eyes, confusion evident on your features.

"Uhm, you, the beach," you paused, looking around, "the trees, Hanami, Mahito and... who is that?" You asked as your eyes landed on Jogo, the curse splutter. Geto looked at him, giving him a pointed look, making him stay silent.

"It's OK, don't try to force yourself to remember. Can you name me 4 things you can feel?"

"The chair I'm on, the sun on my skin, uhm, Mahito's hand on my arm, Mahito don't touch me,"

"I'm just happy you remember me!"

"Ah, the blanket that's on me."

"Good, good. 3 things you can hear?" Geto's voice was calm, and even as he tried to stay relaxed in order to not cause you to panic.

"Your... your voice, the waves, the birds."

"2 things you can smell."

"Salt and Iron."

"1 thing you can taste."

"Iron."

Geto's brows furrowed, hand moving to gently brush the hair out of your face.

Your eyes widened as you took note of the colour of your now long hair, yet you didn't seem surprised.

"Ah, I see." You suddenly muttered, attempting to get onto your feet.

You had some searching to do.

You found yourself on the path to your to your childhood home once again. Retracing the steps as you faced what parts of your past you could remember.

"This is where we first met! Isn't this romantic?" Mahito sighed dreamily.

You paused, taking in the scenery of the street as you tried to clear the fogginess in your brain. It had been a few days since you had awoken, and Geto had only let you leave on the condition that you took Mahito with you for protection.

You couldn't argue as you knew the gaps in your memory could prove dangerous. Your inability to remember certain names and faces plaguing you.

As you arrived at your childhood home, you felt a sense of deja vu. It was night as you walked in, leaving the lights off, Mahito following behind you.

You immediately went upstairs, a place you previously avoided due to the memories that lingered there. Specifically in your parents' room. The place you needed to go to the most.

Goosebumps immediately raised on your skin as you walked, hands feeling clammy as you inhaled sharply. The air seemed to turn icy, your hands trembling as you walked into the room.

The room that held some of the worst memories of your childhood.

You felt nauseous as you walked in, keeping your head down on instinct as you made your way toward the cupboard, where your parents kept all the important files. You shakily opened the cupboard, grabbing the box wordlessly.

You were fine, you'd be fine. They weren't here anymore. They wouldn't hurt you.

You felt a hand on your shoulder. You froze, eyes widening as your heart rate spikes, panic rushing through you. You immediately flinched away, turning around, back hitting the cupboard as you closed your eyes, holding the box up in front of you in defense.

No no no no you weren't supposed to be here, and you got caught. You were going to be punished. You were to hit or worse, you were going to be locked up in the punishment room and-

"Bunny? What's wrong? You're acting pathetic right now."

Mahito's voice brought you back, eyes snapping open.

You were panting, cold sweat covering your skin as Mahito crouched closely in front of you, watching you intently. His voice was playful, but his eyes were sharp and calculating, focused on your form.

"Mahito, it's you..." Your voice shook as you spoke, tone almost questioning.

"Who else would it be?" Mahito's tone deepened, expression going cold for a split second before it lit up again.

"Look at me, Bunny, there's no one else here but us!" Mahito opened his arms almost invitingly.

His words rang in your head. He was right. It was just you and him. No one was here to hurt you now.

As you looked up at Mahito, his eyes shone like ghost quartz in the moonlight. Beautiful eyes deadly to others, that always seemed to look upon you kindly.

Tears welled up in your eyes, a sigh of relief leaving your lips. As much as you hated to admit it, being around Mahito made you feel safe.

Before you could stop yourself, you found yourself leaning forward into Mahito's embrace, head hitting his shoulder as you repeated his words in your head over and over.

"There, there, Bunny, I've got you. I'll never let anything else touch what's mine."

As you left your childhood home, you were left to ponder.

Out of all things, why couldn't you have forgotten those God forsaken people who had brought you into this twisted world?

[scintillating-galaxias]

past curfew

The Captain and the Artificer meet late at night in the UES Safe Travels' bridge.

