MIT researchers at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Researched have been working on a new material that they say could be used to drive artificial robotic muscles or generate enough electricity to power small electronics.

The material, which is made from an interlocking network of two different polymers, changes its shape when it absorbs water vapor. “One forms a hard but flexible matrix that provides structural support while the other is a soft gel that swells when it absorbs water,” says the description of the video, which comes from MIT. “Together these polymers create a material that converts water vapor to energy without the use of an external energy source.”

It makes you wonder what’s really possible, when you combine technology like this with stuff like this, this and this.

[via reddit]