Just as starfish, deer and Mexican axoloti can regenerate body parts if injured, inanimate objects may soon be able to do the same.

A recent study suggests that phones and tables may eventually be able to repair their own cracked screens and broken legs.

Pitt engineers have developed computational models that demonstrate how a gel could allow materials to regrow and self-heal. Published in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters on Nov. 19, senior author Anna Balazs and three co-authors discussed the “elusive goal.” The team also included a chemistry professor from Carnegie Mellon University, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, who worked on the computational model along with postdoctoral associate Xin Yong.

Modeling self-healing materials.