Content tags: Character study, non-canon, space travel, frozen in time, memory loss, Artificer (Risk of Rain 2), Captain (Risk of Rain 2)

It’s late.

The Captain breathes a steady sigh through his temporal vents, worn boots thumping softly along the corridors of the UES Safe Travels. It’s been decades since he’d trodden these halls, and yet—he remembers every corner, every nook and cranny. She’s changed, of course. Like the leather of his soles, the hands of dozens of other captains just like him have molded her, shaped her. There are some new dents and scuffs that’ve been here for probably years, but feel as though they’d been made just yesterday. The Safe Travels is not just his first ship. It’s subjective, arbitrary in the way children have their seat in the classroom, but she is his ship.

The bridge is empty, not as always, but as its new natural state has evolved to become, and he straightens to fill it up some more. If he closes his eyes, he can still hear the ghostly chatter and bustle of the personnel fluttering about from console to console, the squeaks of the chair, the clatter of keystrokes. Upgrades over the years made them obsolete. The only thing the ship needed now was her Captain and a skeleton crew.

It’s not so much the fact that the presence of strangers is odd. The Safe Travels is a colony ship, after all. Her duty is to oversee a secure journey through the stars to any and all who sought them out. As the war spiraled on, there were thousands strong who fought to go, to hide themselves into her holds and flee into the stars. No, the Captain is no stranger to strangers. It’s the fact that there are so few that strikes him like the crash of a falling cymbal at an orchestra.

Alloy prosthetics creak and shift beneath his coat as he goes to stand before it. It’s strange. The starry void is not unfamiliar to him, and yet, when he stares into the cold space surrounding Petrichor V, he cannot help but feel terribly unknown.

“Captain?”

He lifts his chin from his collar. The Artificer glides from the doorway, jetpack humming away as her legs dangle in the air. The Engineer had done fantastic work on them—Not a complaint yet, he’s said—but old habits are hard to break, it seems. She never seems inclined to touch the ground with her spotless white boots.

“You’re”—out past curfew—“up late,” he says. He doesn’t move from his spot in front of the viewing port as she comes up behind him.

“I could say the same for you.” She perches on an empty desk beside him, gutted of its buttons and wires and monitors long ago. Such tactile means of control were no longer necessary in the age of holograms and projected displays and smooth, cold touch screens that did not always heed his metallic touch. Buttons and levers never discriminated against who used them. They never disobeyed their Captain.

The Artificer's smooth, unseeing visor turns to face him. The motion’s slight, and he gets the impression she’s glancing at him sidelong. “Star-gazing?” she offers.

“It doesn’t get old,” the Captain rumbles. “There’s always something new to see.”

“It’s beautiful.”

Does her suit, tidy and sleek like the new desks, ever fail her in its simplicity? Does it fail to recognize her? Surely not. She’d be dead innumerable times over if it did. He ought to have faith in this new technology—Nostalgia blinds his reasoning.

(It’s hardly ‘new’ anyway. The Artificer is almost as old as him, but her decades are lost to crystalline confines. War has not worn her down.)

“Yes,” he agrees. The soft green horizon of Petrichor V begins to glow along the edge of the viewport. “Are you much of a traveler?”

“I think I used to be,” she replies. Her low voice softens as she continues. “The House was generous, but I always yearned for more.”

“I’m sure that’s precisely what made you a suitable candidate.”

She chuffs a little. “Amongst other things. What about you? Was it ever an acquired taste?”

“No,” says the Captain. “I never was meant to stay in one place forever. I’m certain I was put into this world to fly a ship through the stars.”

“That’s awfully confident.” It’s not a compliment. “What if you can’t?”

“Then I am nothing.”

A lull, during which Petrichor V further creeps across the display, unassuming and gorgeous as kudzu and ivy.

“It’s admirable,” says the Artificer, “your confidence of your place in the universe. But no one is one piece of many, scattered with a single purpose to just be a piece. You’re a Captain to the people, too. You must be a friend to many. That’s not ‘nothing’—or else it’s a lonely life you live.”

