Well received

摘要

From radios and mobiles phones to wireless-networking gear and satellite-navigation devices, antennas are everywhere. Yet they are delicate pieces of equipment. Civilians, for the most part, take them for granted, but the armed forces know just how easily an antenna can be destroyed in a war zone-with potentially catastrophic consequences. Now, a technology that allows antennas to bend fluidly and "self heal" as they get whacked around in the chaos of war could make using them a great deal easier. Antennas transmit signals by using an oscillating electrical current in a length of conductive material to generate electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves. When receiving they do the opposite, transforming electromagnetic radiation passing through the conductive material into electrical current.