Glue

Ordinarily, if you want to separate two objects that are glued together, harsh solvents or mechanical force are required – either one could damage the items. A new glue, however, releases its bond by simply turning to gas.

While we've certainly heard of epoxy resins that harden when exposed to light, usually all of the substance has to be exposed. A new additive causes resin to solidify when even only a bit of it gets lit up, however – plus it works underwater.

Although superglues can be quite useful, they're typically made from harsh chemicals, plus it's very difficult to "unstick" them once they've set. Now, however, scientists have created a plant-based superglue that can easily be removed when needed.

Scientists in Canada have come up with a new adhesive they say can address some of the shortcomings of commercial glues, using ultra-strong connections at the molecular level to create new kinds of bonds between unlikely material partners.

The promise of reusable sticky things, from Post-it Notes to Blu Tack, has never quite been fulfilled. They're just never quite as sticky the second time around, or the third. But now, a team of engineers thinks it has an answer, inspired by one of nature's great stickers, the humble, slimy snail.

​​As any good metallurgist will tell you, you can't just take any two types of metal and weld them together. You may instead be able to just join them together with glue, however, thanks to an electro-chemical etching process being developed at Germany's Kiel University.

Welding can damage the items being joined, or even cause explosions. That's why scientists at Northeastern University created MesoGlue. It's a glue that bonds metal to metal – or to other materials – and it sets at room temperature.

UC Santa Barbara scientists have replicated the uncanny underwater adhesive capacity of mussels in a versatile and strong synthetic material. The ultra-thin material boasts up to 10 times the effectiveness of prior wet adhesives, and it could soon find use in a variety of sticky situations.

A glue that performs at a high-level in wet environments could bring about all sorts of possibilities in areas like surgical care and ship maintenance. A team from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University claim to have developed such a glue, which hardens when an electrical voltage is applied.

Bondic is described as a "liquid plastic welder" that sets within four seconds, but only once it's been exposed to an included UV light. This means you can work with it until you're ready for it to harden.