He turns to her, then, but she’s not looking at him. She’s caught the stars in her visor, beyond Petrichor’s monstrous size choking the rest out. He wonders what she’s seen.

“My taste was acquired,” she begins. “I wanted to explore, yes, but—there was always that edge to overcome. Being afraid of the unknown, rather than awed. The House guided me over it. And I think—I always knew I wanted to become a herald for the House. But it wasn’t until I set foot onto Petrichor that I realized what it meant to truly burn for exploration. I had to be dragged away from every new place we visited, and I kept a journal of every stone, every new plant, every animal, every monster. I’m sure there are hundreds I missed. We weren’t there for long when—”

Her voice vanishes. Petrichor V dominates the viewport, and it will be this way for the next few days as the UES Safe Travels orbits it, held tight in its suffocating gravitational field.

“I kept a journal,” she starts again after a taut pause, “I don’t remember what was written, only that it was written. And… it was taken elsewhere”—bitter, longing—“when I was trapped within the crystal. I do not know where it might have gone.”

“A shame,” the Captain says, and it is. “Losing a journal is losing your own story.”

“How many journals do you have, Captain?”

“Dozens. A hundred, maybe.” All tucked on his bookshelf, some leather-bound, some mere pads, one a hefty, padlocked book. It’s his first. The key remains tucked against his chest on a chain hidden beneath his coat, vest, and shirt.

“What do you write about?”

Not quite everything. But he can’t rightly say, ‘What matters to me.’ A Captain needs everything to matter lest it be lost to the void. “The people I’ve met. The new things I’ve touched, smelled, seen. The ship, her health. My own, as well.” No Captain survived for more than a decade if they ruminated in their head all the time.

“Perhaps a story?”

“Thousands.”

“I’d like to hear them someday.” She pushes off the desk and starts floating back to the door. “Let’s talk more another time,” she says over her shoulder. “Truly, I’d like to listen to your stories. But, of course—it’s past curfew, Captain.”

So she is a bit of a whip. “So it is,” he chuckles. “Goodnight, then.”

“Goodnight, Captain. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Then he is alone.

It’s late.

[lovewritteninthestrands]

Just wanted to pass along that your "chasing clouds over rubicon" animation is sick.

shape memory alloys on loop/10

hahaha tysm!! (very slowly) working on a new ac6 animation (you can actually find the boards somewhere in my animation tag if it interests you) so stay tuned!!

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Novel durable copper-aluminum-zinc shape memory alloys for energy-efficient refrigeration

The elastocaloric effect is a phenomenon where a material displays a temperature change when it is exposed to a mechanical stress. The change in temperature occurs due to an entropy difference resulting from a martensitic transformation accompanied by material's crystal structure change under stress.

An analogous effect is observed when the rubber band is stretched: its polymer chains line up in an ordered manner, causing its entropy to decrease. This leads to the rubber band discharging heat to its surroundings and becoming warmer. When the rubber band is released, the opposite occurs, and the rubber band cools down.

Like rubber bands, metallic superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) can also utilize the elastocaloric effect for cooling. Copper (Cu)-based SMAs consisting of Cu, aluminum (Al), and zinc (Zn) are particularly promising due to their low cost and modest stress demands for triggering the temperature lift. However, Cu-Al-Zn SMAs suffer from cyclical fatigue issues as their coarse crystal grains and numerous grain boundaries are susceptible to fracture from repeated expansion and contraction.

Read more.

[modern-inheritance]

Human Rider Changes

Brom wasn't altered the way Eragon was, but in MIC I'm gonna say even the human Riders were altered by the bond, beyond the slightly more elfish appearance and pointed ears.

Over time Humans start getting the more pointed tooth shape that unaltered elves are born with. It takes FAR longer, but they also start to grow a very thin version of the controllable tapetum lucidum, but most can't use it the way elves can at will.

