A new material design could reduce pollution where the rubber meets the road. Strategically adding weak points along microscopic chains called polymers actually makes them harder to tear, researchers ...

As this polymer network is stretched, weaker crosslinking bonds (blue) break more easily than any of the strong polymer strands, making it more difficult for a crack to propagate through the material.

Surprisingly, a material with some more easily broken bonds is harder to tear. Chemists from MIT and Duke University have discovered a counterintuitive way to make polymers stronger. Working with ...