YHK - yet another hacker news clone

New 'Super Ice' 10 Times Stronger, Bringing It Close to the Strength of Concrete

22 points andrewl 2 days ago 11 comments

silverFork 2 days ago | parent

Ok stronger but doesn't it melt.. What are they going to do with it?

mkotlikov 2 days ago | parent

"The intended application isn't for aircraft carriers this time, but rather for construction projects in remote, cold areas where conventional building methods aren't easy to apply – like the Arctic and Antarctic.

With no concrete or steel required, and with ice and plant-based cellulose as the main ingredients, this could be a building material with a low carbon footprint that's also biodegradable."

jazzyjackson 2 days ago | parent

Maybe we’ll be building ice caves on other planets after all

EA-3167 2 days ago | parent

Climate change feels like a grim reaper slowly stalking the value proposition of this technology.

m463 2 days ago | parent

warmer igloos obviously. :)

blitzar 50 minutes ago | parent

igloo skyscrapers

gaiagraphia 37 minutes ago | parent

The article briefly touches on future packaging. Would ice ever be useful in packaging frozen foods? It'd be biodegradable, and would be a sign of trust that the goods have been permanently frozen from packaging to delivery.

You'd literally be able to just throw the trash outside and let it feed your garden, lol.

fifilura 25 minutes ago | parent

Finally! Ice-9!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-nine

Zambyte 17 minutes ago | parent

The Wikipedia article mentions how this happened with an anti-AIDS medication called ritonavir. I watched this video by Veritasium on that situation a while back; I recommend it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksn5yrsC3Wg

api 24 minutes ago | parent

This type of ice composite would be super interesting for space structure construction. Melt cometary ice and mix it with additives of some kind and spin big cylinders out of it. You’d just have to make the surface reflective so it doesn’t melt, and possibly have some active cooling which you need anyway if anything inside makes heat.

The outer surface would probably be sprayed with something, maybe just reflective dust, to also keep it from subliming into the vacuum.

Extremely repairable, melts at human and equipment friendly temperatures, recyclable, doubles as an emergency water reservoir, and last but definitely not least a fantastic radiation shield.

Would also work for structures on Mars, the Moon, etc, but I’m a fan of the idea of settling space itself not another planet. Gravity wells are a trap.

bloke_zero 22 minutes ago | parent

Ice nine!