Human Riders also begin to get faster reflexes, larger energy stores, slightly higher than normal strength and endurance for their physiques, increased night vision in general, and I really really want to say longer periods of high neuroplasticity (ease of learning, adaptations, etc) going further into adulthood (though neuroplasticity IS seen in adults, it's not to the extent seen in childhood, but don't quote me on that I haven't read up on it very much lately) but I don't have a reason for that really. I feel like elves naturally keep a fairly high level of neuroplasticity, maybe some effect of dragons ancestral memories (god damn i wanna explore that too and for some reason I think it would lead me to papers and fish and birds and I'm....I'm not up for that just yet).

Magic use can speed up these changes, though it's still a very gradual process. One of the risk factors, however, is that while their strength is not terribly increased, there's still a posibility that their strength can be dangerous to them. Magic use is typically restricted to practice and training while being taught by masters so that explosive use of magic won't lead to a far faster increase in strength, before the bones have adapted to it.

Elves, when they have access to it, incorporate a leafy green called Tinleaf into their diets, along with a variety of (currently unnamed, let me cook) fruits and other vegge that grow in Du Weldenvarden and were brought to the Rider's island. Tinleaf and these other foods are high in dietary titanium, nickel chloride/sulfate, and zirconium silicate, all used in their bone structure which incoperates alloys that allow them to be so resistant to their strength without shattering bones by walking and hitting things. When out of the forest/not around sources of these food/plants, elves have supplements they can take if without natural sources for too long.

wait what was i talking about

OH.

These changes are why Arya is still a bit baffled/confused when she's with the Varden and learning of all these things these humans can't do/don't have going on with their bodies. Brom's changes were still early stage, but he still had some, and she just kinda assumed they were all like that. She was practically a kid at that point, confused why the books she read didn't mention any of that stuff, and then Caleb, Sam, Simon and the rest are having to explain a LOT.

I also found it both jarring and a nice reminder when reading Murtagh (shhhh look okay I just want the fancy cover one and then I'll finish it the ADHD is not good with these things I can't just sit and read anymore it's painful and I don't know why. You know what, send me a hurricane, knock my power out for a week, and I'll finish it before the deluxe release.) that Eragon is NOT the norm for human Riders. He is not human anymore. He is more elf. His strength and energy stores are FAR beyond what human Riders were capable of, unless i just haven't reached some plot twist yet.

I would say that it made the Forsworn make so much more sense, but a VAST majority of the Forsworn we know were elves. Human Riders could have had so much resentment towards their elven counterparts, even with their partners by their side and all the gifts the bonding gave them, it could have been almost crushing to see what elf Riders could do even without formal training.

I wanted/want to put Murtagh on somewhat more even footing after the war in MIC. Without Galbatorix's spells, he's still far more human than Eragon, but he's stronger than any other human man of his size, stature and physique, he's faster, he learns faster, and he can maintain and cast spells well beyond what a regular human mage can, even with training. With more Ancient Language under his belt, more time with Thorn, more practice, he would be (and is) well beyond anything any human could accomplish even with both training for decades and a wealth of natural talent.

Maybe at some point a more significant though still gradual increase in strength, speed, ect, all the elfy things, is introduced to the Rider Bond using the Word/the Name. Resentment from the non-elven students is something I worry about if other Rider species/races are left with nothing to put them at an equal level.

this got off the rails. whoops.

[magistralucis]

Okay, your turn! Unhinged Character Bingo for… Zultanekh

Is Zultanekh an oddball? He is. Has he charmed his way into my heart? He has. Could I resist infecting him with all the angst in The Twice-Dead King and scores more? Certainly, I could not.

While one of the more reasonable characters in the duology by far, I do think Zultanekh has a spot in this bingo, since he is very weird. The things which motivated him to stick with Oltyx's voyage have almost nothing to do with necron ways of thought. He himself is quite well-adjusted, and narrowly avoids a full bingo on all fronts - but by canonically managing to collect both parental issues, from the same person no less, he merits a honorable mention. 😂

Also this made me scribble. Read more for Z/D angst. TDK spoilers.

-----------------------

Truthfully, he was close to giving up on the idea Djoseras could be entertained, at least in a way they could both share. Zultanekh is, therefore, astonished when the fair kynazh expresses an interest in the art of metallurgy - and even more so when he requests a presentation of Ogdobekh alloys, promptly if at all possible.

"At Vorronezh," is the core of Djoseras's short explanation, the prince retaining a stiffness of tone despite his curiosity. "The foundries - the metals you had in store. There was fine work being done there. Suffice to say my brother now bears the best of it in his hand, and good for him, as good as anything can ever be."

He's referring to an Ithakan victory back in the war. It makes Zultanekh smile. Despite the ages past, and of his brother's bitter exile, he can't resist tilting his chin proudly at the thought; that's all Djoseras, graceful, soft-spoken, and carrying a very big stick (metaphorically or otherwise) ready to strike out at any second. "This one will certainly attest to that glaive's quality, Djoseras, and may it serve the nomarch well. But what purpose would a scion of Ithakas seek in our alloys? The keenest blades? The sturdiest bastions?"

Djoseras defies expectations once more. "Precious metals. One tires of the fighting and the flux."

"So the kynazh appreciates his bright impermanent things!" Zultanekh laughs. Djoseras tenses, reflexively, though just shy of a bristle. Seeing this, the Crown Prince spares him further discomfort, resting a warm and powerful hand upon his shoulder. "Well, have you come to the right place? Yes, you have. For who has the right to the coffers of the Ogdobekh, the finest of our gold and the wealth of ages past? Anathrosis, of course, of the Black Star! … And, yes, well, Zultanekh too, by virtue of heirship to his matriarch. Come, and I will show you."

-----

Nothing about metal is permanent. Many have forgotten this truth, but the Ogdobekh live it still. Living or non-living, a metal is a thing with memory: it is fated to be shaped, and to perhaps hold that form for a long time, but eventually it must be made new again. The concept of memory implies survival. Through countless softenings and forgings it carries on slivers of what it used to be, no one fold nor join identical to one that came before it. A metal's past directly informs its future behaviour. Zultanekh would not call this trait heka - no form of silver can defy the laws of silverbeing to become a gold, nor can copper become silver, no matter how much one alters their proportions - but he and his metallurgists consider it the metal's will, and they have never been let down by observing it wherever they could.

Precious metals have it the strongest. By virtue of their utility they live closest to their wearer, and whatever they go through the metals also go through: a careful polish, the violence of the theft, excoriated shavings. The wisps of gold woven into Djoseras's necrodermis are a soft and holy thing, whereas the gold that covers his sire is most foul, the shell as ugly and tortured as the being encased within it. No jeweler worth his deben in buillons would ever go near it, unless Unnas were to endure the star gods' furnaces a second time - and since no one has nor should have to do that, the history of Unnas's gold might as well stop there altogether. Zultanekh is careful to say absolutely none of this as he takes Djoseras through the display.

"Electrum - spangold - the greatest deposit of metagold currently known outside of the solar cults," he says as he takes up two alloys, comparing them side by side. "Experiments with strangesteel. Yet so far nothing short of pure metagold seems to recreate living light, or so we call the insidious tricks of the Nephrekh." He puts them down again, though not before glancing meaningfully at the other. "I'd heard your metagold was sacrificed to Antikef's star, all those millions of years ago. I dare say it's a shame, Djoseras; I would have liked to call upon you for assistance."

Djoseras considers this information silently. Sadly the experiments will have to wait, for it is not gold which has captivated the kynazh's oculars tonight; no, it's silver he wants to see, his lithe body glittering like it as he contemplates its pure form. "Such a fussy thing." He comments, and Zultanekh catches not a small hint of self-deprecation. Djoseras tends to be so careful with his speech (the blandness of it drives the Ogdobekh prince mad sometimes), and he had not thought his vocal acutators were capable of such bitterness. "Ever since the flames of biotransference I have been loyal only to this vermeil. It is a mirror no one could bear. So clear, and yet so easily damaged, and the marks will never come out."

He looks up then, right into Zultanekh's oculars. "Have you an alloy for that?"

All of a sudden Zultanekh desires, painfully, to catch his breath.

"All the ones you'd already know."

In truth, silver is not favoured among the Ogdobekh. They like it fine, it's just that it's best off used as it is. The traits that make silver desirable are quickly lost in alloys - gold drowns it out entirely, lesser metals cut its value, whilst strangesteel lends it a sharp iridescent hue that has nothing to do with silver at all - it is a metal that dies, in other words, if it is anything other than itself. And the Ogdobekh so hate to murder. So does Zultanekh, standing beside the finest silver in all of Ithakas, privy to the cracks that lie underneath. For the silver is Ithakas and Ithakas is the silver. And Djoseras is silver. He mirrors equally all the things that surround him, and when Zultanekh stands close he holds all of Zultanekh upon his surface. But he is not visible unless Zultanekh steps away, the ruddy hue vanishing from his calmwater features, alone and exquisite in the ruins of his city. A lake he can never explore, droplets he can never hold.

He could bring the whole galaxy to its knees and Djoseras will never be his.

"You are right, of course. True silver is soft, too delicate to do much with."

But Zultanekh knows better than to bring any of this up, and when he finally finds the words for his vocal emitter, he keeps them objective and measured. Leaning down beside Djoseras, he chooses an alloy sample that looks the least like an alloy, tracing around the orb with a fingertip. "There are limits to what we can mix it with, but it does need a trace of something else to endure. And our ancestors knew, as you and I do, that the strongest silvers are braced with copper." (Was that a twitch from the kynazh? Zultanekh hopes it was. It is so much more interesting than his daytime stillness.) "Look at this: nine parts silver, one part copper, the best our jewelers will work with. But where you could avoid the physical damage, tarnish would follow, and some take that poorly. Fussy, as you say."

Djoseras buzzes quietly in irritation. For the millionth time he considers the other's copperclad attire. "You are so changeable."

"But present." Zultanekh counters. Djoseras might be bothered by the effort the Ogdobekh must put into preening themselves, but he does not feel it to be wasteful, nor would he apologize for what is natural. "Stains are a part of life, Djoseras."

Djoseras's interstitial link slides shut. It will not open again until they leave this chamber, or else the kynazh this planet, and Zultanekh tries to accept it for what it is. Zultanekh is the Crown Prince. Zultanekh is not a petulant child, he reminds himself, noting for the millionth time that it's nothing personal. It's just Djoseras is fragile, iron-brittle beneath his nobility, and he will break if made to bend too far. Zultanekh need not be the hammer. Anyone could do it, the kynazh's own brother has done it, and it will happen again. He could be welded back together, but since metals have a memory, he will never be the same - and there is nothing Zultanekh fears more than to lose Djoseras as he is now, beautiful and so proud, dying like his dynasty around him. Zultanekh is not a victim of melancholy, nor an indecisive wreck.

What Zultanekh is, however, is sorry. Slowly his hand reaches for the other's, pauses halfway, makes do with a comforting touch on the shoulder. Their oculars still fixed upon the sample alloy.

"This one would brace you well," he whispers, "if you'd like."

Probably for the best, he thinks, that neither of them are versed in linguistical ambiguities.

[teoft]

TC-93 Body Specifications

The skeleton itself is a functioning robot frame

The muscles enhance and strengthen the movement of the skeletal frame

The muscles are made out of biometal, an organic-like shape memory alloy that contracts when heat or electricity is applied to it

The speed of contraction depends on the amount of energy flowing through the material

There is a limit to how much energy the biometal can withstand before it starts deforming

While organic muscles only contract, biometal muscles can be made to expand by cooling them, thus allowing for faster and stronger movement

The holes in the muscles contain cooling technology and act as vents to allow for the dispersal of excess heat

The top layer of the biometal muscles act similarly to non-newtonian liquids and harden as a response to external forces

The calculations for the precise contraction and expansion is handled by excessive augmentation of the brain and spine of the subject